Best possible 18th century and onward for Spain?

IOTL the 18th century saw the visible decline of the Spanish Empire (though one could argue it started the moment Philip II drew his last breath), even though it saw some successes as well, culminating in a brief renaissance under Charles III. It was all downhill for Spain from that point on however, with Charles IV and Ferdinand VII having the political acumen of a fish but with far less of the inbreeding Charles the Bewitched had.

So what sort of PODs would help Spain not get run roughshod from 1750 or so?
 
Probably best would be that Charles III lives longer or there not be French revolution and Napoleon.
 
Napoleon dies and Sieyes is able to implement his oligarchical republic. The new Enlightenment regime makes peace in Europe and continues a long-lasting alliance with Spain. Spain benefits from having a strong, modern ally and has room to continue reforming its empire.

I'm not sure what makes Charles IV such a supremely bad ruler. Almost his entire reign was spent dealing with the Revolution/Napoleon after all-anybody would have a hard time.
 
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One way to do it is preventing the American independence. The Bourbon reforms were going quite well for their intended goals in Spanish America, and any rebellion or uprising in the colonies was always about a local issue and against the King's government, but not the King himself (i.e. they weren't secessionist). Independence was not an experience in the Americans' horizon of expectations until the United States seceded from Britian, which was an event within its horizon of expectations due to the English notions of freedom and tyranny and so on, but wasn't an idea in Spanish America.
 
One way to do it is preventing the American independence. The Bourbon reforms were going quite well for their intended goals in Spanish America, and any rebellion or uprising in the colonies was always about a local issue and against the King's government, but not the King himself (i.e. they weren't secessionist). Independence was not an experience in the Americans' horizon of expectations until the United States seceded from Britian, which was an event within its horizon of expectations due to the English notions of freedom and tyranny and so on, but wasn't an idea in Spanish America.

And the French Revolution leading to the Peninsular War, causing destabilization in Madrid didn't help either.
 
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