Habsburgs

The Habsburgs have been described at one extreme as demons - responsible for a 'long history of atrocities'; and at the other as dodos - living fossils unable to adapt to the modern world. In reality the flamboyant royal family appear in many ways to have behaved much like most other monarchies. Their story however is none the less enthralling for that. It is populated by such unforgettable figures as mad Queen Juana progressing through Spain with her husband's decaying body; the 'heroically fertile' Maria Theresa and the quixotic Maximilian 'Emperor' of Mexico.