Background "The Plot Is True but Not the Love," by MATTHEW GUREWITSCH
Full Article Published: March 18, 2005 NY Times - Excerpts Here: Is "Don Carlo" actually as uninformed by historical fact and as devoid of imaginative truth as Verdi pretended? No, on both counts. That ayatollah of Christendom, Philip II of Spain (1527-98), really did have a son named Don Carlos. Don Carlos really was engaged (briefly) to the French princess Elisabeth of Valois, whose hand was then bestowed on Philip instead. Philip really did incarcerate his son.
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