The Poor Unhappy Throne of Spain

Eight Reals Coin of Philip II of 1588 Which Was the Year That Saw the Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Eight Reals Coin of Philip II of 1588 Which Was the Year That Saw the Defeat of the Spanish Armada

Eight Reals of Fernando VII Minted in Spain in 1809
Eight Reals of Fernando VII Minted in Spain in 1809

Eight Reals of Carlos or Charles III of 1788
Eight Reals of Carlos or Charles III of 1788

Eight Reals of Fernando VII Minted in Mexico by Spanish Loyalists in 1810
Eight Reals of Fernando VII Minted in Mexico by Spanish Loyalists in 1810

Gold Half Escudo of Charles III of 1788
Gold Half Escudo of Charles III of 1788

Coin of Ten Reals Minted by Isabella II, the Chubby and Unhappy Queen of Spain, who was Fought for then Ousted by her Subjects in 1868
Coin of Ten Reals Minted by Isabella II, the Chubby and Unhappy Queen of Spain, who was Fought for then Ousted by her Subjects in 1868

Two Reals of Carlos or Charles IV of 1808 Minted in Mexico
Two Reals of Carlos or Charles IV of 1808 Minted in Mexico

Napoleon III of France, on a Twenty Franc Gold Piece of 1861, Whose Own Throne Was Lost Indirectly Because of Isabella II’s Fall
Napoleon III of France, on a Twenty Franc Gold Piece of 1861, Whose Own Throne Was Lost Indirectly Because of Isabella II’s Fall

Amadeo I Who So Hated His Kingdom of Spain That he Fled the Land in the Dark of the Night
Amadeo I Who So Hated His Kingdom of Spain That he Fled the Land in the Dark of the Night

A Gold 25 Pesetas Coin of King Alfonso XII
A Gold 25 Pesetas Coin of King Alfonso XII

A Silver Five Pesetas Coin of Alfonso XIII Struck in 1898, the Year Spain Was Stripped of Most of her Empire by the United States
A Silver Five Pesetas Coin of Alfonso XIII Struck in 1898, the Year Spain Was Stripped of Most of her Empire by the United States
Some families in history seem haunted. The Spanish royal family would seem to be one of these. Spain became a united kingdom in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella of the royal houses of Castile and Aragon drove the last of the Islamic Moors from Spain. The kingdom of Grenada was added to the expanded Spanish state.

Columbus and Spain’s other explorers made Spain Europe’s richest nation. When Charles I of Spain came to the throne on his father Maximilian von Harpsburg’s death in the early sixteenth century, he was also Holy Roman Emperor. In time, he’d rule a world wide empire that embraced not only a huge European empire, including Spain and most of Central Europe, but also most of South and Central America, islands all over the world, and the Philippines. It didn’t make him happy, and he retired from his throne in 1555 to die in a monastery three years later.

His son, Philip II, ruled for 43 gloomy years watching his power erode. This culminated in the defeat of his mighty armada by England and the forces of nature in 1588. During the following two centuries, Spain saw its royal family sink into madness and retardation in the dark mass of the Escorial Palace which was known as the gloomiest court in Europe.

In 1759, Charles III came to the throne of Spain when Fernando VI died without an heir. Now the Burbons ruled. Burbons and Harpsburgs were often wedded to each other.

Charles III, as you can see from the coin featuring his image, was not what one would call a handsome man, but he was a very smart one. He had ruled a small Italian kingdom and had moved on to Spain to take over his cousin’s throne. Unlike his heirs, he was a good and wise ruler. He even allied Spain with the United States during the American Revolution.

When he died in 1788, his son and namesake, Charles IV came to the throne. He had a wife, who provided him with many children, and had a taste for her Master of the Horse. The Master of the Horse was not a lofty enough title for the queen’s lover. He was elevated to the title of Duke of Gordoy and became Spain’s Prime Minister and de facto ruler.

In 1808, Charles IV was booted off the throne. It was poetic justice, because he had the habit of making his generals and courtiers bend over to receive kicks from the royal boot. Now Napoleon did the same for him. Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, was made Spain’s new monarch.

Fernando, Prince of Asturias and Charles IV’s heir to the Spanish throne, offered his help to Joseph and the French in an effort to curry favor with his nation’s new master. This offer of help was rebuffed out of hand.

Joseph Bonapart reigned, but did not rule, from 1808 to 1813. Spain was never under total French control. Spain was Napoleon’s VietNam and Iraq. It was here that he was sapped of power by Wellington, the forces of the British, and Spanish partisans who gave their loyalty, and often their blood, to the cause of the feckless Fernando VII.

Fernando VII was restored to the Spanish throne and ruled until his death in 1833. His heir was a mere child, Isabella II.

Isabella II was only a little girl of four when she came to Spain’s not-too-stable throne. Her uncle, Charles, wanted to be king. From 1833 to 1840, he was pretender to the throne as Carlos V. Civil War gripped the nation. By 1840, Isabella’s place as queen of Spain was secured.

A few years later, she was forced into a loveless royal marriage which produced a son. It seems that Isabella’s consort was also homosexual and no source of comfort for the young queen who must have eaten for comforts’ sake. She was about five feet tall and as many feet around (more-or-less), and like her grandmother, turned to the Master-of-Horse and just about anyone else in pants for comfort.

The Spanish were not happy with Isabella or her bad behavior. In 1868, she was shown the royal exit. Isabella fled to France with her drone of a husband to beg help of Napoleon III. France’s emperor did not feel that he would like to repeat his uncle’s mistake by getting bogged down in a Spanish dynastic war.

Never-the-less, Spain would bring him down. The Duke de Torre offered the Spanish throne to the second son of the King of Prussia. Prussia’s King William was not about to let his family be drawn into the Spanish mess.

Napoleon III sent a stern warning to King William at the Spa at Ems. The insulting “Ems Dispatch” triggered the Franco-Prussian War. Napoleon III was crushed at the Battle of Sedan. The Second Empire came to an end, and Napoleon III went off into exile in England where cancer claimed the chain smoking emperor in 1873.

Isabella indirectly triggered the Franco-Prussian War which triggered World War I, and in turn, triggered World War II. All of this because Isabella II was so unhappy with her prince.

The Spanish tried to give the throne to a number of European royals.

Prince Amadeo of Sardinia-Piedmonti, and son of Italy’s Victor Emmanuel II, was offered the Spanish prize. he didn’t want it. His royal father insisted that he take it, and off the unhappy Amadeo went to Madrid with his young family.

He was crowned in 1871 and found the palace and court as gloomy as it had been in Philip II’s day three hundred years before. Too many holy candles and incense and the sound of priests added to the darkness of the place and palace. In 1873, Amadeo sent his family out of the country back to sunny Italy. Shortly thereafter, he sneaked out of Madrid in the dark of night to escape his bleak kingdom.

From 1873 to 1874, Spain was a republic, but kings were what the country understood. In 1874, Alfonso XII (the son of Isabella and maybe her husband) was invited to return to become the King of Spain. He reigned for eleven years then died in 1885. From 1885 to 1886, there was a regency because his son and heir had not yet been born!

In 1886, Alfonso XIII was born as King of Spain. He was the grandson of Victoria of England, and through her, inherited hemophilia. He lived into his 56th year. During his reign 1886-1931, he saw Spain’s overseas empire stripped away by the United States in the 115 days of the Spanish-American War. He was a weak ruler who drifted through a 43 year reign and a ten year exile.

In his place came a dictatorship, a socialist republic, and then the dictatorship of Franciso Franco. It looked like the Burbons were done for good and all.

Franco ruled with an iron hand which would have made Philip II proud. He groomed a young Burbon prince as his heir, the grandson of Alfonso XIII, Juan Carlos. On Franco’s death in 1975, the best of all the Burbon’s came to Spain’s throne, Juan Carlos I.

Juan Carlos I has dragged Spain kicking and screaming into the modern world. He has imposed his royal will in imposing democracy on Spain. He has put down reactionary revolts, diluted the power of the church, and introduced universal religious toleration. He opened Spain’s economy, and set the stage for a great economic boom.

Democracy has seen real progress during the 31 year reign of Juan Carlos. He even volunteered to pay income tax. The whole story of Spain under her rulers can be told in its coins.

On the show trail, there is a lot to look forward to in October.

Ernie Botte will be holding his Fourth New Hampshire Coin and Currency Expo from September 29 to October 1 at the Quality Inn and Wayfarer Convention Center in Bedford, New Hampshire. The Convention Center is just 5 miles south of Manchester at the intersection of Routes 3 and 101. Hours are: Friday 10 A.M. to 7 P.M., Saturday 9 A.M. to 7 P.M. and Sunday 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Due to other commitments, I’ll be setting up on Sunday only.

On October 8, I’ll be at Ernie’s Auburn-Greater Worcester Show in Auburn, Mass. at the Elks Hall on Rt. 12, next to the Hampton Inn Hotel. To get there take the Massachusetts Turnpike to Exit 10 to Rt. 12. Proceed south for about a mile-and-a-half. Show hours are 9 A.M. to 3 P.M.

On October 22, I’ll be at Ernie’s Westford Show at Westford Regency Inn. To get there, take Rt. 495 to Exit 32 then proceed to Rt. 110. The Westford Regency Inn is right on Rt. 110. Show hours are 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. I’ll see you there.

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