III. Charles (Madrid, Spain, 20 January 1716 – Madrid, Spain, 14 December 1788), King of Spain from 1759 until his death in 1788. Before that, he was the Duke of Parma between 1731 and 1735, and then the King of Naples from 1734, then the King of Sicily from 1735 until his abdication to the Spanish throne in 1759. Károly the Spanish Infant was born on January 20, 1716 in the Royal Palace in Madrid. His father was King Philip V of the House of Bourbon (1683–1746), formerly Duke of Anjou, Crown Prince Louis of France (Louis de France, le Grand Dauphin 1661–1711) and Princess Maria Anna Viktoria Krisztina of Bavaria (1660–1690). son, XIV. He is the grandson of King Louis of France. His mother was the second wife of Philip V, Princess Elizabeth Farnese of Parma (1692–1766), II. She is the daughter of Duke Odoardo (1666–1693) and Princess Dorottya Zsófia of Palatinate-Neuburg (1670–1748) from the House of Wittelsbach. Her half-siblings are former Spanish kings, Louis I and VI. They were Ferdinand. In 1731, after the death of his mother's uncle, Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma, he acquired Parma, and in 1735, in the Peace of Vienna, he received Naples and Sicily. His brother, VI. After Ferdinand's death, he inherited the Spanish throne in 1759, and his second-born son IV. abdicated Naples-Sicily. In favor of Ferdinand. He was a supporter of the Enlightenment. During his reign in Spain, his ministers and chief officials introduced several reforms in the spirit of enlightened absolutism. Listening to his liberal advisers, he limited the Inquisition, then dissolved and expelled the Jesuit order in 1767. His empire took part on the side of France in the Seven Years' War, in which he acquired Havana from the English in 1763. He also joined the American War of Independence on the side of the French Bourbons, in which he regained control of Pensacola in 1781 and the entire Florida peninsula in 1784 from the English. 1788. He died on December 14 in Madrid. His eldest son, IV. Károly succeeded him on the throne. 1738. On June 19, in Pillnitz, he married Princess Mária Amália Krisztina of Saxony, Polish royal princess (1724–1760), from the Albert branch of the House of Wettin, III. daughter of Polish King Augustus (Saxon Elector August Augustus II) and Archduchess Mária Jozefa of Austria. Thirteen children were born from the marriage, but only seven reached adulthood.
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