Ferdinand VII of Spain (1784-1833), a character so extreme that he was called both “el Deseado” and “el Felón”, was King of Spain between March and May 1808 and, after the expulsion of the French invaders and the ” intruder king” José I Bonaparte (Pepe Botella) and his return to the country, again from May 1814 until his death, except for a brief interval in 1823 when he was dismissed. Son, successor and usurper of Carlos IV, who was deposed by his supporters in the Mutiny of Aranjuez (March 17-19, 1808), few monarchs enjoyed such initial confidence and popularity on the part of the Spanish people. And this despite the fact that all historians currently agree that he was a lousy ruler with an abject personality. Suffice it to remember in this regard that, after being forced to abdicate in Bayonne by Napoleon Bonaparte and spending the entire War of Independence imprisoned in Valençay (France), he asked his captor, the French emperor, to adopt him, through the following letter: ” My greatest desire is to be the adoptive son of HM the emperor our sovereign. I believe myself deserving of this adoption that would truly make my life happy, both for my love and affection for the holy person of HM, and for my submission and complete obedience to your intentions and desires. As you can see, a person of principles.
Despite this, he continued to be recognized as the legitimate king of Spain by the various Government Juntas, the Regency Council and the Cortes of Cádiz. Thus was born the myth of “the Desired” and, after the defeat of the Napoleonic armies and the expulsion of José Bonaparte, Napoleon returned the throne of Spain to him through the Treaty of Valençay (December 11, 1813). In exchange, Fernando VII promised to make peace with France, the eviction of the British from the Peninsula and his neutrality in the remainder of the war. He also agreed to grant royal pardon to the afrancesados, the supporters of José I. Thus, Fernando was released, he was granted a passport on March 7, 1814 and after a week, on the 14th of that same month, he left the city. from his captivity towards Spain. The journey was bumpy but, after passing through Toulouse and Perpignan and crossing the border, he was finally received on March 22 by General Copons in Figueras, Girona, where a crowd would acclaim him as the legitimate monarch of the Spanish.
However, the popular joy, symbolized in the famous cry “Long live the chains!” coined by his staunchest supporters. Between 1814 and 1820, Fernando VII restored absolutism, repealed the Constitution of 1812 and viciously persecuted the liberals and afrancesados. After six years of war, the country and the public Treasury were devastated, but successive Fernandino governments failed to restore the situation. “The Desired” soon revealed himself as an undesirable, a despotic, calculating and opportunistic sovereign who would be one of those who least satisfied the wishes of his subjects, who came to consider him an unscrupulous, vengeful and treacherous person. Surrounded by a cabal of sycophants, his politics were geared largely toward his own survival.