King Felipe II ‘had swine ‘flu’, says historian
thinkSPAIN , Monday, June 1, 2009
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 A 16TH-CENTURY Spanish king is thought to have suffered from either bird ‘flu or swine ‘flu, a leading historian reveals.
Author Antonio Martínez Llamas (pictured), doctor and writer of biography of King Felipe II, says he has examined medical documentation from the period and ‘discovered numerous errors’.
These documents say Felipe II crossed the Portuguese border in 1580 and is said to have caught what historians refer to as the ‘flu, but in fact, this name was not given to the condition until the 17th or 18th century.
Martínez Llamas said there had been a diagnostic mistake, and the king had in reality suffered from a type of epidemic which occurred in the month of August and led to pneumonia in a lot of cases.
He says the king’s third wife, Isabel de Valois, was always said to have died from a miscarriage, but in fact she lost her life to the epidemic that swept Spain and part of Europe.
The king’s fourth wife, Ana de Asturia, also died of the same condition.
Using his own profound medical knowledge, the author has deduced that the epidemic was either of those which are known today as swine ‘flu or bird ‘flu.
Turning to Felipe II’s character, the author says he was a poor student, his spelling was bad, he had no ability to learn languages, practically spoke only in Latin and was overall a person with “great difficulties in expressing himself orally.
“Hence his silence, hence his very generous nickname as ‘the prudent king’,” reveals the writer.
Unlike existing books about Felipe II, Antonio Martínez Llamas’ newly-published Felipe II, el hombre deals with the king’s personal life and character rather than his political career.
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