Carlos IV and his family, including Queen María Luisa and the future Fenando VIICarlos IV followed his father Carlos III as King of Spain, reigning from 1788 to 1808. Like his father, Carlos IV was a despot. Unlike his father, he lacked the "Enlightened" side.
His queen was María Luisa, which was the name of the liberal-minded and popular queen in the Zorro: la espada y la rosa telenovela. So there was a Reina María Luisa around Zorro's time.
But the real one wasn't the popular figure of the telenovela. She persuaded her husband to appoint her lover, Godoy, as first minister. Godoy was more than a bit like el Duque Jacobo in the telenovela in being conniving and tyrannical-minded. His government was unpopular both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the overseas colonies.
The telenovela version of María Luisa, played by Evelin Giro:
Goya's version of the real María Luisa:
Godoy's lover la Reina María Luisa was known as La Parmesana, because she was from Parma. Carlos Fuentes in El Espejo Enterrado (1992) describes La Parmesana as "sexually voracious", although he doesn't elaborate beyond the fact of her affair with Godot. The King himself was neither very bright nor particularly interested in carrying forward the referoms initiated by his father. See also this post on Godoy.
Goya's version of María Luisa's lover and her husband's First Minister, Godoy:
This is a painting by José Aparicio showing Godot, who was bizarrely called the Prince of Peace, presenting peace to Carlos IV:
In 1808, Carlos IV's own son persuaded him to abdicate, and the son took the throne as Fernando VII to popular acclaim. Fernando had been the leader of the anti-Godoy faction during his father's reign.
Tags: carlos iv, españa, godoy, maría louise, spain, mark of zorro, zorro's times
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