Ferdinand VII of Spain de Bourbon ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Ferdinand was Fernando VII.

  General Notes:

Ferdinand VII, king of Spain (1808 and 1814-1833), whose reign was one of the most disastrous in Spanish history.

Born in the Escorial, near Madrid, Ferdinand was the son of Charles IV. He opposed the powerful Spanish minister Manuel de Godoy, who, after the death of Ferdinand's first wife in 1806, tried to force him to marry a daughter of the late Louis XVI of France. When Ferdinand instead proposed to a niece of Napoleon, Godoy persuaded Charles to arrest his son for plotting to overthrow him. Napoleon used the situation as an excuse to invade Spain. When a mob stormed the royal palace, demanding the death of Godoy, the king, wholly dependent on his minister, abdicated in favor of Ferdinand. Napoleon, however, had other plans. Intending the Spanish crown for his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, he invited Ferdinand to France, where he imprisoned Ferdinand and forced him to return the throne to his father. Charles IV then obsequiously presented the Spanish crown to Napoleon. Ferdinand remained a prisoner until 1814, when Napoleon, after the Peninsular War, realized that Spain was lost to him. He then released Ferdinand, who reascended the throne in 1814.

Ferdinand's rule was harsh and oppressive. In 1814 he revoked the liberal constitution of 1812 and ruled for the next six years as an absolute monarch. In 1820, after several revolts, a full-scale revolution broke out, instigated by liberal elements and aided by the army. The constitution of 1812 was restored and Ferdinand was imprisoned. In 1823, however, Louis XVIII of France sent a powerful French army to Spain, which restored Ferdinand to the throne. In 1829 Ferdinand married his fourth wife, Maria Christina of Naples. Under her influence he proclaimed the Pragmatic Sanction and abolished (1830) the Salic Law, which passed succession to the Spanish throne to his direct descendants, including his daughter, instead of just through males of the royal family. This act gave the throne to Ferdinand's daughter Isabella instead of to his brother, Don Carlos. On Ferdinand's death in Madrid, Isabella II, was proclaimed queen, with her mother, Maria Christina, as regent. Isabella's succession led to years of civil war.

During Ferdinand's reign, Spain lost its colonies in North and South America (except for Cuba and Puerto Rico) and suffered great loss of prestige as a European power.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Acceded: King of Spain, 1808.

• Deposed: 1808-1813.

Ferdinand married Maria Antonietta de Buorbon, daughter of Ferdinando I di Borbone and Maria Carolina Habsburg-Lotharingen, in 1802. (Maria Antonietta de Buorbon was born in 1784 and died in 1806.)

Ferdinand next married Maria Isabel de Bragança, daughter of John VI of Portugal de Bragança and Charlotte of Spain de Bourbon, on 29 Sep 1816 in Madrid, Spain. (Maria Isabel de Bragança was born on 19 May 1797 in Queluz, , Lisboa, Portugal and died on 26 Dec 1818 in Madrid, Spain.) The cause of her death was childbirth.

Ferdinand next married Mary Christina of Sicily de Bourbon, daughter of Francis I of Sicily de Bourbon and Marie Isabella of Spain de Bourbon, on 11 Dec 1829. (Mary Christina of Sicily de Bourbon was born on 27 Apr 1806 in Portici and died on 22 Aug 1878 in Le Havre.)