It was soon found that to pander to the King’s love of the table was a sure way to favour, so not only would an impecunious noble give him a magnificent banquet in return for exemption from paying his debts, but the religious houses, the barracks, and the prisons, regaled the royal monarch with great feasts, which were always followed by a request for his patronage on behalf of some relation or connection of those in authority at the institution.
On February 3, 1815, Ferdinand suddenly appeared with the Captain of his Guard in the Council of the Supreme Inquisition. He told the assembly to resume their seats and to continue their work, and this work of persecuting humanity appeared so attractive to the royal visitor that he decorated the Inquisitor-General with the Grand Cross of Charles III. The superior officer a few days afterwards gave a magnificent lunch to the monarch on the understanding that he would favour the work of condemning heretics; so on March 17 we find Ferdinand creating an Order of Knighthood for the Ministers of the Holy Office.
Ferdinand’s marriage, when he was thirty-two years of age, to Isabel de Braganza, opened a new era for Spain. As we know, Isabel’s sister, Doña Maria Francisca de Asis, had married the King’s brother, Don Carlos, the future claimant to the throne.
The King’s bride was soon beloved by all her subjects for her sweetness and intelligence. Indeed, so true was her judgment in matters of policy that, when her husband occasionally consulted with her about affairs, he never regretted accepting her opinion.
The young Queen was, moreover, very artistic, and it was her love of the fine arts and her skill in painting that led to the foundation of the Academy of San Fernando, intended especially for the exhibition of foreign pictures.
But, clever as the young Queen was, she was woman enough to wish to win her husband’s admiration, and in this aim she resorted to all sorts of girlish artifices.
Once, when the King was passing through the royal apartments with his pompous step, he was accosted by a charming maiden in Andalusian attire. With her fine features shaded by a rich white mantilla, her beautiful blue eyes bubbling over with fun, and her lovely hands holding up the castanets, she gracefully took a few steps of a Sevillian dance before curtseying to His Majesty. When the King saw that the charming girl was the Queen, he was surprised into admiration for his beautiful wife, and every time that she astonished him by such successful artifice she increased his love for her.
MARIA ISABEL FRANCISCA OF BRAGANZA
But, unfortunately for Isabel’s happiness, Ferdinand was constantly on his guard against falling, like his father, too much under the influence of his wife, and, as a weak nature like his was bound to be under some domination, it was subjugated by such men as the dissolute Duke of Alagon and his servitor Chamorro, and the Queen’s influence was shunned.