Philip V King of Spain ¹⁵⁷⁴

  General Notes:

King Philip V of Spain (December 19, 1683 - July 9, 1746) or Philippe of Anjou was king of Spain from 1700 to 1746, the first of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.

He was the second son of Louis, the Grand Dauphin and Maria Anna of Bavaria. He was a younger brother of Louis, Duke of Burgundy and an uncle of Louis XV of France.

His paternal grandparents were Louis XIV of France and Maria Theresa of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria and Adelaide Henriette of Savoy, daughter of Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy.

Life account
Philip was born in Versailles. The ever ambitious Louis XIV wanted to extend his Bourbon dynasty into Spain, and thus acquire rich possessions of the Spanish Empire. However, the other powers of Europe contested the idea, eventually leading to the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). Although Philip was allowed to remain on the Spanish throne, the war cost Spain the possession of Minorca in the Balearic Islands as well as Gibraltar to Great Britain and the Spanish Netherlands to the Habsburgs. The losses that occurred because of the war greatly diminished the already fading power of the Spanish Empire, and throughout his reign, Philip saw the gradual decline of Spanish power and the advent of the British as the supreme commanders of the sea and world trade.

On January 14, 1724, Philip abdicated the throne to his eldest son, Louis, but resumed it later that year when Louis died of smallpox.

Philip helped his Bourbon relatives to make territorial gains in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession. During his reign Spain began to recover from the stagnation it had suffered during the twilight of the Habsburg dynasty. Ferdinand VI of Spain, his son by his first queen Maria Luisa of Savoy, succeeded him.

Philip was afflicted by fits of manic depression and increasingly fell victim to a deep melancholia. His second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, completely dominated her passive husband. She bore him further sons, including another successor, Charles III of Spain. He was later healed by the castrato singer Carlo Broschi Farinelli, who, for 20 years, sang the same four arias each night to the king, and his successor. ¹⁵⁷³

  Life Events:

• Acceded: King of Spain, 1700-1746. ¹⁵⁷³

Philip married Marie Louise, daughter of Victor Amadeus II and Anne Marie of Orléans, on 2 Nov 1701.¹⁵⁷³ (Marie Louise was born on 17 Sep 1688 ¹⁵⁷⁴ and died on 14 Feb 1714 ¹⁵⁷⁴.)

Philip next married Elizabeth Farnese on 24 Dec 1714.¹⁵⁷³ (Elizabeth Farnese was born on 25 Oct 1692 ¹⁵⁷⁴ and died on 11 Jul 1766 ¹⁵⁷⁴.)