by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego was born on November 11, 1748, at the Royal Palace of Portici in Portici, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy. He was the seventh of the thirteen children and the second of the six sons of King Carlo VII of Naples, also King Carlo V of Sicily, later King Carlos III of Spain, and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Carlos IV’s paternal grandparents were Felipe V, the first Bourbon King of Spain and his second wife ​Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. His maternal grandparents were Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony and Maria Josepha of Austria.

Carlos IV had thirteen siblings but only seven survived childhood. His siblings who were born before their father became King of Spain were Princes and Princesses of Naples and Sicily. Their children who survived until their father became King of Spain or were born afterward were Infantes and Infantas of Spain.

Carlos IV’s siblings:

• Princess Maria Isabel of Naples and Sicily (1740 – 1742), died in early childhood
• Princess Maria Josefa of Naples and Sicily (born and died 1742), died in infancy
• Princess Maria Isabel Ana of Naples and Sicily (1743 – 1749), died in childhood
• Infanta Maria Josefa of Spain (1744 – 1801), unmarried
• Infanta Maria Luisa of Spain (1745 – 1792), married Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, had sixteen children
• Infante Felipe of Spain, Duke of Calabria (1747 – 1777), unmarried, excluded from the succession due to learning disabilities and epilepsy, died from smallpox
• Princess Maria Teresa of Naples and Sicily (1749 – 1750), died in infancy
• Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies (1751 – 1825), married (1) Maria Carolina of Austria, had seventeen children (2) Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia, morganatic marriage, no children
• Infante Gabriel of Spain (1752 – 1788), married Infanta Mariana Vitória of Portugal, had three children
• Princess Maria Ana of Naples and Sicily (1754 – 1755), died in infancy
• Infante Antonio Pascual of Spain (1755 – 1817), married his niece Infanta Maria Amalia of Spain, no children
• Infante Francisco Javier of Spain (1757 – 1771), died in his teens from smallpox

In 1759, Fernando VI, King of Spain, the elder half-brother of Carlos’ father died. However, Fernando VI’s marriage to Barbara of Portugal produced no children, and so upon his death in 1759, Carlos’ father succeeded him as King Carlos III of Spain. With great sadness, by both Carlos’ father and the people of Naples and Sicily, he abdicated the thrones of Naples and Sicily in favor of his eight-year-old third son Ferdinando with a regency council ruling until his sixteenth birthday. Carlos’ eldest brother Infante Felipe of Spain, Duke of Calabria was excluded from both the Spanish and the Naples and Sicily succession due to learning disabilities and epilepsy. Eleven-year-old Carlos as the second son became the heir to the Spanish throne and received the title Prince of Asturias.

In 1762, Carlos was betrothed to his first cousin Maria Luisa of Parma, the daughter of his paternal uncle Felipe, Infante of Spain, Duke of Parma, the founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma, and Louise Élisabeth of France, the daughter of King Louis XV of France. The marriage was intended to strengthen the relationships between the Bourbons ruling in Spain and Parma. The not-quite-seventeen-year-old Carlos and the not-quite fourteen-year-old Maria Luisa were married on September 4, 1765, at the La Granja Palace in San Ildefonso, Spain.

Carlos IV and Maria Luisa of Parma had fourteen children but only seven survived childhood:

• Carlos Clemente, Infante of Spain (1771 – 1774), died in early childhood
• Carlota Joaquina, Infanta of Spain, Queen of Portugal (1775 – 1830), married King João VI of Portugal, had nine children including two Kings of Portugal
• Maria Luisa, Infanta of Spain (1777 – 1782), died in childhood
• María Amalia, Infanta of Spain (1779 – 1798), married her paternal uncle Infante Antonio Pascual of Spain, gave birth to a stillborn son in 1798, and died shortly thereafter
• Carlos Domingo, Infante of Spain (1780 – 1783), died in childhood
• Maria Luisa, Infanta of Spain, Queen of Etruria, Duchess of Lucca (1782 – 1824), married Louis, King of Etruria, had one son and one daughter
• Carlos Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1783 – 1784), twin of Felipe Francisco de Paula, died in infancy
• Felipe Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1783 – 1784), twin of Carlos Francisco de Paula, died in infancy
• Fernando VII, King of Spain (1784 – 1833), married (1) Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias, no children (2) Maria Isabel of Portugal, had one daughter who died in infancy, Maria Isabel died giving birth to a stillborn daughter (3) Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, no children (4) Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, had two daughters including the Queen Isabella II of Spain
• Carlos María Isidro Benito, Infante of Spain, Count of Molina (1788 – 1855), married two nieces, daughters of his sister Carlota Joaquina (1) Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal, had three sons (2) Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira, no children
• María Isabel, Infanta of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies (1789 – 1848), married Francesco I of the Two Sicilies, had twelve children, including Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies
• Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain (1791 – 1794), died in childhood from smallpox
• Felipe Maria, Infante of Spain (1792 – 1794), died in early childhood
• Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1794 – 1865), married (1) Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily, had eleven (2) morganatic marriage to Teresa de Arredondo y Ramirez de Arellano, had one son

Unlike Carlos, his wife Queen Maria Luisa was a strong, intellectual woman who completely controlled her husband. During the reign of his father King Carlos III of Spain, Carlos was led into all sorts of court intrigues by his wife. On December 14, 1788, King Carlos III of Spain died and was succeeded by his son as King Carlos IV of Spain. Carlos IV would rather hunt than deal with government affairs and the running of the government was left mostly to his wife Maria Luisa and Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy. It is probable that de Godoy had a long-term relationship with Maria Luisa and that he was the father of her youngest son Francisco de Paula.

The view of the Spanish monarchy among the Spanish people took a rapid decline due to economic troubles, rumors about a relationship between Queen Maria Luisa and de Godoy, and King Carlos IV’s incompetence. Carlos IV’s eldest son and heir Fernando, Prince of Asturias
was anxious to take over from his father and jealous of Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy. He
unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow his father in 1807. After riots and a revolt, King Carlos IV was forced to abdicate in favor of his son King Fernando VII on March 19, 1808. However, less than two months later, Carlos IV and his son Fernando VII were summoned to a meeting with Napoleon I, Emperor of the French on May 7, 1808, at the Castle of Marracq in Bayonne, France, where he forced them both to abdicate, declared the Bourbon dynasty of Spain deposed, and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain.

Carlos IV, his wife Maria Luisa, some of their children, and former Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy were held captive first in France, at Compiègne and Fontainebleau, and then in Marseilles and Nice, and finally in Rome, then in the Papal States, now in Italy. Napoleon kept Carlos and Maria Luisa’s son Fernando VII under guard in France for more than five years at the Château de Valençay in France until the Treaty of Valençay on December 11, 1813, provided for the restoration of Fernando VII as King of Spain.

Even after the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, King Fernando VII refused to allow his parents to return to Spain. Carlos IV and Maria Luisa settled in Rome at the Palazzo Barberini. On January 2, 1819, at the age of sixty-seven, Maria Luisa died from pneumonia. Her husband Carlos IV died just eighteen days later, on January 20, 1819, aged seventy. Their son King Fernando VII allowed them to return to Spain in death. They were both interred in the Pantheon of Kings in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial in El Escorial, Spain.

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Works Cited

• Carlos IV de España (2023) Wikipedia (Spanish). Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_IV_de_Espa%C3%B1a (Accessed: January 11, 2023).
• Charles IV of Spain (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_of_Spain (Accessed: January 11, 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Carlos III, King of Spain, Duke of Parma and Piacenza, King of Naples, King of Sicily, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/carlos-iii-king-of-spain-duke-of-parma-and-piacenza-king-of-naples-king-of-sicily/ (Accessed: January 11, 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2015) King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-ferdinand-vii-of-spain/ (Accessed: January 11, 2023).
• Maria Luisa of Parma (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Luisa_of_Parma (Accessed: January 11, 2023).