History UsefulNotes / PhilipV

War returned a few years later when the viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty navy commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar, which merged into the War of the Austrian Succession for a new chance to recover more ancestral territories in Italy. This time the results weren't as spectacular, with Montemar becoming an IgnoredExpert and being replaced by the less skilled Jean Thierry, Count of Gages, but Elisabeth still managed to recover her homeland, the Duchy of Parma, along with some others, even if not all of them. Philip himself did not live to see the end of the war, though; he had spent his last years with his palace as his personal madhouse, with guards placed to prevent him from escaping, before finally welcoming death in 1746. He passed his seat and his demons to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI, who went to have a slightly happier life before becoming yet another victim of the Spanish throne.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV,[[note]]After the Spanish Habsburgs went extinct because of the excessive inbreeding, he took the throne because he was their closest descendant: his paternal grandmother, Maria Theresa, was UsefulNotes/PhilipIV's daughter from his first wife, Elizabeth of France, sister of the French king UsefulNotes/LouisXIII, and as a result, Elizabeth marked the passage from the old dynasty to the old one, which still rules over Spain today over three hundred years later.[[/note]] Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a shy, sweet kid with brainy interests, reportedly a prodigy child who wrote treatises on ''Literature/DonQuixote'', very influenced by his stern tutor, theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the Empire in Which the Sun Never Set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier that spent his time studying. Gathering courage, Philip arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who sincerely intended to respected the prexistent environment and save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady in his double second cousin Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy,[[note]]Their grandfathers were brothers and they also descended from UsefulNotes/PhilipIII and his wife, as well as two different branches of the Bourbon dynasty: both of them were descendants of Henry IV's daughter Christine Marie, and Maria Luisa was also a descendent of Christine's sister Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, while Philip descended from their other sister Elizabeth[[/note]] and prepared many economic and cultural reforms. In sum, everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/philipvofspain.jpg]]

* ''Film/{{Farinelli}}'' (1994). The eponymous Italian ''castrato'' sings at his court at the beginning. He's portrayed by French actor Jacques Boudet.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* He appears in ''Series/TheMinistryOfTime'' played by actor and comedian Fernando Conde. Notably, while his ridiculous madness is a big draw of the episode, the latter still shows his tragical side by having Philip admit openly how overwhelmed and broken he is.

The subsequent peace and the new queen, the domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, were the sign things weren't going to improve for him. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, brave, determined, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away warring and still did it absolutely fine. In turn, Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. In contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly an impressive woman of many talents, she didn't do her heroic ancestor much more honors due to her authoritarian and manipulative nature, as well as her lack of finesse with the people. The Spaniards openly hated Elisabeth, considering her a glorified parasite (also a ugly one due to her smallpox marks), and although Philip actually came to love her, even becoming a HenpeckedHusband to her without much complaint, they were right in that she would be a source of problems for the empire, which became the coup de grace for Philip's mental health.

Philip V of Spain (19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746), called ''El Animoso'' ("The Spirited"), was King of Spain and Duke of Anjou during the first half of the 18th century. He was the first Spanish monarch of the French Bourbon dynasty, replacing the Austrian [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House of Habsburg]] after the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, and ushered a new era in the [[UsefulNotes/TheKingdomOfSpain Spanish Empire]], characterized by Francophile politics, centralism, naff wigs, and [[RoyallyScrewedUp insanity]]. He was the longest-reigning King of Spain in history -- much to his misery.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the ''empire in which the sun never set'' was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. After the Spanish Habsburgs went extinct because of the excessive inbreeding, he took the throne because he was their closest descendant: his paternal grandmother, Maria Theresa, was Philip IV's daughter from his first wife, Elizabeth of France, sister of the French king Louis XIII, and as a result, Elizabeth marked the passage from the old dynasty to the old one, which still rules over Spain today over three hundred years later. Philip arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady in Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, his double second cousin (their grandfathers were brothers and they also descended from Philip III and his wife, as well as two different branches of the Bourbon dynasty: both of them were descendants of Henry IV's daughter Christine Marie, and Maria Luisa was also a descendent of Christine's sister Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, while Philip descended from their other sister Elizabeth), and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit the thrones of both France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- and it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, he couldn't stand his royal chores mere months after his crowning, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only fighting in the war and being with Maria Luisa seemed to bring him solace, but both war and love would become perennial double-edged swords during his reign.

The end of the war coincided with the queen's premature death from tuberculosis, which left Philip broken -- and his subsequent new wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, was a sign things weren't going to improve. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, brave, determined, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine; Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. In contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, she didn't do her famed ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, dominant and crass despite her high culture, as well as smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip's marriage to this unpleasant woman not only turned him into a HenpeckedHusband, but was also the coup de grace for him.

There years later, in 1717, the king suffered his first bout of insanity, believing the sun was attacking him while he rode his horse (MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext), and his health went down after this. He started suffering hypocondria and hallucinations in public, became obssessed with guarding off the devil through blessed clothes, and tried to fight off ghosts with his sword. In this state, Philip was convinced by Elisabeth, who was Italian, to launch a campaign to recapture the Italian territories of the Spanish Empire lost during the dynastic transition. The move couldn't have a worse timing, as the Spanish Empire was not ready still for the challenge, and even if it did, their enemies would be a whopping alliance of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and ''France'' (whose regent the Duke of Orléans was angry at Elisabeth for a conspiracy to take over the country), eventually forcing him to abandon his, or rather her aspirations. Elisabeth only managed to avoid the karma by promptly scapegoating her advisor, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni.

The king only worsened in his state, and this time nauseatingly so. He came to believe his enemies were trying to poison him with black magic, and refused to bathe, get out of his bed even to use the bathroom, or merely cut his nails on the fear they could be used for spells, with the result they got so long he couldn't walk or grab things. He had always depended heavily on the advice of his ministers and wives, but this state rendered him only barely able to reign. A HopeSpot for him came with the death of the regent of France in 1724, as Philip got lucid enough to clean up a bit and then suddenly abdicated on his underage son Louis, putting up the purported goal of "meditate about death". Some speculate he was trying to return to France and capture the vacated throne of his cherished homeland, others believe he was trying to run away from everything, and others think he was just, well, insane. In any case, however, Louis died just as suddenly, and Philip found himself pressed by Elisabeth into returning to the throne, as the next prince in line would have been the son of Philip's previous wife.

Ironically, this second stage of his reign saw a notable resurgence of the empire's military relevance, which seemed lost to history after the famed ''tercios'', now renamed ''regimientos'', had ceased stomping around in Europe (Spain certainly never got so buff again, although that was an insanely high standard, frankly speaking). Most other European armies had caught up with Habsburg Spain in military technique, while Spain in turn had lost so many resources and thinking heads in its last wars that it failed to achieve any other breakthrough, but the Bourbons ensured they would at least not fall behind the other European powers. The Spanish navy, which was ruined almost to the point of inexistence by the end of the War of Succession, had been the first target of reforms at the beginning of Philip's reign, and by this time had managed to re-grow and modernize itself to miraculous levels. The old galleon system was phased out in favor of new ships of line designed by engineer Antonio de Gaztañeta, whose methods would be copied by the British and Dutch (and when the British surpassed them again, fellow Spanish engineer Jorge Juan copied ''them'' in turn).

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the ''empire in which the sun never set'' was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady in Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, his second cousin, and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

The end of the war coincided with the queen's premature death, which left Philip broken -- and his subsequent new wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, was a sign things weren't going to improve. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, brave, determined, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine; Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. In contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, she didn't do her famed ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass despite her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip's marriage to this unpleasant woman not only turned him into a HenpeckedHusband, but was also the coup de grace for him.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the ''empire in which the sun never set'' was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady in Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

The end of the war coincided with the queen's premature death, which left Philip broken -- and his subsequent new wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, was a sign things weren't going to improve. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine; Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. In contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, she didn't do her famed ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass despite her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip's marriage to this unpleasant woman not only turned him into a HenpeckedHusband, but was also the coup de grace for him.

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit the thrones of both France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- and it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, he couldn't stand his royal chores mere months after his crowning, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only two things seemed to bring him solace in his life, namely war and love, and both of them would be a perennial double-edged sword during his reign due to the recklessly he jumped into them with. He preferred to deter on his ministers and, when Maria died prematurely, his second wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, to a point that eventually turned him into a living puppet.

Elisabeth Farnese was also a bad contrast with Maria Luisa. The latter had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine. Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her deeply, to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. By comparison, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, she didn't do her famed ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass despite her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip had been happy and mostly sane with his first wife, but her death and his subsequent marriage to this unpleasant woman was the coup de grace for him.

In 1717, the king suffered his first bout of insanity, believing the sun was attacking him while he rode his horse (MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext), and his health went down after this. He started suffering hypocondria and hallucinations in public, became obssessed with guarding off the devil through blessed clothes, and tried to fight off ghosts with his sword. In this state, Philip was convinced by Elisabeth, who was Italian, to launch a campaign to recapture the Italian territories of the Spanish Empire lost during the dynastic transition. The move couldn't have a worse timing, as the Spanish Empire was not ready still for the challenge, and even if it did, their enemies would be a whopping alliance of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and ''France'' (whose regent the Duke of Orléans was angry at Elisabeth for a conspiracy to take over the country), eventually forcing him to abandon his, or rather her aspirations. Elisabeth only managed to avoid the karma by promptly scapegoating her advisor, Cardinal Giulio Alberoni.

The king only worsened in his state, nauseatingly so. He came to believe his enemies were trying to poison him with black magic, and refused to bathe, get out of his bed even to use the bathroom, or merely cut his nails on the fear they could be used for spells, with the result they got so long he couldn't walk or grab things. Eventually, with the death of the regent of France in 1724, he got lucid enough to clean up a bit and then suddenly abdicated on his underage son Louis with the purported goal of "meditate about death". Some speculate he was trying to return to France and capture the vacated throne of his cherished homeland, others believe he was trying to run away from everything, and others think he was just, well, insane. In any case, Louis died just as suddenly, and Philip found himself pressed by Elisabeth into returning to the throne, as the next prince in line, Ferdinand, was the son of Philip's previous wife.

Devastated, heartbroken and trapped, Philip never recovered, but returned to his old ways and entered what was effectively the worst stage of his madness. Adding to all of his previous symptoms, he became hyper-sensitive, depressive and just every possible undesirable state of mind, believed to be dead and spent entire ''weeks'' screaming this belief, attacked his secretaries, received ambassadors while half-dressed, could only sleep after having the famed castrato singer Farinelli sing for hours, and sometimes believed to be a frog and leaped around croaking, which came to be the source of many modern jokes. Although he somehow remained functional enough for people not to give up on him, by this point it was Elisabeth the one doing all the reigning, which has earned her some sympathy from modern historians on the basis that, self-interested or not, she was still taking care of her disabled husband the best way possible and keeping things running.

Ironically, this second stage of his reign saw a notable resurgence of the empire's military relevance, which seemed lost to history after the famed ''tercios'' had ceased stomping around in Europe (Spain certainly never got so buff again, although that was an insanely high standard, frankly speaking).[[note]]The ''tercios'' technically continued existing, only they were renamed ''regimientos''. The true difference is that, by this point, most other European armies had caught up with Spain in military technique, while Spain in turn had lost so many resources and thinking heads in its last wars that it failed to achieve another breakthrough.[[/note]] With the signing of the Treaty of Vienna, an improbable if uneasy alliance between the Bourbon Spain and Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Spaniards entered a brief war against Great Britain, which, even if it ultimately stalemated, it left an impression thanks to the Spanish privateers Miguel Enríquez and Amaro Pargo, two [[NGOSuperpower NGO Superpowers]] of the Atlantic who sacked enough ships that [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame the very homeland of piracy cried not fair]]. Although the Spaniards failed to recover Gibraltar, the conflict gave them enough leverage to revitalize Elisabeth's Italian aspirations: as soon as their grand general, José Carrillo, Duke of Montemar, had his hands free after recapturing two lost ''plazas fuertes'' in Africa from from the Ottoman Empire, he and [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain Prince Charles]] snuck into the War of the Polish Succession and capitalized on the ruckus to recapture Naples and Sicily, which became a kingdom in dynastic union with Spain.

War returned a few years later when the viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar, which merged into the War of the Austrian Succession for a new chance to recover more ancestral territories in Italy. This time the results weren't as spectacular, with Montemar becoming an IgnoredExpert and being replaced by the less skilled Jean Thierry, Count of Gages, but Elisabeth still managed to recover her homeland, the Duchy of Parma, along with some others, even if not all of them. Philip himself did not live to see the end of the war, though; he had spent his last years with his palace as his personal madhouse, with guards placed to prevent him from escaping, before finally welcoming death in 1746. He passed his seat and his demons to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI, who went to have a slightly happier life before becoming yet another victim of the Spanish throne.

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit the thrones of both France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- and it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, he couldn't stand his royal chores mere months after his crowning, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only two things seemed to bring him solace in his life, namely war and love, and both of them would be a perennial double-edged sword during his reign due to the recklessly he jumped into them with. He preferred to deter on his ministers and, when Maria died prematurely, his second wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, to a point that eventually turned him a living puppet.

Devastated, heartbroken and trapped, Philip never recovered, but returned to his old ways and entered what was effectively the worst stage of his madness. Adding to all of his previous symptoms, he became hyper-sensitive, depressive and just every possible undesirable state of mind, believed to be dead and spent entire ''weeks'' screaming this belief, attacked his secretaries, received ambassadors while half-dressed, could only sleep after having the famed castrato singer Farinelli sing for hours, and sometimes believed to be a frog and leaped around croaking, which came to be the source of many modern jokes. Although he somehow remained functional enough for people not to give up on him, by this point it was Elisabeth the one doing all the reigning, which has earned her some sympathy from modern historians on the basis that, self-interested or not, she was still taking care of her disabled husband the best way possible and keep things running.

Ironically, this second reign of his reign saw a true resurgence in the Spanish war enterprises. With the signing of the Treaty of Vienna, an improbable if uneasy alliance between the Bourbon Spain and Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire entered a brief war against Great Britain, which, even if it ultimately stalemated, also left an impression thanks to the Spanish privateers Miguel Enríquez and Amaro Pargo, two [[NGOSuperpower NGO Superpowers]] of the Atlantic who sacked enough ships that [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame the very homeland of piracy cried not fair]]. Although the Spaniards failed to recover Gibraltar, the conflict gave them enough leverage to revitalize Elisabeth's Italian aspirations: as soon as their grand general, José Carillo, Duke of Montemar, was free of hands after recapturing two lost ''plazas fuertes'' in Africa from from the Ottoman Empire, he and Prince [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain Charles]] snuck into the War of the Polish Succession and capitalized on the chance to recapture Naples and Sicily, which became a kingdom in dynastic union with Spain.

War returned a few years later when the viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar, which merged into the War of the Austrian Succession for a new chance to recover more ancestral territories in Italy. This time the results weren't as spectacular, with Montemar becoming an IgnoredExpert and being replaced by the less skilled Jean Thierry, Count of Gages, but Elisabeth still managed to recover her homeland, the Duchy of Parma, along with some others, even if not all of them. Philip himself did not live to see the end of the war, though; he had spent his last years with his palace as his personal madhouse, with guards placed to prevent him from escaping, before finally welcoming death in 1746. He passed his throne and his demons to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI, who went to have a slightly happier life before becoming yet another victim of the Spanish throne.

* He appears in ''Series/TheMinistryOfTime'' played by actor and comedian Fernando Conde. Notably, while his comical madness is a big draw of the episode, the latter still shows his tragical side by having Philip admit openly how overwhelmed and broken he is.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and third grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the empire in which the sun never set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady in Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy, and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Elisabeth Farnese was also a bad contrast with Maria Luisa. The latter had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine. Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her deeply, to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. By comparison, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, she didn't do her ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass despite her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip had been happy and mostly sane with his first wife, but her death and his subsequent marriage to this unpleasant woman was the coup de grace for him.

In 1717, the king suffered his first bout of insanity, believing the sun was attacking him while he rode his horse, and his health went down after this. He started suffering hypocondria and hallucinations in public, became obssessed with guarding off the devil through blessed clothes, and tried to fight off ghosts with his sword. In this state, Philip was convinced by Elisabeth, who was Italian, to launch a campaign to recapture the Italian territories of the Spanish Empire lost during the dynastic transition. The move couldn't have a worse timing, as the Spanish Empire was not ready still for the challenge, and even if it did, their enemies would be a whopping alliance of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and ''France'' (whose regent the Duke of Orléans was angry at Elisabeth for a conspiracy to take over the country), eventually forcing him to abandon his, or rather her aspirations.

Ironically, this second reign of his reign saw a true resurgence in the Spanish war enterprises. With the signing of the Treaty of Vienna, an improbable if uneasy alliance between the Bourbon Spain and Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire entered a brief war against Great Britain, which, even if it ultimately stalemated, also left an impression thanks to the Spanish privateers Miguel Enríquez and Amaro Pargo, two [[NGOSuperpower NGO Superpowers]] of the Atlantic who sacked enough ships that [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame the very homeland of piracy cried not fair]]. Also, the Spanish Armada recovered two lost ''plazas fuertes'' in Africa from from the Ottoman Empire, while the prince [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain Charles]] capitalized on a chance to recapture the darn Italian territories and become King of Naples, and the viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar.

Philip spent his last years with his palace as his personal madhouse, with guards placed to prevent him from escaping, before finally welcoming death in 1746. He passed his throne and his demons to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI, who went to have a slightly happier life before becoming yet another victim of the Spanish throne.

Philip V of Spain (19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746), called ''El Animoso'' ("The Spirited"), was King of Spain during the first half of the 18th century. He was the first Spanish monarch of the French Bourbon dynasty, replacing the Austrian [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House of Habsburg]] after the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, and ushered a new era in the [[UsefulNotes/TheKingdomOfSpain Spanish Empire]], characterized by Francophile politics, centralism, naff wigs, and insanity. He was the longest-reigning King of Spain in history -- much to his misery.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandnephew of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and third grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the empire in which the sun never set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit the thrones of both France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- and it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, he couldn't stand his royal chores mere months after his crowning, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only two things seemed to bring him solace in his life, namely war and love, and both of them would be a perennial double-edged sword during his reign due to the recklessly he jumped into them. He preferred to deter on his ministers and his second wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, to a point that eventually turned him a living puppet.

Elisabeth Farnese was also a bad contrast with his first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine. Philip, a very romantic and religious man who never felt comfortable in the debauchery and whoring of Versailles, had loved her deeply, to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. By comparison, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, he didn't do her ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass even despite her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people openly hated her. Philip had been happy and mostly sane with his first wife, but her death and his subsequent marriage to this unpleasant woman was the coup de grace for him.

The king only worsened in his state, nauseatingly so. He came to believe his enemies were trying to poison him with black magic, and refused to bathe, get out of his bed even to use the bathroom, or merely cut his nails on the fear they could be used for spells, with the result they got so long he couldn't walk or grab things. Eventually, with the death of the regent of France in 1724, he got lucid again to clean up a bit and then suddenly abdicated on his underage son Louis with the purported goal of "meditate about death". Some speculate he was trying to return to France and capture the vacated throne of his cherished homeland, others believe he was trying to run away everything, and others think he was just, well, insane. In any case, Louis died just as suddenly, and Philip found himself pressed by Elisabeth into returning to the throne, as the next prince in line, Ferdinand, was the son of Philip's previous wife.

Devastated, heartbroken and trapped, Philip never recovered, but returned to his old ways and entered what was effectively the worst stage of his madness. Adding to all of his previous symptoms, he became hyper-sensitive, depressive and just every possible undesirable state of mind, believed to be dead and spent entire weeks screaming this belief, attacked his secretaries, received ambassadors while half-dressed, could only sleep after having the famed castrato singer Farinelli sing for hours, and sometimes believed to be a frog and leaped around croaking, which came to be the source of many modern jokes. Although he somehow remained functional enough for people not to give up on him, by this point it was Elisabeth the one doing all the reigning, which has earned her some sympathy from modern historians on the basis that, self-interested or not, she was still taking care of her disabled husband the best way possible and keep things running.

Philip spent his last years with his
palace as his personal madhouse, with guards placed to prevent him from escaping, before finally welcoming death in 1746. He passed his throne and his demons to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI, who went to have a slightly happier life before becoming yet another victim of the Spanish throne.

* He appears in ''Series/TheMinistryOfTime'' played by actor and comedian Fernando Conde.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandson of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and third grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anywhere at first. He was also a sweet, shy, even brainy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the empire in which the sun never set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a fearless military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Philip V of Spain (19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746), called ''El Animoso'' ("The Spirited"), was King of Spain during the first half of the 18th century. He was the first Spanish monarch of the French Bourbon dynasty, replacing the Austrian [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House of Habsburg]] after the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, and ushered a new era in the Spanish Empire, characterized by Francophile politics, centralism, naff wigs, and dubious sanity. He was the longest-reigning King of Spain in history -- much to his misery.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandson of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and third grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anything at first. He was also a sweet, shy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the empire in which the sun never set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. However, he arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a brave military leader. He initially chose wisely his ministers, married a nice lady and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit both the thrones of France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- and it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, mere months after being crowned, he couldn't stand his royal chores, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only two things seemed to bring him solace in his life, namely war and love, and both of them would be a perennial double-edged sword during his reign due to the recklessly he jumped into them. He preferred to deter on his ministers and his second wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, to a point that eventually turned him a living puppet.

Elisabeth Farnese was also an ugly contrast with his first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine. Philip had loved her, to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royal pairings at the time. By contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, he didn't do her ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass even despit her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people hated her. Philip had been happy and mostly sane with his first wife, but her death and his subsequent marriage to this unpleasant woman was the coup de grace for him.

In 1717, the king suffered his first bout of insanity, believing the sun was attacking him while he rode his horse, and his health went down after this. He started suffering hypocondria and hallucinations in public, became obssessed with guarding off the devil through blessed clothes, and tried to fight off ghosts with his sword. In this state, Philip was convinced by Elisabeth, who was Italian, to launch a campaign to recapture the Italian territories of the Spanish Empire lost during the dynastic transition. The move couldn't have a worse timing, as the Spanish Empire was not ready still for the challenge, and even if it did, their enemies would be a whopping alliance of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and ''France'' (whose regent the Duke of Orléans was angry at Elisabeth for a conspiracy to take over the country), eventually forcing him to abandon his (her) aspirations.

The king only worsened in his state, nauseatingly so. He came to believe his enemies were trying to poison him with black magic, and refused to bathe, get out of the bed even to go the bathroom, or merely cut his nails on the fear they could be used for spells, with the result they got so long he couldn't walk or grab things. Eventually, with the death of the regent of France in 1724, he got lucid again to clean up a bit and then suddenly abdicated on his son Louis, who was underage. Some speculate he was trying to return to France and capture the throne with the opportune death of the regent, others believe he was trying to run away from everything, and others think he was just, well, insane. In any case, Louis died just as suddenly, and Philip found himself pressed by Elisabeth into returning to the throne, as the next prince in line, Ferdinand, was the son of Philip's previous wife.

Devastated, heartbroken and trapped, Philip never recovered, but returned to his old ways and entered what was effectively the worst stage of his madness. Adding to all of his previous symptoms, he became hyper-sensitive, depressive and just every possible undesirable state of mind, believed to be dead and spent entire weeks screaming this notion, attacked his secretaries, received ambassadors while half-dressed, could only sleep after having the famed singer Farinelly sing for hours, and sometimes believed to be a frog and leaped around croaking, which came to be the source of many modern jokes. At the same time, he somehow remained functional enough to keep reigning the bit Elisabeth left him.

Ironically, this second reign of his reign saw a true resurgence in the Spanish war enterprises. With the signing of the Treaty of Vienna, an improbable if uneasy alliance between the Bourbon Spain and Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire entered a brief war against Great Britain, which, even if ultimately stalemated, left an impression thanks to the Spanish privateers Miguel Enríquez and Amaro Pargo, [[NGOSuperpower NGO Superpowers]] of the Atlantic who sacked enough ships for the homeland of piracy to cry not fair. The Spanish Armada recovered two lost ''plazas fuertes'' in Africa from from the Ottoman Empire, the prince [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain Charles]] capitalized on a chance to recapture the Italian territories and become King of Naples, and their viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar.

Philip finally died in 1746, leaving the throne to his son UsefulNotes/FerdinandVI.

Philip V of Spain (19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746), called ''El Animoso'' ("The Spirited"), was King of Spain during the first half of the 18th century. He was the first Spanish monarch of the French Bourbon dynasty, replacing the Austrian [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House of Habsburg]] after the UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession, and ushered a new era in the Spanish Empire, characterized by Francophile politics, centralism, naff wigs, and dubious sanity. He was the longest-reigning King of Spain in history.

Although he was part of both of Europe's greatest houses, being the half-grandson of UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain and third grandson of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV, Philip was far too removed from the lines of succession to be expected to be king of anything at first. He was also a sweet, shy kid, very influenced by the stern theologist Archbishop François Fénelon. As a consequence, being appointed to the throne of the empire in which the sun never set was probably a shock to the young Philip, who had grown accustomed to the idea of remaining a mere courtier. He arrived in Spain as a new and promising king, who carefully respected the prexistent environment and intended to save the empire from its decline, and when the clusterfuck that was the aforementioned war came stomping after him, he also proved to be a brave military leader. When he could actually reign, he chose quite wisely his ministers and prepared many economic and cultural reforms, so everything looked fine for the new dynasty. Or did it?

Originally, there had been a possibility for Philip to inherit both the thrones of France and Spain and become a sort of new UsefulNotes/CharlesV, but this option that was eventually ruled out during the peace treaties of the war of succession -- it turned out for the better that Philip didn't have such weight on his shoulders, as the new king couldn't endure the pressure of sitting on a single throne. Afflicted by what modern experts consider probably a lifelong clinical depression, or perhaps bipolar disorder, mere months after being crowned, he couldn't stand his chores, often breaking down crying in midst of councils or skipping them altogether. Only two things seemed to bring him solace in his life, namely war and love, and both of them would be a perennial double-edged sword during his reign due to the recklessly he jumped into them. He preferred to deter on his lieutenants and his second wife, the ambitious and domineering Elisabeth Farnese, to a point that eventually turned him a living puppet.

Elisabeth Farnese was also an ugly contrast with his first wife, Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy. Maria Luisa had been an incredibly popular, sweet and hardworking young woman, who received the reigns of the country at just 14 while Philip was away battling and still did it absolutely fine. Philip had loved her, to the point they even slept on the same bed, something unheard of among royals at the time, and . By contrast, while Farnese descended from the renowned UsefulNotes/AlexanderFarnese and was certainly a woman of many talents, he didn't make his ancestor any honors, being authoritarian, abusive and crass even despit her high culture, as well as fat, ugly and smallpox-marked, and people hated her. Philip had been happy and mostly sane with his first wife, but her death and his subsequent marriage to this unpleasant woman was the coup de grace for him.

Devastated, heartbroken and trapped, Philip never recovered, but returned to his old ways and entered what was effectively the worst stage of his madness. Adding to all of his previous syntomps, he became hyper-sensitive, depressive and just every possible undesirable state of mind, believed to be dead and spent entire weeks screaming this notion, attacked his secretaries, received ambassadors while half-dressed, could only sleep after having the famed singer Farinelly sing for hours, and sometimes believed to be a frog and leaped around croaking, which came to be the source of many modern jokes. At the same time, he somehow remained functional enough to keep reigning the bit Elisabeth left him.

Ironically, this second reign of his reign saw a true resurgence in the Spanish war enterprises. With the signing of the Treaty of Vienna, an improbable if uneasy alliance between the Bourbon Spain and Habsburg Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire entered a brief war against Great Britain, which, even if ultimately stalemated, left an impression thanks to the Spanish privateering directed by Miguel Enríquez and Amaro Pargo, a NGOSuperpower of the Atlantic who sacked enough ships for the homeland of piracy to cry not fair. The Spanish Armada recovered two lost ''plazas fuertes'' in Africa from from the Ottoman Empire, the prince Charles capitalized on a chance to recapture the Italian territories and become King of Naples, and their viceroyal forces spearheaded by the trusty commander UsefulNotes/BlasDeLezo successfully repealed the British again during the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar.