Editing Charles III of Spain (section)

==Spanish imperial legacy==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Isabel de Parma.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Portrait of [[Elisabeth Farnese]]]]
In 1713, the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] concluded the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1701–14) and reduced the political and military power of [[Spain]], which the [[House of Bourbon]] had ruled since 1700. Under the terms of the treaty, the [[Spanish Empire]] retained its American territories and the Philippines, but ceded the [[Spanish Netherlands]], the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinia]], the [[Duchy of Milan]], and the [[State of Presidi]] to [[Habsburg Monarchy|Habsburg Austria]]. The [[House of Savoy]] gained the [[Kingdom of Sicily]], and the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] gained the island of [[Menorca]] and the fortress at [[Gibraltar]].

In 1700, Charles's father, originally a French Bourbon prince, Philip of Anjou, became [[Philip V of Spain|King of Spain]] as Philip V. For the remainder of his reign (1700–46), he continually attempted to regain the ceded territories in Europe. In 1714, after the death of the king's first wife, the Princess [[Maria Luisa of Savoy|Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy]], the Piacenza Cardinal [[Giulio Alberoni]] successfully arranged the swift marriage between Philip and the ambitious [[Elisabeth Farnese]], niece and stepdaughter of [[Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma]]. Elisabeth and Philip married on 24 December 1714; she quickly proved a domineering consort and influenced King Philip to make Cardinal Giulio Alberoni the [[prime minister]] of Spain in 1715.

On 20 January 1716, Elisabeth gave birth to the [[Infante]] Charles of Spain at the ''[[Royal Alcázar of Madrid]]''. He was fourth in line to the Spanish throne, after three elder half-brothers: the Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias (who ruled briefly as [[Louis I of Spain]] before dying in 1724); the [[Infante Philip of Spain (1712–1719)|Infante Felipe]] (who died in 1719); and [[Ferdinand VI of Spain|Ferdinand]] (the future Ferdinand VI). Because the Duke Francesco of Parma and his heir were childless, Elisabeth sought the [[Duchy of Parma and Piacenza]] for Charles, since he was unlikely to be king of Spain. She also sought for him the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], because [[Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany]] (1671–1737) was also childless. He was a distant cousin of hers, related via her great-grandmother [[Margherita de' Medici]], giving Charles a claim to the title through that lineage.