The Return of the Bourbons, an allegorical painting ushering in the return of the Bourbons from their exile in 1814.
In France, Louis XVIII found himself finally firmly established upon his throne, feeling a bit more secure with Napoleon’s exile to distant St. Helena, rather than Elba. Having see how quickly the French people turned against him, he was determined not to repeat the same mistakes of his first Restoration. Voluntarily stepping back from politics, he transformed the Conseil du Roi into a tighter knit Privy Council, with the expulsion of his brother and nephews from it, intending not to allow his family to influence the policy of his government. The French King’s government had to deal with the aftermath of Waterloo, including the White Terror, and elections brought the reactionary party into power, forcing Louis XVIII to depart with his beloved Talleyrand, and the Duke of Richelieu was appointed to the post of Prime Minister. A further crisis developed in 1816, when the severe Year Without a Summer blighted crops and reduced many to great hunger, causing Louis XVIII to relax tariffs, much to ire of the great landowners who were the bulwark of the Bourbon regime. 1816 also saw the reactionary Chamber of Deputies dissolved and a more malleable one elected.
On the domestic front, the Duke of Berry saw his marriage to the Englishwoman Amy Brown annulled on the grounds that it had never received consent from king, and leaving Berry free to remarry a proper, royal, catholic, princess. It was not just the fact it hadn’t been an advantageous marriage, but the fact that Berry had sired two illegitimate children proved his fertility in lieu of his impotent brother, the Duke of Angoulême. Yet despite this alleged impotence, in early 1816 the Duchess of Angoulême was happy to announce to the King and the Count d’Artois that she finally believed herself with child. Wide-eyed and amazed, given the Angoulême’s had been childless for nearly twenty years, the news was greeted with great joy, with all the boasting of the divinity of the Bourbon blood and that it was truly a miracle. For the time being, the king chose to put the Duke of Berry’s future marriage plans on the backburner, specifically requesting that the Count of Blancas cease making inquiries about Carolina of the Two Sicilies until more was known as the Duchess of Angoulême’s condition.
Yet as the months rolled by, despite some of the obvious symptoms that she might actually be pregnant, it was soon learned that the Duchess of Angoulême was not actually pregnant—her symptoms actually represented the onset of menopause[1]. Now, not even the divine intervention from above could hope to give neither the Duchess nor the Duke of Angoulême a son. This complicated matters in regards to Berry’s marriage, as the King of Two Sicilies had grown weary waiting on s response in regards to the match with his eldest daughter. With the match broken off, Louis XVIII quickly found a bride through the House of Saxony to Princess Amalie[2], a beautiful young woman greatly interested in music. The pair married first by proxy in Dresden and finally in person in September of 1816. The Duke is quite enchanted with her looks and it is not long before he carries her off to the marriage bed. The Princess soon lives up to her Saxon fertility, giving birth to a daughter named Élisabeth-Charlotte in the autumn of 1817, a few short days before her nine month anniversary to the Duke of Berry. It is a girl, but it is a reminder that the Bourbon line can continue on, and that Berry will be the one to do so.
Ferdinand VII upon his release and restoration in Spain, being greeted in Valencia, 1814.
In Spain, Ferdinand VII is finally restored upon his throne in 1814. His first act of business? To abrogate the liberal 1812 Spanish Constitution, claiming that he never consented to its creation. As such, it is an illegal document. His abolition of the constitution provokes great ire amongst liberals and the general public. Ferdinand is no Louis XVIII; he cannot understand that the clock cannot be turned back. As such, he signs agreements with the clergy and the nobility to restore the old state affairs even before the fall of Napoleon. Ferdinand is in a tenuous position; the Juntas that once supported him against Joseph Bonaparte are worried over his actions and liberals are greatly dismayed. Even the army with its liberal leanings has made the King of Spain’s position tenuous. Yet despite the tensions, the Congress of Vienna cemented international support for the absolutist regime in Spain.
Yet Ferdinand VII would soon be in for a rude awakening. In the New World, the Juntas who had supported him throughout the Napoleonic Wars were now cautious of his intentions. Caracas and Buenos Aires, both who had declared independence in 1810 and had sent ambassadors to the United Kingdom were also worried over his exact intentions. Years of warfare had separated the colonies from the metropole and had also disrupted traditional trade with Spain, to the benefit of Britain, who by 1814 had extensive trade contacts with the Spanish American colonies. And so, backed up by the Holy Alliance despite calls from the sword to be tempered, Ferdinand VII plotted to restore things to the way they were, totally and completely. This included his empire in the Americas.
In his private life, Ferdinand VII was suspicious and unstable man. His autocracy was run on a whim, and he shifted his ministers without a care, often entering the houses of these men himself before handing them over to his cruel enemies. Childless and unmarried, having lost his first wife in 1806, Ferdinand’s heir was his brother, the Charles, the Count of Molina. Although the Bourbon line was certainly not on terrible footing given the brood of his children his grandfather had born, with branches of the Spanish family reigning in both the Duchy of Lucca and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Ferdinand was determined to remarry and sire a son to inherit his crown. Thus in September of 1816 the king was duly married to the Portuguese Infanta, Maria Isabel de Bragança, who also happened to be his niece. The marriage was not the only to occur within that month, however, as days before the king’s marriage his brother was married to another Portuguese Infanta (who quite happened to be his niece as well), Maria Francisca. So two marriages cemented the ties between Portugal as well as Spain, with hopes of progeny for both.
Destitution of the Captain-General of Venezuela, 1810.
In Latin America, Ferdinand VII began his plans to reassert control over his rebellious colonies. Just as he declared the Constitution of 1812 invalid as it had been done without his consent, he immediately alienated the juntas of South America by declaring that they were invalid as well. News of Ferdinand’s reaction began to sink into the Spanish Americas over the course of three weeks to nine months, provoking outrage amongst those who had initially declared in Ferdinand’s name.
Ferdinand’s action created the first distinctive split between two groups that could’ve been allies of Ferdinand—the autonomous governments that had not yet declared independence from Spain, as well as Spanish liberals who intended to create a fully representative government that would include the Spanish colonies as well, a definite alternative to many territories that did not wish to fully break from Spain. By reacting against the clock, Ferdinand alienated those elements that would’ve been potential allies. So began the split between the Royalists—supporters of the Spanish monarchy, and the Patriots, who favored independence.
Through 1814 and 1815, Ferdinand began to constitute expeditionary forces to reestablish Spanish control of the Spanish colonies. Chile was reconquered in 1814, whilst New Granada fell within 1816. Even in Mexico, the independence movement had lost steam with the execution of leading revolutionaries in 1811. So the forces of reaction began to swarm back into the colonies. Yet despite setbacks and even the reestablishment of royal control in many areas, the patriots remained commited to ousting Ferdinand and his swarm of Jesuits and cupreous nobility from their countries.
Acclamation of João VI of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
In Portugal and Brazil, the pre-war status quo remained. The Prince-Regent, João remained in Rio de Janeiro, effectively ruling the Portuguese Empire from Brazil. With the fall of Napoleon in 1815 there were calls for the royal family to return to Portugal, but Joâo was reluctant to leave. The royal family was far more popular in Brazil, he had more freedom, and he thus remained unwilling to return to Europe. So Portugal remained under British military rule and was effectively a Brazilian colony: a reversal from the centuries before.
Many Portuguese asserted the return of the royal family as Brazil was merely a colony; it was not right for the metropole to be governed from the colony. All while the Brazilian courtiers pressed the Prince-Regent that Brazil ought to raised to a proper status, that of a kingdom, so it could enjoy the equal rights that Portugal enjoyed. In 1815 the Prince-Regent issued an act raising Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the same law the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves was born. It 1816, the insane Queen Maria finally passed away, and the Prince-Regent succeeded his mother as Joâo VI. Despite the new status of Brazil, the sovereigns maintained the Portuguese regnal numbering. By 1817 things were tense, but neither side had moved yet. The Portuguese continued to chafe under English military rule and economic domination, and the humiliation that their king remained tied to Rio de Janeiro and refused to return to Portugal.
The domestic front of the Portuguese family was rather calm in the face of these constitutional changes. The Prince of Brazil, Pedro, was married to Leopoldina of Austria, following the urging of the king who wished to see his son marry a Habsburg princess and Metternich chiding that it was now her turn to become a wife. She finally arrived in the country in 1817, awe struck by her husband. But what she saw and what he really was would soon change her opinion of him.
[1] This actually happened IOTL. I’ve heard stories of her becoming pregnant in 1816 and miscarrying, but it was ultimately menopause, occurring in 1820, though I’ve heard 1816 as well. This minor event continues for some months further than OTL, manifesting it’s self much like a phantom pregnancy and negatively impacts the marriage negotiations with Berry’s OTL wife, causing them to be dropped.
[2]As Berry’s negotiations were abruptly cut off over the Angoulême’s “miracle conception,” the King of Two Sicilies was greatly angry and refused to consider the match further. Louis XVIII decides on a Saxon Princess, given his connections through his own mother. Princess Amalie and Berry are third cousins.
End Book One.