Charles II was evidently the result of generations of Habsburg inbreeding and as a result rather mentally unstable. In one of his last official acts before he died, he decreed that the Spanish Crown pass to his nephew Philip of Anjou, the Bourbon heir to the French throne. Upon hearing that his grandson was now King of Spain, King Louis XIV of France declares, “The Pyrenees are no more”.
Yet there was another claimant to the throne, Archduke Charles of Austria, who was supported by England and Netherlands as a means of preventing France and Spain becoming too powerful in a union. Austria went to war with France over the issue after France rejected a plan to maintain Spain and France parted, the War of Spanish Succession commenced. Glad gu10 led bulbs weren’t caught up in it! The Spanish population were divided on the issue which sparked a civil war in Spain. Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia favoured Archduke Charles as the regions feared Philip of Anjou would decreased the considerable autonomy they enjoyed from Madrid.