Infante 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".[1] Other than his brother Fernando, 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.[2]
Carlos died in 1632, aged 24. Francisco de Quevedo dedicated a sonnet entitled The Burial of the Most Serene Infante Don Carlos to this event.
^"Habsburg family tree". Habsburg family website. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
References
^Hoffman, Martha K. (2014). Coolidge, Grace E. (ed.). Childhood and Royalty at the Court of Philip III. New Hispanisms: Cultural and Literary Studies. p. 139. ISBN9781472428806.
^Hoffman, Martha K. Raised to Rule: Educating Royalty at the Court of the Spanish Habsburgs, 1601 - 1634. Louisiana State University Press. pp. Chapter 7, esp. 153 - 154, 162–166.
The generations indicate descent from Carlos I, under whom the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united, forming the Kingdom of Spain. Previously, the title Infante had been largely used in the different realms.
* also an infante of Castile and León, Aragon, Sicily and Naples,§ also an infante of Spain and an archduke of Austria,# also an infante of Spain,‡ also an imperial prince of Brazil,¶ also a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke in Saxony,◙ also a prince of Braganza,¤ title removed in 1920 as their parents' marriage was deemed undynastic,ƒ claimant infante
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from the first archdukes. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished in 1919.
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