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royal Guardia de Corps (bodyguard regi-
ment) in 1784. He attached himself to the
Prince and Princess of Asturias and began a
rapid rise to power when the prince suc-
ceeded as C
HARLES
IV in 1788. Although
the handsome young guardsman was
reputed to be the lover of the new queen,
María Luisa, he was considered by Charles
IV to be his best friend and wisest adviser,
with the result that Godoy soon supplanted
the ministers inherited from the previous
reign. He rose rapidly in military and civil
rank, being created duke of Alcudia and
chief minister in 1792. Regarded by the
royal couple as a virtual political genius,
Godoy was merely a man of more personal
charm than formal education, affable in
temperament but mediocre in judgment,
and no less overwhelmed by the great inter-
national crises precipitated by the French
Revolution than were his sovereigns.
After initially taking Spain into the anti-
French coalition Godoy signed a treaty
with France in 1795 that reversed the alli-
ance. This confirmed the king's high opin-
ion of his statesmanship and won him the
title
“príncipe de la Paz”
(prince of the
peace), a designation which many Span-
iards found near-blasphemous. Opposition
to the royal favorite increased after Spain
sustained a number of defeats at the hands
of her new antagonist, Britain. The loss of
Trinidad and the return of L
OUISIANA
to
France merely intensified dissatisfaction.
Even his inclusion of able and independent
public figures within the administration
merely provided him with strong oppo-
nents inside his own ministry. Forced by
French manipulations into a war with Por-
tugal, Godoy led the army in person, the
first commander in Spanish history to
assume the title of
“generalísimo.”
In 1805 the next stage in Spain's entan-
glement with France (now ruled by Emperor
Napoléon I) cost her the destruction of her
fleet at the B
ATTLE
OF
T
RAFALGAR
, and even
Godoy was seeking an alternative. His secret
plan to join in the latest anti-French coali-
tion collapsed when Prussia was defeated in
1806 and Russia soon sought a settlement
with Napoléon. Godoy now seriously con-
templated having Charles IV proclaimed
emperor of the Americas and withdrawing
the royal family to the New World where
they could be personally secure and at the
same time strengthen Spain's weakening
ties with her colonies. When nothing came
of this scheme Godoy entered into a new
round of negotiations with Paris to parti-
tion Portugal, reserving the southern region
for himself as sovereign prince of A
LGARVE
.
By 1808, with French troops already in
Spain pursuant to their invasion of Portu-
gal, Godoy was almost universally detested
by Spaniards of all ranks, except for his
regal patrons. Although generally believed
to have fathered several of the queen's chil-
dren, he was still trusted and esteemed by
Charles IV. Finally a band of military and
civilian conspirators, supporting the infuri-
ated and disgusted prince Ferdinand,
deposed the hapless sovereign in March.
Godoy was close to being killed by the
mutineers, and only the intervention of a
French general saved him. Soon after, the
ousted Charles IV and the newly installed
F
ERDINAND
VII, along with the rest of the
Spanish Bourbons, were lured to Bayonne
for a conference with the French dictator.
There they were declared superfluous to
Napoléon's needs, and his brother was des-
ignated J
OSEPH
I, king of Spain.
Godoy later joined Charles and María
Luisa in exile. None of them ever returned
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