Ferdinand VII of Spain

Ferdinand VII was twice King of Spain in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his supporters as the Desired and to his detractors as the Felon King . After being overthrown by Napoleon in 1808 he linked his monarchy to counterrevolution and reactionary policies that produced a deep rift in Spain between his forces on the right and liberals on the left. He reestablished the absolutist monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. He suppressed the liberal press 181433 and jailed many of its editors and writers. Under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, and the country entered into civil war on his death.

Ferdinand was ostensibly the eldest surviving child of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Ferdinand was born in the palace of El Escorial near Madrid. The Queens confessor Fray Juan Almaraz wrote in his last will that she admitted in articulo mortis that none, none of her sons and daughters, none was of the legitimate marriage. In his youth Ferdinand occupied the position of an heir apparent who was excluded from all share in government by his parents and their favourite advisor and Prime Minister, Manuel Godoy. National discontent with the government produced a rebellion in 1805. In October 1807, Ferdinand was arrested for his complicity in the El Escorial Conspiracy in which the rebels aimed at securing foreign support from the French Emperor Napoleon. When the conspiracy was discovered, Ferdinand submitted to his parents.

Source: Wikipedia