My go to explanation for the 11th (purged) primarch is that he was able to procreate and (by extension) so too were the space marines in his legion. Consider the extreme danger it would pose to the imperium if there was an entire family of primarchs and a self-sustaining and growing population of loyal marines.
Alternatively, less radical, the 11th ended up on a planet that existed within a human/xenos Startrek Federation type empire. He was raised believing in equality of the the species and cooperation. So, when the emperor stumbled upon him, he could not let such an example survive that would potentially undermine the loyalty and devotion of his fellow primarchs, the legions, the masses of regular humans, etc.
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