The Spanish Bourbon dynasty was one of the most important ruling families in European history. It was named after the Baron Aimar's fiefdom in Bourbon at the end of the 9th century. In 1700, Felipe V, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France, inherited the Spanish throne, marking the beginning of the Bourbon dynasty's rule over Spain.

Its branch also ruled over territories located in present-day Italy, such as Naples and Sicily. The Bourbon Parma family, which has ruled Luxembourg since 1964, is also a branch of the Spanish Bourbon royal family.
The Habsburg royal family in Spain has always advocated for male members to intermarry in order to maintain the purity of their royal lineage. But this custom led to the widespread weakness of the royal family members and the decline of the entire royal population, directly leading to several crises of succession to the throne. The biggest crisis among them gradually emerged during the reign of Felipe IV: he had 13 children born out of wedlock, only 2 of whom lived to adulthood, and after his death, only one son, Carlos II, succeeded him to the throne. This last male member of the Habsburg royal family in Spain was weak from a young age and seriously ill. After marriage, he was diagnosed with erectile dysfunction and was unable to produce offspring. Although Carlos II made multiple arrangements for the succession of the throne after death during his lifetime, none of them satisfied the European powers. In 1700, his death brought an unprecedented crisis of succession to the throne to Spain.
Due to the edict of Carlos I and the pressure of the aristocracy, Carlos II's edict did not pass the throne to his Austrian cousin, but rather to his nephew, Duke Philip of Anjou, the grandson of King Louis XIV of the Bourbon family. With the support of Louis XIV, Philip temporarily succeeded to the throne as King Felipe V of Spain. But when he ascended the throne, he faced a challenge from various European countries - the War of Spanish Succession.
The succession of King Felipe V, especially in the eyes of the Austrian royal family, was a tearing up of the Treaty of 1700 London and also signaled that Spain, as a major power, would shift its foreign policy towards France rather than Austria in the past. Therefore, Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, the cousin of Carlos, launched the War of Spanish Succession against France in 1702 to support his son, Archduke Carl, in his competition for the Spanish throne, citing Louis XIV's breach of the treaty.
Britain and the Netherlands once recognized Felipe's succession at the beginning, but Felipe announced to cut off the trade relations between Spain and Britain and the Netherlands, pushing the two countries to the side of Austria. In addition, Louis XIV supported the abolition of the son of King James II of England, and the Catholic King James took back his sister Mary II, which made her and her husband, Lord Protector William III of the Netherlands, more firm in their anti French stance. Britain, the Netherlands, and most German city-states such as Hanover and Prussia are on the side of the Habsburg royal family in Austria. The Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Principality of Savoy stood on the side of the Bourbon royal family. On the mainland of Spain, anti wave armed forces also emerged, and the Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia regions even declared allegiance to the Habsburg dynasty. As a result, the Austrian army quickly landed on the Spanish territory mentioned above, supporting the local anti wave armed forces and gaining a firm foothold. The British army also took the opportunity to occupy Gibraltar. Spain, the Netherlands, and North America became the main battlefields of this battle. The situation is even more unfavorable for the Spanish Bourbon royal family.
The war dragged on until 1711, and tensions among European countries eased due to various factors. In Britain, the pro French Tory Party gained power, and the Bourbon Dynasty was also willing to provide trade preferences and guarantees for British and Dutch merchants. Therefore, the three countries signed the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. In 1714, the fall of the Habsburg army in Barcelona, the last stronghold of Spain, led to the peace agreements of Alfa Start and Baden. The territorial dispute between Ossie was not finally resolved until 1720, after the Battle of the Alliance of Four. However, in any case, the Bourbon royal family successfully gained the throne of Spain and began their rule of Spain on and off for over 300 years without any danger.

When the Bourbon royal family took control of Spain, Spain also began to enter the Age of Enlightenment. The Enlightenment period lasted throughout the entire 18th century, and was an era full of wars and reforms. However, wars led to the failure of reforms and also led to the decline of Spain's national strength.
The War of Spanish Succession resulted in Spain losing many European territories, such as some principalities in Italy, which Felipe V and his queen Elizabeth Farnese had been deeply concerned about. On the one hand, Felipe V opposed centralization and attempted to unify the laws within the empire. On the other hand, instigated by his wife, he launched a war to reclaim some territories. The Battle of the League of Four in 1720 and the Anglo Spanish War from 1727 to 1729 both ended in the defeat of the Spanish army alone. Afterwards, Felipe V turned to his close relatives of the French royal family, reconciled with them, and sided with France in the succession wars between Poland and Austria. Instead, he received some compensation and regained many Italian territories.
In 1746, just before the end of the War of Austrian Succession, Felipe V passed away and new King Fernando VI ascended to the throne. Under the influence of new Queen Maria Barbara, Fernando VI's rule of Spain, like his mother Portugal, strictly maintained neutrality and used balance tactics between Britain and France, so that both countries were temporarily not involved in the Seven Year War, which was the largest war in Europe at that time.
However, in 1759 during the Seven Years' War, Fernando VI passed away and his brother Carlos III succeeded him. Carlos III couldn't help but help his French relatives of the same surname in 1762, but the defense of overseas territories was lax. Havana and Manila were quickly captured by Britain, and ultimately forced to seek peace the following year, ceding Florida to Britain. Afterwards, Carlos III's attention returned to his home country and he introduced the "enlightened dictatorship" that existed in Naples and Sicily to Spain. On the other hand, Carlos, like his brother, began to limit the expansion of the power of the Jesuit Church and other Catholic churches, and tried to reform the bloated bureaucracy and the economy that relied too much on colonial trade.

After the series of reforms mentioned above, Spain's economy slightly improved and its vitality also recovered. At this time, the United States broke out in the War of Independence, and Spain once again joined forces with France to support American independence, and took back territories lost during the Seven Years' War from Britain, including Florida. However, the success of the American War of Independence indirectly led to the French Revolution in neighboring Spain, and the consequences of this revolution torched the achievements of several generations of Western King reforms.
Carlos III passed away seven months before the French Revolution, and his eldest son succeeded him to the throne. Carlos IV abandoned his father's reforms, causing the Spanish army to be unable to resist the attack of the French Revolutionary Army, and ultimately sought peace and alliance with France. The French Spanish alliance led to Spain being attacked by Britain. However, France and Spain joined forces to occupy Portugal, but Carlos IV later broke away from the continental system used by France to isolate Britain at the suggestion of his favorite minister Manuel de Godoide, ultimately causing the Bourbon royal family to lose Napoleon's trust. Later, the French arrested Godoie, and Carlos IV abdicated to save him. However, Napoleon detained Prince Fernando, who was visiting France, Joseph Bonaparte, the eldest brother who specifically installed himself, replaced the crown prince and succeeded him as the king of Spain.

Napoleon's decision angered the Spanish. They chose to rise in the name of Prince Fernando, and the local councils denied Joseph's legitimacy. The church also encouraged people to fight against the "Godless" French army. The local council jointly requested Britain to send troops to rescue Spain, and the local council of Seville declared itself the highest council of Spain in 1808 and established an interim government under the name of Prince Fernando.
Soon, other Spanish local councils and their overseas territorial councils announced their allegiance to the Seville parliament and its provisional government. The French army's offensive made the provisional government temporarily retreat to Jugades. However, with the help of the British army, the Spanish won many victories that year, which caused Napoleon to fight in person the next year. However, the Spanish changed to guerrilla tactics, which made the French headache. In the end, under the command of the Duke of Wellington, the Spanish, in 1814, drove the French army out of the country.
On the other hand, the Peninsula War gradually led Spain's overseas colonies towards independence. Due to the announcement by Britain of a maritime blockade on countries and their colonies participating in the continental system. At the same time as allegiance to the interim government of the Crown Prince of Spain, the Spanish Overseas Territory Councils declared independence from Spain and joined the UK's foreign trade system, and even local councils such as Buenos Aires and Caracas sent ambassadors to the UK. Although many local councils surrendered to the representatives sent by Fernando VII after the Peninsula War, some liberal leaders, such as Simon Bolivar, were forced to flee, but ultimately the Spanish American colonies successfully separated from Spain under the leadership of these leaders.
During the war, the Spanish Parliament passed the 1812 Spanish Constitution with the constitutional monarchy as the keynote, but Fernando VII thought that the Constitution was too biased towards liberals and refused to recognize it when he ascended the throne. Fernando VII restored authoritarian rule and the Enlightenment era in Spain came to an end, followed by a political struggle between monarchy and civil rights that lasted for nearly two centuries.

But time has changed, and although Fernando VII temporarily secured his throne, his conservative anti liberal policies led to his loss of the hearts and minds of his local citizens and overseas colonies. And Fernando's nightmare began to erupt in South America. In 1816, Simon Bolivar returned to South America and launched an attack on New Grenada from Venezuela, marking the beginning of a wave of independence for South American countries. In the same year, Argentina declared independence. The following year, Jose de Saint Martin crossed the Andes Mountains and invaded Chile, which immediately declared independence.
Although Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Central America were still in hand, Fernando VII was unwilling to lose the vast land of southern South America. In 1820, Fernando VII announced the convening of troops in Cadiz to recover lost territories in South America. But generals such as Rafael de Rego rebelled while the king was ordering troops in Cadiz, urging the government to reply to the 1812 constitution, which led to an uprising in the Galicia region and ultimately led to a national civil war.
On March 7 of the same year, the palace in Madrid was surrounded by liberal troops. On March 10, Fernando VII was forced to agree to the restoration of the constitution and appointed liberal figures to form the "Progressista" government. As soon as the new government was established, it implemented a new policy that included limiting the secular power of the church, including the abolition of the Inquisition and the Jesuit Church; Also reorganized the Spanish administrative region, dividing the country into 52 provinces, and weakened the power of local feudalism and autonomy; Fernando VII was placed under house arrest in disguised form.
In the face of the new government's policies, the conservatives in the Western colonies of America were very concerned and worried about the spread of the wave of liberalism. In 1821, conservative gentry in Mexico submitted a request to the Spanish government to establish a separate monarch. The liberal government allowed Mexico to become independent and signed the Cordoba Agreement with Mexico on August 24 of the same year.
In South America, Saint Martin invaded Peru in 1820 and was welcomed by local citizens into the capital city of Lima the following year. The Spanish governor in Peru was forced to flee inland and successfully organized a counterattack. It was not until Bolivar and Antonio Jos é Sucre led their army into Peru in 1823 and successfully joined forces with Saint Martin's forces that the coalition defeated the Spanish royalists in the Battle of Junin í n and the Battle of Ayacuccio, and captured the Spanish governor alive, ending Spain's colonial rule on the American continent.
The policies of the new government, combined with the economic downturn and losses in the American continent, have led to uprisings by the royalist parties in some regions, resulting in fierce wars in the Navarre, Aragon, and Catalonia regions. The rebellion spread to Madrid in 1823, but was suppressed by the government. But the chaos in Spain and the liberal government have led to persistent concerns in Europe. In 1822, the five countries of England, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia held the Verona Conference, which allowed France to intervene in the Spanish Civil War.
In April of the following year, France formed a force known as "Les cente mille fils) de Saint Louis" and attacked Spain. Although the progressive government attempted to call for another war of independence, its unpopular policies ultimately led to the French army taking Madrid, ending the governance of the progressive government and the wave of liberalism in Spain.

In 1823, the progressive government was dissolved, and the leader of the coup, Rego, was hanged and became a martyr in the hearts of liberals and republicans. Fernando VII later restored the power of the Jesuit Church, the Inquisition, and local feudalism and autonomy. However, he could not reverse the fact that Spain lost its colonies in the Americas forever because Britain and the United States helped the emerging South American republics in the name of Monroe Doctrine. At this time, the Spanish government is also committed to restoring economic development. But the inheritance issue of Fernando VII has become a major concern for the country and has also led Spain into a "decade full of ominous omens".
Fernando VII had only two daughters, and according to the commonly used principles of the Saric Code in Spain, the throne should have been passed on to his brother Carlos Maria Isidero. But Fernando was worried that his brother's extreme conservative policies would lead to the decline of the country. Therefore, in 1830, he issued the "Pragm á tica Sanci ó n", which changed the order of succession and included his own daughter in the order of succession. And in his later years, he befriended the liberals in order to show their support for his eldest daughter, later Isabelle II.
Three years after the promulgation of the edict, Fernando VII passed away, Isabelle II succeeded, Queen Mary Christina became regent, and a war between conservatives and liberals - the First Carlos War - finally broke out. At this time, Carlos Maria Isidero declared war on Isabella II on the grounds of not recognizing the 1830 Imperial Edict. The people who supported him as the King of Spain are known as the Carlos Party, mainly composed of old nobles and conservatives in the Catholic Church. The war lasted for 7 years, with the main war zones including the Basque, Navarre, Catalonia, and Aragon regions in eastern and northern Spain. During the war, Carlos attacked the Spanish capital Madrid in 1837. In 1839, the main force of the Carlos Party was shattered, and Carlos was forced to flee to France. In July 1840, all members of the Carlos Party who fought in Spain were eliminated, and the throne of Isabella II was finally secured.
The reign of Isabella II in 1843 marked the darkest and most chaotic period in Spanish history. From then on until the Queen abdicated in 1868, palace conspiracies and coup revolutions emerged one after another. In 25 years, Spain had 34 different governments, and various sycophant groups came to power. The Queen seems to have a particular fondness for the reactionary elements in the military and church, which has led her to lose the support of the Spanish people, especially the reformists and all progressive individuals. In the end, her government was overthrown by a coup led by reformist general Juan Prim in 1868 and forced to flee to France at the end of September of the same year. On June 25, 1870, Isabella II officially abdicated in Paris, hoping that her son Alfonso could inherit the crown of Spain. However, the regent led by Francisco Serrano chose the Italian prince, Amedio de Savoy, as the monarch of Spain, making the Bourbon royal family lose the Spanish throne again.

On December 28, 1874, the leader of the royalist faction, Arsenio Martinez de Campos, launched a coup, overthrowing the government of the First Republic and declaring Prince Alfonso, son of Isabelle II, King Alfonso XII of Spain. Alfonso XII returned to China the following year and officially took office. Subsequently, Alfonso successfully defeated Carlos, the successor of the Carlos family who claimed to be "Carlos VII," in 1876, ending the Second Carlos Party War. In the same year, Alfonso XII ordered the parliament to draft a new constitution in order to introduce a British style bipartisan system in Spanish political life. Unfortunately, Alfonso XII passed away early in 1885, leaving behind a posthumous child.
The following year, Alfonso XIII was born and became the king of Spain, with Queen Mary Christina of Austria serving as regent. The Empress Dowager maintained the policies of her predecessor Alfonso XII and was committed to restoring Spain's economy, but Spain's modernization still lags far behind other European countries and the emerging superpower United States. Therefore, in the Spanish American War of 1898, Spain was completely defeated by the United States, losing the Philippines and all American territories.
But the nightmares of the royal family came one after another. In 1902, when Alfonso XIII came to power, he had to face a series of revolutionary movements, with the most intense ones occurring in Madrid and Barcelona. The people took the banner of overthrowing the monarchy. Under public pressure, Alfonso XIII carried out some reforms in legislation, education, and religion. During the First World War, Alfonso XIII maintained a neutral policy, thereby saving the weakened Spain from the flames of war.
However, Alfonso XIII made a fatal decision on September 13, 1923, which was to appoint General Miguel Primo de Rivera to establish a dictatorship. This finally led to the revolution in Spain in 1931, the overthrow of the Rivera regime and the establishment of the Second Republic. Alfonso XIII was forced to abdicate and went into exile overseas, and later passed away in Rome

But the lifespan of the Second Republic of Spain is not long either. In 1936, Francisco Franco launched the Spanish Civil War and achieved victory in 1939, establishing a dictatorship. In 1947, Franco declared Spain a monarchy, but it was uncertain who was the monarch. He only claimed himself as the "Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Spain (Jefe) del) Estado (y) General í simo (de) los) Ej é rcitos) Españ oles)" and also served as the Prime Minister of the government. However, he added the customary opening phrase of the monarchy title "Por la Gracia (de) Dios)" before his own title.
In 1969, Franco unexpectedly conferred the title of "Prince of Spain" on Don Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII. In 1973, Franco relinquished the position of Prime Minister to Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, and rumors of Blanco inheriting Franco's position quickly spread. But in December of the same year, Blanco was assassinated by the Basque separatist group ETA, making Prince Don Juan Carlos the most likely heir to Franco in rumors. In 1973 and 1975, when Franco became seriously ill, he was both sent to prison by Don Juan Carlos, which made people believe this statement.
On October 30, 1975, Franco entrusted the Spanish military and political power to Don Juan Carlos for full control. On November 22 of the same year, Franco passed away due to illness. The Spanish Parliament announced that Prince Don Juan Carlos had become the King of Spain, in honor of Juan Carlos I. On the 27th, Juan Carlos I held a ceremony of being enthroned with oil, becoming the actual King of Spain. But at that time, his father Prince Juan, Duke of Barcelona, was the legitimate heir to the throne. Until May 14, 1977, the Duke of Barcelona officially relinquished the right to inherit the throne and transferred it to his eldest son Juan Carlos I. From then on, Juan Carlos became the true King of Spain.
After Juan Carlos I succeeded to the throne, he did not continue his dictatorship according to his promise to Franco, but instead opened party bans and began promoting democratic reforms. He appointed Adolf Suarez as Prime Minister in 1976 to promote democratic reforms, and held Spain's first comprehensive general election after the war in 1977. In 1981, King Juan Carlos personally came forward and successfully suppressed an anti democratic military coup. However, due to his successful response, King Juan Carlos' support rating remained high for a long time. The following year, Spain's left-wing party, the Socialist Party of Workers, gained power and became a major achievement of Spanish democracy.

According to the 1978 Spanish Constitution, the Spanish throne will be inherited by descendants of His Majesty Juan Carlos I. The current number one heir to the throne is Prince Felipe, the eldest son of the king and Queen Sophia. In 2005, the daughter of Crown Prince Felipe, Leonor, was born, becoming the second heir to the Spanish throne.
On June 2, 2014, Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy announced at a press conference that King Juan Carlos I of Spain had announced his abdication to Crown Prince Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso. On June 18, 2014, Juan Carlos I signed a decree in Madrid, the capital of Spain, officially declaring his abdication.

Duchy of Parma
In 1731, the Duke of Parma, Antonio Farnese, passed away without any offspring, and the duchy was subsequently transferred to Antonio's sister, Queen Elizabeth Farnese of Spain. Elizabeth's eldest son, Prince Carlos, at the age of 15, obtained the Duchy of Parma as his fiefdom as a grandson. In 1738, the Duchy of Parma established the Vienna Treaty as a condition for Spain to exchange for Sicily and Naples. But soon Spain regained the Duchy of Parma in 1748 through the Second Treaty of Aachen and bestowed it on Prince Felipe I, the younger brother of Carlos III. Although the title was transferred to another person during the Napoleonic Wars, it was successfully restored by Carlo II, the great grandson of Philip I, in 1748. The Duchy was later annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859, during the reign of Roberto I, the grandson of Carlo II.
Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily
In 1734, the Duke of Parma, later known as King Carlos III of Spain, seized Naples and Sicily from Austria while the Habsburg royal family was mired in the war of Polish succession and had no time to look south. He also served as the monarchs of both countries. His throne was confirmed in the Treaty of Vienna in 1748. In 1759, Carlos inherited the Spanish throne and ceded the throne of Naples and Sicily to his second son Ferdinand I. However, Fernando was unable to withstand the waves of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and thus lost the throne of Naples twice in 1799 and 1806, narrowly surviving the throne of Sicily.
Two Sicilian Kingdoms
In 1815, Napoleon suffered Waterloo, and Joachim Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law as the king of Naples, was forced to abdicate. Ferdinand I regained control of Naples and the following year unified the two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Two Sicilians, becoming King Ferdinand I. But soon the wave of Italian unification overthrew the two Sicilian kingdoms. In 1860, during the reign of Francisco II, the great grandson of Ferdinand I, the two Sicilian kingdoms were annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
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On November 6, 1911, Prince Felix, the son of the last Robert I, married Grand Duke Charlotte of Luxembourg and became the husband of Luxembourg. His surname, Bourbon Parma, was also brought into the Luxembourg royal family as a result. In 1964, Grand Duke Charlotte abdicated to his son Jean, making Jean the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg to come from the Bourbon family, but the royal and dynasty names remained Nassau Weilburg.