
Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain (10 March 1794-13 August 1865) was an Infante of Spain and the son of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma.
Biography[]
Francisco de Paula was the fourteenth child and youngest son of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, and he was born and raised on the estate of Aranjuez. He was just a child when the French Army invaded Spain in 1808, and Napoleon attempted to move him to Bayonne, France in May 1808 with the rest of the royal family. However, this provoked the Dos de Mayo uprising in Madrid, which led to the outbreak of the Peninsular War between Spanish rebels and the occupying French forces. Francisco de Paula lived in exile in both Marseille and Rome until 1818, and he was showered with honors and privileges by his brother Fernando VII of Spain upon his return to Spain. His sister Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies would exclude Francisco de Paula from the regency of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and he was forced to move to France due to his opposition to his sister. Francisco returned after Isabella II was confirmed as the queen of Spain, and he was a major courtier under his niece. He died in 1865 at the age of 71.