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Note: The POD of this timeline is 1661; the premise is that Felipe Próspero, eldest son of King Felipe IV of Spain and his niece, Maria Anna of Austria, does not die at the age of four, but instead survives to adulthood. The boy was by all accounts a healthy child, just as his deceased half-brother Baltasar Carlos had been, and not at all like his younger brother, the mentally handicapped Carlos (called, ‘the Bewitched’ in OTL).

The Regency, 1665-1673
On September 17, 1665, the sixty year old King Felipe IV of Spain and the Indies dies quietly at his magnificent Buen Retiro Palace, just outside of the royal capital of Madrid, worn out by syphilis, constant war with France, and the tragic death of his eldest son Baltasar Carlos fourteen years earlier. He is succeeded by his only surviving son, Felipe Próspero, the eight year old Prince of the Asturias.

The boy is immediately proclaimed ‘Don Felipe V, by the Grace of God, King of Castile, León, Aragón, Navarra, the Sicilies, etc.’ His mother, Queen Maria Anna of Spain (née Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria) is soon after confirmed as regent for her son by the will of her late husband. The Austrian party of the queen mother finds itself soon met by the opposition of Don Juan José de Austria (b. 1629), bastard son of King Felipe IV, and his supporters, who resent the foreign queen and her German agents. Nevertheless, the Austrians remain powerful enough to maintain a firm grip on power, at least for the moment.

Queen Maria Anna and her advisors, meanwhile, have inherited a political and financial mess from the late king. The treasury is badly depleted, even with regular shipments of bullion still in progress from the Indies. Further, the war with Portugal over the last decade, now de facto independent and recognized by many European powers, has sapped the strength of the Spanish state. This is only worsened by mounting tensions with the French, now discontent with the inability of the Spanish crown to pay the full dowry of the Infanta María Teresa (b. 1638), wife of King Louis XIV of France, as promised in the 1660 Treaty of the Pyrenees.

Franco-Spanish relations finally reach a breakdown in May, 1667, when King Louis declares war on his royal brother-in-law. The French, unhappy with the Spanish failure to fully comply with the treaty, and spurred on the by the dynastic ambitions of their king, invade the Spanish Netherlands that same month. The king of France lays claim to the Spanish lands there, in the right of his wife, in place of her unpaid dowry. The Spanish troops garrisoning the border are at this point in time lacking and unprepared for the French onslaught.

When news of the miserable Spanish defeats in the Low Countries reaches Madrid, the Austrian party soon finds its weak support further eroded, the nobility’s confidence slowly slipping. While the Queen Regent manages to raise sufficient funds and troops, she realizes that there is little choice but to mend fences with her rival, Don Juan de Austria. She manages to pacify him and his supporters by appointing him commander of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, dispatching the bastard prince and his new army immediately to reinforce the crumbling frontiers in Flanders. It is a desperate move, and one that will have further consequences in the future.

Meanwhile, fearing a Franco-Portuguese alliance, and the possibility of having further French reinforcements sent to the frontiers of the rebellious Portugal, Queen Maria Anna decides to withdraw Spanish troops from Portugal and open negotiations for a peace settlement there. As the Spanish army has been met with constant defeat on that front now for the last few years, and has been further bogged down by the expense of constant war with the Portuguese, this move is strategic, if nothing else. Under the advice of her advisors, the Queen Regent concludes the Peace of Lisbon in 1668, effectively out maneuvering the French and insuring the neutrality of Portugal in the current war, as well as freeing up Spanish troops there to be sent to the front lines of the Netherlands.

Nevertheless, the treaty, which recognizes Portuguese independence and the legitimacy of the Braganza dynasty, is immensely unpopular in Spain. It is opposed by most of the nobility and court in Madrid, and only serves to further isolate the Austrian party. In addition, Maria Anna is also blamed for the failures of Don Juan in the Netherlands, who, while meeting with limited success in Flanders, has found himself unable to block French advances in the Franche-Comté, now almost completely under French occupation.

However, Maria Anna is saved in 1668, when, alarmed by the successes of French troops in the Low Countries, France’s allies thus far, including the Dutch Republic and Sweden, turn against King Louis and threaten to ally with the Spanish against him in the face of continued aggression. The queen immediately begins making overtures to these governments, and is soon able to form the beginnings of a coalition. In the end, King Louis, faced with a triple coalition of the Swedish, Dutch and Spanish, finds himself forced to back-down with any further hostility. In May of that year, the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle is then signed, in which the French are forced to withdraw from the now ravaged Flanders and Franche-Comté, though they receive in compensation the cities of Tournai, Lille and Charleroi.

The humiliation of Spain during the course of the war, its good fortune in the end notwithstanding, is enough to finally topple the already unstable regency. In desperation, Queen Maria Anna recalls Don Juan from the Netherlands, hoping to have him placed under house arrest on his return and do what she can to at least neutralize his opposition. However, the bastard prince soon learns of the plot, and upon arriving in Barcelona in early 1669 and hearing of the current state of affairs, decides to march on Madrid.

Her position at its weakest, the queen regent is unable to respond quickly enough, and Don Juan enters Madrid in triumph, taking custody of the eleven year old king. The queen’s remaining supporters are imprisoned; Maria Anna herself, now disgraced, is soon after exiled to Toledo and placed under house arrest in the Alcázar there. She will later be exiled to Milan in 1672. The Council of Castile, immediately installs Don Juan as regent for his young half-brother, with the rest of the empire following suite.

The new regent immediately turns his attention to France. With Franco-Spanish relations remaining unstable since the end of the War of Devolution two years earlier, Don Juan soon seeks to ensure an alliance with the French. Known to be pro-French in his sympathies, the regent soon opens diplomatic discussions for a stronger alliance between the two realms, with the issue of the Spanish Netherlands and the Burgundian inheritance being crucial in the discussions.

However, when war breaks out between the French and the Dutch Republic in 1671, the Spanish soon realize that they have their ideal opportunity. With Spanish finances just beginning to recover under the new reforms of Don Juan and his advisors, another war will be disastrous. Don Juan knows this, and thus, decides to opt for neutrality in the conflict. Using his territorial position in the Low Countries, and recent good relations with the Dutch and the Swedes in the past war, the regent manages to ensure peace with France in 1672 by the treaty of Bordeaux, which he accomplishes through threats of Spanish alliance with France’s enemies, and vague promises to cede the Franche-Comté to King Louis in the near-future—all of which is only a ploy to buy time for Spanish recovery.

To seal the treaty, the fourteen year old King Felipe V is betrothed to his ten year old cousin, Marie-Louise d’Orléans (b. 1662), niece of King Louis XIV, and the highest ranked princess of the blood in France. This is done both for political gain, and also dynastic practicality, as King Felipe V has no surviving legitimate brothers, and a suitable bride is desperately needed as soon as possible to ensure the succession. Thus far, negotiations have been in play for the king’s marriage to his niece, Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, the daughter of his uncle and brother-in-law, Emperor Leopold I of Austria (b. 1640). However, as the girl is still barely three years old, any proposed union will have to wait at least nine years, time that the regent does not feel that the realm has to spare.

As can be expected, the agreement is received with great hostility in Vienna, where Emperor Leopold has been greatly anticipating yet another marriage between the two branches of the House of Habsburg. Nevertheless, he continues to remain on friendly terms with Madrid, for both the sake of family unity, and out of love for his wife and niece, the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain, sister to King Felipe V. Her death later that year, in 1673, will be a great blow to both parties, and an obstacle in relations between the two states.

Meanwhile, in late November, 1673, King Felipe V finally comes of age. The sixteen year old king is hurriedly declared to have reached his majority in Madrid. While the regency is declared to have ended, the cautious king decides to retain his half-brother as his chief minister, appointing him president of the Council of Castile in early December. This comes amidst great speculation as to whether or not the King Felipe will retain the Austrian sympathies of his mother. This proves unfounded when the young king declines to recall his mother from exile in Italy, being uncomfortable with her previous political meddling during his youth and the last days of his father’s reign. He also, much to the dismay of his recently widowed uncle in Austria, declares his intention to continue with the proposed French match, though he sends his warmest regards and pledges of eternal friendship and brotherhood to the Emperor.
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