Charles of Naples & Sicily becomes King of Spain
During the year of Miracles of Great Britain's victories in 1759, a new King is annointed in Spain, 10 Aug 1759. This new King will join France to fight Great Britain in this ongoing war in 1762.
And who will this new King's forces be fighting?
Our Lord Loudoun.
Fort Loudoun in Winchester was named after him. Two other forts, one in PA and one in today's Tennessee is named after him. Winchester's "main street" is named after Lord Loudoun. So is a Virginia county. Lord Loudoun is relieved of his North American command in Dec 1757. He still retained his title of Governor of VA despite never stepping foot in it. He was Governor while Lt Gov Dinwiddie administered Virginia's affairs. He was Governor as late as 1759 while Lt Gov Fauquier administered affairs.
In 1762, [Lord Loudoun] was sent to Portugal to counter the Spanish invasion of Portugal as second in command, and he became overall commander in 1763. Despite being unable to prevent the loss of Almeida, the British forces soon launched a counter-attack that drove the invaders back across the border.
This war in Portugal was similar to Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The population fought the invading army by burning and destroying everything the invading army could use to sustain itself.
Back to the New King Charles III
This new King creates a flag that holds most of its major components to this day.
September 1759 is a time of preparation for the new King.
Charles III was appointed heir to the throne on 10 Dec 1758 and became king upon the death of the reigning King Ferdinand VI, his step brother on 10 Aug 1759. Charles III arrived in Spain 7 Oct 1759 to take control. Charles III had left his kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to 8 regents who would govern until his son could become of age to rule.
Family Patterns
It is interesting to see family patterns. In the families of these kings you see obvious patterns.
With the 3 Georges of Great Britain, each one hated and fought the power of the previous King George.
With Spain, you see 2 successive Kings of Spain gave their power to their wives to rule the kingdom.
King Philip V gave his power to his (2nd) wife, Elisabeth Farnese, to be the de facto ruler.
Ferdinand VI, son of King Philip V, continued the tradition and gave all his power to his wife Barbara to be the de facto ruler.
Both King Philip V and King Ferdinand VI both had bouts of debilitating depression.
Along come King Charles III and that pattern stops.
The Chain of Succession
King Charles is the son of the 2nd wife of King Philip V.
King Ferdinand VI was the son of the first wife of King Philip V.
So succession went from King Philip V to Ferdinand VI to King Charles III.
King Charles III reigns for the next 30 years.
Nation State
He finishes the hardening of the unification of Spain as a nation state.
But modern headlines still show the Catalans still seek some autonomy to this day, along with the Basques, and other former entities in this peninsula.
Under Charles's reign, Spain began to be recognized as a nation state rather than a collection of kingdoms and territories with a common sovereign.
This was a long process that his Bourbon predecessors had initiated.
Philip V
Philip V had abolished the special privileges (fueros) of the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, subordinating them to the Crown of Castile and ruled by the Council of Castile.
In the Nueva Planta decrees, Philip V also disbanded the Generalitat de Catalunya, abolished its Constitutions, banned the Catalan language from any official use and mandated the use of Castilian Spanish in legal affairs.
He incorporated these formerly privileged entities into the Cortes of Castile, in effect, the Cortes of Spain.[34]
Cortes of Castile was the parliament. That meant Catalan no longer sat outside the parliament as a semi-autonomous entity. It mean Catalan sat inside that parliament no different from representatives of other regions.
Charles III
When Charles III became King of Spain, he further solidified the standing of the nation as a single political entity.
He created the national anthem and a flag, a capital city worthy of the name, and the construction of a network of coherent roads converging on Madrid. On 3 September 1770 Charles III declared that the Marcha Real was to be used in official ceremonies.
The Flag
It was Charles who chose the colors of the present flag of Spain: two red stripes above and below a central yellow stripe double in width and the arms of Castile and León. The flag of the military navy was introduced by the king on 28 May 1785. Until then, Spanish vessels sported the white flag of the Bourbons with the arms of the sovereign. Charles replaced it due to his concern that it looked too similar to the flags of other nations.
Flag below established by the 1978 Spanish Constitution:
Compiled by Jim Moyer 8/23/2023, updated 9/3/2023
Sources
At the end of 1758, Charles's half brother Ferdinand VI was displaying the same symptoms of depression that their father used to suffer from. Ferdinand lost his devoted wife, Barbara of Portugal, in August 1758, and fell into deep mourning for her. He named Charles his heir presumptive on 10 December 1758 before leaving Madrid to stay at Villaviciosa de Odón, where he died on 10 August 1759.
Charles formally abdicated the crowns of Naples and Sicily on 6 October 1759 in favor of Ferdinand. Charles left his son's education and care to a regency council composed of eight members, which would govern the kingdom until the young king was 16 years old. Charles and his wife arrived in Barcelona on 7 October 1759.
Source
King Philip V
His 2nd Wife
King Ferdinand V1
Some of King Philip's first wife
King Ferdinand's wife
Flag of Spain
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