“My son Ferdinand was at the head of the plot. He won the troops over to himself; he had a light put in one of his windows as a sign for its explosion. At that instant the Guards and the persons at the head of the revolution had two shots fired. They have tried to show that these shots were fired by the Guard of the Prince de la Paz, but it is not the truth; for the Gardes de Corps and the soldiers came at the people’s call, and went where they liked without receiving any orders from their superior officers. “The King and I sent for my son to tell him how trying it was for his father not to be able to appear at the window, and that he was to go himself to tranquillize the people in the name of the King; but he replied very firmly that he could not do so, because it would be the sign for the firing to begin, and that he did not wish to give. “The next morning I begged him to put a stop to the tumult and tranquillize the rebels, and he replied he would do so. Then he sent for the second officers in command of the bodies of the royal horse, commanding many people to return to Madrid who had come to increase the revolution, and not to let any more come. “When the King had given these orders, the Prince de la Paz was found, and the King sent word to his son that the unhappy Prince, who was the victim of his friendship for us and the French, and particularly of the Grand Duke, was to be extricated from his position. My son went and commanded them not to touch the Prince de la Paz, and to conduct him to the barracks of the Royal Guards. He did it in his own name, although it was at the instance of his father; and he said to the Prince de la Paz, as if he were the King himself, ‘I grant you your life.’ “The Prince de la Paz, in spite of his great injuries, asked him if he were King; and he returned that he thought of being so. This was because the King, the Prince de la Paz, and I, intended to abdicate in favour of Fernando, when we had seen the Emperor and arranged all the matters, among which was the marriage. My son returned: ‘No, so far I am not King, but I soon shall be.’ “Certainly my son commanded everything, as if he were King without being so, or knowing if he would be. The orders given by the King my husband were not obeyed. “Then on the day of the 19th, when the abdication took place, there was another worse tumult, threatening the life of the King, my husband, and this obliged him to form the resolution of abdicating. “From the moment of his abdication, the King was treated by Ferdinand with all the contempt that can be used to a King, and without any consideration for his parents.