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The House of Habsburg is one of the most influential dynasties in European history. The family ruled a large part of the continent from the 15th to 20th century. It has a long and complicated history, with so many plots and twists and main players involved that no one would be chastised for being confused over who’s who and what’s what.

At least that was what I was hoping as our local tour guide went on and on about the Habsburgs one wet spring morning in Vienna, Austria. I love learning about the history of a place I’m visiting, but for something as complex as the Habsburgs, I would really rather read a book about it. Or perhaps watch a movie, TV show or docuseries that depicts their story.



“They were a powerful dynasty but there’s also a lot of inbreeding going on in that family,” said Eva, the guide. She had been mumbling into her microphone throughout the 90-minute tour, and I had so far struggled to keep my face from looking too bored or annoyed. But I heard her clearly this time.

“Did you know you can tell if a European has a history of inbreeding just by looking at them?” she asked. “Excuse me, what?” some of us in the group chimed in. “Their jaw is very pronounced, like long and thin, and sticks out.

By a lot ...

like this,” Eva said, comically sticking out her jaw to show us exactly what she meant. “It’s called the Habsburg jaw,” she continued. With that bit of information in tow, I later walked away from the group in search of folks wit.

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