Friday, January 23, 2015

The Habsburg Jaw

Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I
From Castles and Coffeehouses:
The Habsburgs of Austria ruled a vast empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for about 600 years.  They did not particularly care for fighting. Shrewdly, they built and maintained their empire mostly by judicious marriages.  Very often, a judicious marriage was marriage to a cousin in some other powerful part of Europe, like Spain.

As a result, the succeeding generations of the family very often displayed the famous “Habsburg jaw,” which is seen everywhere in Vienna. Did anyone consider this feature unattractive?  If they did, they may have wisely kept quiet about it. (Read more.)
King Charles II of Spain
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1 comment:

julygirl said...

What about the nose!! Wonder if Jay Leno has Hapsburg genes.