Carlos IV

King of Spain
1788 - 1808 Portici, 1748 - Rome 1819

A descendant of Louis XIV, he abdicated twice and finished by abandoning his crown to Napoleon.

Carlos IV became king of Spain at the age of forty, in 1788, on the eve of the French Revolution.

He allowed himself to be influenced by his wife, Maria Louisa of Parma, and by his prime minister, Floridablanca, who remained in power and tried to introduce liberal ideas into Spain. Nicknamed the ganache, Carlos let the favorite Godoy, formerly a bodyguard, lover of the queen, do as he liked. Together with France, Spain undertook to fight the English. She returned Louisiana to France in 1800.

The crown prince Ferdinand plotted against the favorite. Carlos IV undertook to defend Godoy and punished the conspirators, which drew down upon him the wrath of his subjects. In March of 1808, after the insurrection in Aranjuez, Carlos IV abdicated in favor of his son. He let himself be carried off as far as Bayonne, where he took back the crown he had given to his son to abdicate a second time in favor of Napoleon this time.

Lodged at the beginning at Talleyrand's estate at Valencay, Carlos IV ended his days in Rome.