Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain (10 March 1794 – 13 August 1865) was an infante of Spain and the youngest son of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. He was the brother of Ferdinand VII and the uncle and father-in-law of Isabella II.
His education at the Spanish court was derailed by the Napoleonic intervention in Spain. The departure of the 14-year-old Infante to exile in May 1808 provoked a popular uprising that was violently suppressed by French troops. For the next ten years, Infante Francisco de Paula lived in exile with his parents, first in Marseille and later in Rome.
Infante Francisco de Paula returned to Spain in 1818, being called by his eldest brother, King Ferdinand VII, who showered him with honors and privileges. Interested in artistic pursuits, Francisco was an amateur singer and painter. In 1819, he married his niece, Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies, the eldest daughter of his older sister María Isabel. The couple had eleven children and were very active in political affairs. Luisa Carlotta was instrumental in securing the succession for Ferdinand VII's daughter, Queen Isabella II.
During the regency of Isabella II, Francisco was excluded from the government by his sister-in-law, Queen Maria Christina. Siding with the liberals, Francisco de Paula and his wife became active in the opposition and were forced to move to France in 1838. They returned to Spain under the government of Maria Christina's successor as regent, General Baldomero Espartero. As they also conspired against Espartero, they were sent back into exile.
The proclamation of Queen Isabella II's majority allowed them to return. The Infante and his wife centered their hopes on marrying their eldest son, Infante Francisco de Asis, to Queen Isabella II. Luisa Carlotta died in 1844, but, under pressure from French diplomacy, Queen Isabella II married Francisco de Asis in October 1846. As the father-in-law of his niece the Queen, Infante Francisco de Paula occupied a prominent position at court during Isabella II's reign. However, as he tried to intervene in politics, he was briefly exiled once again in 1849. In 1852, with the Queen's approval, he contracted a morganatic marriage. He died almost 12 years later in 1865.
Early life
Born on 10 March 1794 at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, Infante Francisco de Paula was the fourteenth child of King Charles IV of Spain (1748–1819) and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma (1751–1819), a granddaughter of King Louis XV of France.Mateos, Los desconocidos infantes de España, p. 109. He received the names Francisco de Paula Antonio Maria. His parents had married twenty-nine years earlier and Francisco de Paula was the couple's last child. As the youngest in a large family, he was his mother's favorite.Moral, El Infante don Francisco de Paula de Borbón: masonería y liberalismo a la sombra del trono, p. 149 His father, King Carlos IV, had a passion for hunting and collecting clocks, but little interest in political affairs.Mateos, Los desconocidos infantes de España, p. 110. He took a passive role in the direction of his own kingdom, leaving the government to his wife and to his prime minister, Manuel Godoy. Queen Maria Luisa thoroughly dominated the King. Lacking the political acumen necessary to hold power on her own, Maria Luisa deposited her trust and the rule of government on Godoy, whom she raised to prominence. Court rumors attributed the paternity of Francisco de Paula and his sister María Isabel, not to the King, but to Godoy. However, recent biographers and historians have found these claims to be both unproven and unlikely.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 259.
As a child, Francisco de Paula had blond hair, brown eyes and a tender expression.Mateos, Los desconocidos infantes de España, p. 111. In the spring 1800, at the age of six, he was painted with his family by Francisco Goya in the portrait Charles IV of Spain and His Family.
Francisco de Paula's education was different from the one provided to his two eldest brothers Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias and Infante Don Carlos.Moral, El Infante don Francisco de Paula de Borbón: masonería y liberalismo a la sombra del trono, p. 150 The plan of studies assigned to him was inspired by the pedagogical theories of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. Trying to implement this system of education throughout Spain, Godoy convinced the royal couple to apply it to their youngest son. Although his parents intended Francisco de Paula to pursue a career in the Spanish Navy, the Infante's education was abruptly interrupted by the Napoleonic intervention in Spain.
With the pretext of solving the differences between Charles IV and his eldest son, Ferdinand VII, who took over the government after the Mutiny of Aranjuez, Napoleon invited father and son to a meeting in Bayonne, France, pressing them both to renounce the Spanish crown and give it to him.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 65. After achieving his objective, Napoleon gave Spain to his brother Joseph Bonaparte and ordered the remaining members of the Spanish royal family out of the country.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 112.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 131.
While his parents and eldest brothers were at the conference in Bayonne with Napoleon, Francisco de Paula, then fourteen years old, was left behind at the Royal Palace of Madrid with his sister, the deposed Queen of Etruria, and her children. On 2 May 1808, at the departure of the Infante, the last remaining male member of royal family on Spanish soil, a crowd gathered in front of the Royal Palace in an attempt to prevent his removal. The appearance of Francisco de Paula, pale and overcome by emotion, touched the crowd. Poorly armed, the population confronted the French troops. The spontaneous popular uprising against the French invaders spread throughout Madrid, but the French General Joachim Murat brutally crushed the rebellion.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 256.
Exile
For the next six years all the members of the Spanish royal family lived in exile. Ferdinand VII, his brother Infante Don Carlos and their uncle, old Infante Don Antonio, were confined under close surveillance at the Château de Valençay.Mateos, Los desconocidos infantes de España, p. 112. Francisco de Paula, still a teenager, was the only child allowed to accompany his parents in exile in France.Mateos, That Sweet Young Infante, p. 199.
King Charles IV, the Queen and Infante Francisco de Paula, always followed by Godoy, were installed at the Château de Compiègne to the north-east of Paris. Looking for a warmer climate, they moved to Marseille in October 1808.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 143. They spent the next four years there, under increasingly strained circumstances. The Infante's sister, the former Queen of Etruria, was imprisoned in a convent in Rome by Napoleon. In order to be closer to her – and with fond memories of their early years in Naples and Parma – Francisco de Paula's parents moved with him to Rome in July 1812. They settled at Palazzo Borghese. During the Hundred Days, following Napoleon's escape from Elba, Murat, who had been King of Naples since 1808, marched on Rome in the Emperor's name. The family fled to Verona. After Napoleon's final defeat, the Spanish royal party returned to Rome, moving to Palazzo Barberini.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 243.
While in exile, Francisco de Paula's education was neglected. Godoy, who shared the same household with the deposed royal family, gave him some classes. In Rome, Francisco de Paula's parents tried to lead him to a career in the Church. He received minor orders, wore religious garments daily and the Pope offered to make him cardinal. However Francisco de Paula had no real inclination for clerical life. With no sibling near his age, Francisco's constant companion was Godoy's daughter, Carlota de Godoy Borbon, Duchess of Sueca. In 1814 Francisco de Paula was twenty years old and Carlota was fourteen. As they were fond of each other, Queen Maria Luisa wished them to marry. Francisco de Paula was reluctant. Unhappy with Godoy's overwhelming presence and the corruption around him, the Infante wrote to his brother the King, asking him to be permitted to renounce his religious orders, and be allowed to follow a career in the Spanish Army instead.Moral, El Infante don Francisco de Paula de Borbón: masonería y liberalismo a la sombra del trono, p. 151 Ferdinand VII, restored to the Spanish throne after Napoleon's fall, called his brother back to Spain in order to frustrate the prospect of a wedding with Godoy's daughter. By August 1816, both Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa allowed their youngest son to leave as his behaviour in Rome had created concern.Smerdou, Carlos IV en el exilio , p. 272.
The Infante left Rome on 22 November 1816. While in Lyon on his way to Spain, he became entangled in a scandal that derailed the trip. It was discovered that he had taken as lover the mistress of one of his servants, who took financial advantage of the situation. The Infante asked for forgiveness. Ferdinand VII pardoned his brother but delayed his return to Madrid, ordering him to travel around the European courts.Moral, El Infante don Francisco de Paula de Borbón: masonería y liberalismo a la sombra del trono, p. 152 For the next seventeen months the Infante visited Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin, Weimar, Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna. There were plans to marry him to a Princess of Saxony. In December 1817, Carlos IV proposed to marry Francisco to one of the twin daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.Moral, El Infante don Francisco de Paula de Borbón: masonería y liberalismo a la sombra del trono, p. 153 Neither of these two projects came to fruition. The Infante wanted to marry his niece, Princess Maria Luisa Carlota of Parma, then fourteen years old. However, the princess's mother, Maria Luisa (the former Queen of Etruria), opposed the union, considering her twenty-two-year-old brother too reckless for her young daughter. In March 1818, Ferdinand VII, pressed by his wife Maria Isabel of Braganza, finally ordered his brother to return to Spain.
Honours and privileges
Infante Francisco de Paula returned to Spain in April 1818. Ferdinand VII did not allow his brother a position of command in the Spanish Army as Francisco had wished, but otherwise showered him with honors and privileges. The Infante was made a Knight of the orders of Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara and Montesa, as well as being given the control and income of some of the large properties these orders held in Spain. He also became a senior knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem which brought similar benefits. He received the French Order of the Holy Spirit and was made an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.