Louis Xiv Of France And Maria Theresa Of Austria: A Relationship Through The Lens Of Genetics

Background. - On June 9, 1660, Louis XIV of France married its double first cousin Maria Theresa of Austria, the Spanish infant. Among their six children, only one had reached adulthood and three died within their first year of life. Has the inbreeding of the royal couple play a role in this infant mortality?Methods. - Genealogical information of Louis of France, "Le Grand Dauphin" (son of Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Austria) was introduced into a database included 286 individuals along nine parent-offspring generations. The database was used for computing the inbreeding coefficient F of each individual. Mortality data of the children of the royal couple was compared to that of the children of Louis XIV and two of his lovers by means of Fisher test (significant P value = 0.05).Results. - Louis of France, "Le Grand Dauphin" has a high inbreeding coefficient (F=0.173) due to the high incidence of consanguineous marriages in his family. The children of the royal couple have a higher infant mortality than the children of Louis XIV and two of his lovers (50 vs. 0%; P=0.03).Conclusions. - Even if it is difficult to establish, the inbreeding of Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Austria may have play a significant rote in the infant mortality of their children by promoting the occurrence of genetic diseases. (C) 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.