It was on this day 327 years ago, on 25 October 1692, that a future queen of Spain was born.

The baby girl was Isabel Farnese, the only surviving child of Odoardo Farnese, himself the eldest son of the reigning Duke of Parma, Ranuccio II. Her mother was Dorothea Sophie, Princess Palatine. When Odoardo died, predeceasing his father, Dorothea Sophie married his younger brother, Francesco, who was the new heir to the throne. In other words, baby Isabel’s uncle was also her stepfather. When Ranuccio II died in 1694, Isabel’s uncle/stepfather and mother became the new Duke and Duchess of Parma. Since they had no children, and the youngest brother of the family, Antonio, also had only a daughter, it became accepted that Isabel would eventually inherit the duchy. To that end, she was carefully educated.

Unsurprisingly, she had many suitors. After the early death of Felipe V of Spain’s wife in 1714, Isabel was proposed as his new bride. The power behind the Spanish throne, the Princess des Ursins, backed Isabel because of reports that the young princess was easily led. Nothing could have been further from the truth. On her arrival in Spain, Isabel immediately sacked des Ursins and had her deported to France. Felipe V fell in love with Isabel at their first meeting and was soon completely dominated by her. In essence, it was Isabel who ruled Spain until Felipe’s death in 1746.

Frustratingly for Isabel, Felipe’s first wife had left 2 sons, both of whom came before her own sons in the line of succession. In compensation, Isabel fought to have her eldest son, Carlos, made Duke of Parma after the death of Duke Antonio and his only (unmarried and childless) daughter. In fact, Carlos did considerably better. After a good showing in the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1736), which was really about Italy, Carlos bagged the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Isabel finally managed to secure her ancestral inheritance when she manoeuvred her younger son, another Felipe, onto the throne of Parma in 1748.

Isabel lived long enough to see her childless stepson, Ferdinand VI, die in 1759, thus making Carlos of Naples and Sicily King of Spain as Carlos III. He duly abdicated his Italian thrones to his son in order to take up his new Spanish one. Isabel served as regent while waiting for him to arrive.

Isabel died, presumably satisfied by the achievement of her life’s ambitions, in 1766.

With Part 6, which covers the years 1710 to 1714, we conclude our series of posts on the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1710, Louis XIV’s luck began to turn.  He sent a new army into Spain to help Felipe V.  In command was the Duc de Vendôme, this time without the Duc de Bourgogne to get in his way.  Left to his own lights, the old duke defeated the Anglo-Austrian forces and drove them out of Spain by the end of the year.  He returned to Versailles covered in glory and left Felipe V firmly on the Spanish throne once and for all.

When we last left Felipe V, he had just arrived in Madrid, his new capital, on 22 January, 1701, carrying a letter of advice from his grandfather, Louis XIV.  At first, his accession went smoothly, with no war imminent.

The portrait of Felipe V at left hangs in a state room at Versailles, where he was proclaimed King of Spain on 16 November, 1700.

All of the Spanish dominions accepted him as their king.  The nations of Europe did, too, except for Austria.  At the beginning of 1701 it seemed that Felipe V’s accession was a fait accompli.  The calm was not to last, however.

Reader M. Reginald O’Toole (a splendid name) has written via a private message to ask a question about Louis XIV’s letter of advice to his teenaged grandson, the newly-minted Felipe V of Spain.  Did Felipe take his august grandfather’s advice?

I can’t give give an exhaustive, point-by-point answer, but in general, I would say the answer is both yes and no.  Of course, some of Louis XIV’s advice, as mentioned in the last post, is in the spirit of ‘Do as I say, rather than as I do.’  For instance, Louis enjoins his grandson not to have favourites.  This is amusing coming from the monarch who made the role of mistress to the King of France almost an official position.

Felipe is not known to have had any mistresses, so he can be said, in that sense, to have taken his grandfather’s advice.  The Bourbon men were highly sexed.  Even when they were both in their seventies, Louis XIV “honoured” Mme de Maintenon, his second, secret wife, twice a day.  In this regard, Felipe also took Louis’ advice.

A Letter of Advice from Louis XIV to His Grandson, Felipe V of Spain

Having been declared King of Spain on 16 November 1700, Felipe V, formerly Philippe d’Anjou, left Versailles for Spain on 4 December.  He didn’t reach Madrid until 22 January 1701.  Along the way, he would have had plenty of time to read and ponder the letter handed to him by his grandfather on his departure.

Louis XIV had composed a 33-point letter of advice for his teenaged grandson, bringing to bear the experience of his then nearly 6 decades on the French throne, 4 of them as sole ruler.  Some of his advice is in the spirit of ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’  It also reveals some of the Sun King’s notions of kingship.

Felipe V as Philippe d’Anjou, probably just before his accession.

The War of the Spanish Succession was one of the defining events of the Versailles Century (1682-1789).  Today on the blog we’ll examine the background of the conflict.

In the late 1690s, Europe was preoccupied by the question of who was to succeed Spain’s childless king, Carlos II, who was feeble of both mind and body.  Still only in his 30s, he was nonetheless thought to be on his last legs.  Unfortunately for him, his house, the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, was the most inbred dynasty in the history of Europe.  His own parents, for instance, were uncle and niece.  The most visible outcome of this inbreeding in Carlos II was his deformed jaw, which made it difficult for him to speak and eat.

Charles II of Spain (1661-1700).  Credit: Wikipedia.