Discover

Philip V, King of Spain

King 'Philip V of Spain' (December 19 1683 - July 9 1746) or 'Philippe of Anjou' was king of Spain from 1700 to 1746, the first of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.
He was the second son of Louis, ''le Grand Dauphin'' and Maria Anna of Bavaria. He was a younger brother of Louis, duc de Bourgogne and an uncle of Louis XV of France.
His paternal grandparents were Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and Adelaide Henriette of Savoy, the daughter of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy.

Contents

Claims to the Spanish Throne

War of Spanish Succession

Abdication and Resumption of the Throne

Trivia

Ancestry

Marriages and Children

References

Claims to the Spanish Throne

Philip was born at Versailles. He was made the Duke of Anjou upon his birth. He was the second son of Louis, ''le Grand Dauphin''. In the year 1700, the King of Spain, Charles II, died. Charles' will named the 17-year old Philip, the grandson of Charles' sister Maria Theresa of Spain, as his successor. Upon any possible refusal the Crown of Spain would be offered next to Philip's younger brother Charles, duke of Berry, or to Archduke Charles of Austria. Both claimants had a legal right due to the fact that Philip's grandfather, King Louis XIV of France and Charles's father, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold, were both the husbands of Charles' older half sisters and sons of Charles' aunts. Philip had the better claim because his grandmother and great-grandmother were older than Leopold's. However the Austrian branch claimed that Philip's grandmother had renounced the Spanish throne for her descendants as part of her marriage contract. This was countered by the French branch's claim that it was on the basis of a dowry that had never been paid.
After a long council meeting where the Dauphin spoke up in favor of his son's rights, it was agreed that Philip would ascend the throne but would forever renounce his claim to the throne of France for himself and his descendants. It was not difficult to see whether Louis would have refused anyway as a Habsburg ruler in Spain would have put a possible enemy on three frontiers.

War of Spanish Succession

However, the other powers of Europe contested the idea, eventually leading to the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). Although Philip was allowed to remain on the Spanish throne, Spain was forced to cede Minorca and Gibraltar to Great Britain; the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia to the Austrian Habsburgs; and Sicily and parts of the Milanese to Savoy. These losses greatly diminished the Spanish Empire in Europe, which had already been in decline. Throughout his reign, Philip sought to reverse the decline of Spanish power as Great Britain increasingly began to dominate at sea.

Abdication and Resumption of the Throne

On January 14 1724, Philip abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Louis, but resumed it later that year when Louis died of smallpox.
Philip helped his Bourbon relatives to make territorial gains in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession by reconquering Naples and Sicily from Austria and Oran from the Ottomans. Finally, at the end of his reign Spanish forces also successfully defended their American territories from a large British invasion during the War of Jenkins' Ear. During his reign Spain began to recover from the stagnation it had suffered during the twilight of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. Ferdinand VI of Spain, his son by his first queen Maria Luisa of Savoy, succeeded him.
Philip was afflicted by fits of manic depression and increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia. His second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, completely dominated her passive husband. She bore him further sons, including another successor, Charles III of Spain. He was later healed by the singer Carlo Broschi Farinelli, who, for 20 years, sang the same four arias each night to the king, and his successor.

Trivia

★ After the Royal Council decided to accept Charles' will naming Philip King of Spain, the Spanish ambassador was called in and introduced to his new King. The ambassador, along with his son, kneeled before Philip and made a long speech in Spanish which Philip did not understand, although Louis XIV did. Ironically Philip, who had never been taught Spanish while in France, had only begun taking lessons that day.

★ To commemorate the indignities the city of Xàtiva suffered after Philip's victory in the Battle of Almansa in the War of the Spanish Succession, in which he ordered the city to be burned, and renamed to ''San Felipe'', the portrait of the monarch hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí [1]).

Ancestry

Marriages and Children

He married Maria Louisa of Savoy (17 September 1688–14 February 1714) on 2 November 1701 and they had 4 sons:

★ Louis-Philippe (25 August 1707–31 August 1724)

★ Philip (2 July 1709–8 July 1709).

★ Philip, Infante of Castile (7 June 1712–29 December 1719).

★ Ferdinand VI (23 September 1713–10 August 1759).
He married Elizabeth Farnese (25 October 1692–11 July 1766) on 24 December 1714, they had 7 children:

★ Charles III (20 January 1716–14 December 1788).

★ Francisco (21 March 1717–21 April 1717).

★ Marianne Victoria of Borbón (31 March 1718–15 January 1781). Married Joseph I of Portugal.

★ Philip, Duke of Parma (15 March 1720–18 July 1765). Founder of the line of Bourbon-Parma.

★ María Teresa (11 June 1726–22 July 1746). Married Louis, Dauphin of France (son of Louis XV).

★ Luis Antonio (25 July 1727–7 August 1785). Was Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain and Cardinal since 1735. In 1754 renounced his ecclesiastical titles and became Count de Chinchón. In 1776, he married morganatically Doña María Teresa de Vallabriga y de Rozas and had issue, but without royal titles.

★ María Antonieta (November 17 1729–September 19 1785). Married Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia.

References

★ Elizabeth Farnese: "The Termagant of Spain", , Edward, Armstrong, Longmans, Green, and Co, 1892,

★ Philip V of Spain: The King Who Reigned Twice, , Henry, Kamen, Yale University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-300-08718-7

★ The Spanish Royal House, , Sir Charles, Petrie, Geoffrey Bles, 1958,
|-
|-