The secret history of the court of Spain during the last century — John Shaqi
The secret history of the court of Spain during the last centuryChallice, Rachel
History
The secret history of the court of Spain during the last century
Challice, Rachel
Spain -- Court and courtiers; Spain -- History -- Bourbons, 1700-
The picture given by Manuel Godoy in his “Mémoires” of the daily life
of the young royal people at this time shows that parental affection
played little part in the lives of the young Princes and Princesses.
After the morning Mass was over, the young people were allowed to
receive visits till half-past eleven, when they went to their parents’
room, and there remained till lunch-time, and each Infante and Infanta
had his or her meal in a separate apartment. The afternoon drive was
generally taken in the same direction every day, and the carriage was
accompanied by a royal guard. In the evening the Infantes and Infantas
spent half an hour with their parents, and then returned to their own
quarters, where they were sometimes allowed to have their friends.
Whenever the Infantes and Infantas went from one part of the palace
to another, they were accompanied by a _gentil hombre_, and they were
treated very much like State prisoners.
This monotonous life of the Royal Family was suddenly disturbed by
the Mission from the Court of France in which the proposal was made
by Napoleon to unite his brother Lucien in marriage with Isabel,
daughter of Carlos IV. The King was alarmed at the idea of such a close
connection with the warrior who treated Europe like a chess-board, but,
not wishing openly to refuse the powerful ruler, he promptly arranged
for the marriage of the Princess with his nephew, who was heir to the
throne of Naples, and he also made arrangements for the marriage of
Ferdinand with Princess Maria Antonia of Naples.
Godoy was strongly opposed to the Prince’s marriage, declaring that
eighteen was too tender an age for this step, and that it would be
better for the young man to improve his mind by travelling, and fit
himself for his future task of governing the nation before he married.
However, the King listened to the Marquis of Caballero, who was in
favour of the alliance, and the wedding of Ferdinand took place in
Barcelona in October, 1802, at the same time as that of his sister.
When Ferdinand subsequently heard how Godoy had tried to prevent his
marriage, he thought it was with a desire to prevent the succession
being established in his favour, and his hatred of the favourite
increased accordingly.
Godoy writes very emphatically in his “Mémoires” of the evil influence
exercised by Escoiquiz on the mind of Prince Ferdinand:
“The master seized upon the moral faculties of his pupil like an
unclean insect which sticks to the bud of a rose and stops the growth
by the web it weaves. Ferdinand, doomed at an early age to feel no
affection for anyone, was a prey to fear and dissimulation. His
youth, his manhood--in short, his whole life--was passed in a state
of uninterrupted suspicion. He did not believe in virtue, not even in
that of Escoiquiz, and at last the tutor received the due reward of the
instructions he had imparted to his pupil.
“He died, loaded with contempt, ejected and banished from his pupil.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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