Infante Carlos of Spain (15 September 1607 – 30 July 1632), was the second son of King Philip III of Spain and his

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

, Margaret of Austria.

Life

Infante Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...

Carlos was the younger brother of Philip IV, and, as long as the King remained childless, was heir to the Spanish throne. Carlos was never a friend of Philip's favourite and prime minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, and though he was uninterested in politics, he was used by various nobles in attempts to overthrow Olivares. During his brother's severest illness, Carlos was on the point of ascending the throne, but Felipe recovered and in 1629 finally fathered a son, Balthasar Carlos. This dissipated Carlos's political importance completely. Contemporaries described Infante Carlos as prudent and liberal and he seemed to have been a "vigilant observer of royal customs". Other than his brother

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

, who was assigned a role at an early age, he remained in a child-like position until his mid-twenties. Although he received official visits and expressed political opinions, he remained without an own household, remaining in the household of the king. Carlos died in 1632, aged 24.

Francisco de Quevedo Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Order of Santiago, Knight of the Order of Santiago (; 14 September 1580 – 8 September 1645) was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, ...

dedicated a sonnet entitled ''The Burial of the Most Serene Infante Don Carlos'' to this event. File:Coat of Arms of Charles of Austria, Infante of Spain.svg, Arms of Charles of Austria

Ancestry

Male-line family tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlos of Spain (1607-1632), Infante 1607 births 1632 deaths 17th-century House of Habsburg 17th-century Spanish nobility Burials in the Pantheon of Infantes at El Escorial Sons of kings Children of Philip III of Spain Spanish infantes Sons of dukes