The lack of a child, the loss of a throne: the infertility of the first royal couple of Greece (1833-62).

The first dynasty in Greece after its independence in 1830 was founded in 1833 with Otto, the son of Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1836 Otto married Amalia, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Oldenburg. The people of Greece anticipated that the marriage would result in an heir to the throne, establishing the new dynasty. The failure of the royal couple to produce an heir was a major reason for their subsequent abdication. For many years both were subjected to repeated examinations by Greek and German physicians, especially Amalia, who was considered to be largely responsible for the infertility. In this paper we discuss possible diagnoses and describe the various treatments suggested for, and applied to, the infertility. We also review the consequent political controversies and the problems created among the royal families of Europe who wanted to replace the Wittelsbach dynasty with another royal line--a situation that led, in 1863, to the succession of the Danish Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg dynasty to the Greek throne.

Historical consequences of the infertility of Otto (1815-67) and Amelia (1818-75), first Royal couple of Greece.

After the Greek Independence (1830), the first King, Otto from the Wittelsbach dynasty (Bayer), was married to Amelia from the House of Oldenburg (1836). Their failure to produce an heir to the throne, eagerly expected by the people, contributed much to their abdication in 1862, as an additional factor at the general, opposition to their way of governing. The responsibility for the couples sterility became a matter of political controversies among their families, their countries and the other European thrones after the unsuccessful medical diagnoses and treatments of the most eminent Greek and German physicians. This paper examines their failure to continue the throne, the medical circumstances, and the historical and political consequences.