Infante Francisco de Paula returned to Spain in 1818, being called by his eldest brother, King Ferdinand VII, who showered him with honors and privileges.

Luisa Carlotta died in 1844, but, under pressure from French diplomacy, Queen Isabella II married Francisco de Asis in October 1846.

As father-in-law to his niece the Queen, Infante Francisco de Paula occupied a prominent position at court during Isabella II's reign.

Lacking the political acumen necessary to hold power on her own, Maria Luisa deposited her trust and the rule of government on Godoy, whom she raised to prominence.

[5] Francisco de Paula's education was different from the one provided to his two eldest brothers Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias and Infante Don Carlos.

[6] Although his parents intended Francisco de Paula to pursue a career in the Spanish Navy, the Infante's education was abruptly interrupted by the Napoleonic intervention in Spain.

[7] After achieving his objective, Napoleon gave Spain to his brother Joseph Bonaparte and ordered the remaining members of the Spanish royal family out of the country.

[8][9] While his parents and eldest brothers were at the conference in Bayonne with Napoleon, Francisco de Paula, then fourteen years old, was left behind at the Royal Palace of Madrid with his sister, the deposed Queen of Etruria, and her children.

In order to be closer to her – and with fond memories of their early years in Naples and Parma – Francisco de Paula's parents moved with him to Rome in July 1812.

Unhappy with Godoy's overwhelming presence and the corruption around him, the Infante wrote to his brother the king, asking him to be permitted to renounce his religious orders, and be allowed to follow a career in the Spanish army instead.

[15] Ferdinand VII, restored to the Spanish throne after Napoleon's fall, called his brother back to Spain in order to frustrate the prospect of a wedding with Godoy's daughter.

[15] By August 1816, both Carlos IV and Queen Maria Luisa allowed their youngest son to leave as his behaviour in Rome had created concern.

[17] For the next seventeen months the Infante visited Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin, Weimar, Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, and Vienna.

[18] Ferdinand VII did not allow his brother a position of command in the Spanish Army as Francisco had wished, but otherwise showered him with honors and privileges.

Luisa Carlotta quickly dominated her husband, won the King's heart, and began to produce children who were granted the rank and status of Infantes of Spain.

In 1823, with the approval of Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, a French army invaded Spain and reinstated the King's absolute power.

In this political struggle, Francisco de Paula, grateful, loyal and subservient to his brother the king, supported Ferdinand VII's conservative policies.

[27] From his youth until the end of his life, Francisco de Paula gathered an extensive sheet music collection that included almost 700 scores.

[32] On good terms with her brother in law Ferdinand VII, Luisa Carlotta convinced the king to marry her sister Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies.

The eldest of Ferdinand VII and Maria Christina's two daughters, Isabella, became heir to the crown thanks in great part to Luisa Carlotta's intervention.

[32] At the ascension to the Spanish throne of the three-year-old Isabella II of Spain, under the regency of Queen Maria Christina, Infante Francisco de Paula was disappointed at not being included in the new government.

Spain plunged into turmoil as Don Carlos and his ultra-royalist followers attempted to seize power by force, unleashing a civil war (1833 -1839).

She mistrusted her ambitious sister and when in 1837 Don Francisco claimed a place in the senate, Maria Christina refused to approve his appointment.

[33] They found a prominent position at the court of Louis Philippe King of the French, whose wife Queen Maria Amelia, was an aunt of Infanta Luisa Carlotta.

The Duchess of Dino who met Don Francisco de Paula and his family at the French court, described them as follows: "The Infanta is very fair, with a face which, though washed out, is none the less stern, with a rough manner of speaking.

[35] Once back in Spain, Francisco de Paula and Luisa Carlotta initially settled in Burgos as Espartero banned them from approaching the capital.

In November, the Infante's supporters tried to provoke a coup d'état overthrowing the regency in favor of Don Francisco de Paula.

However, under pressure of French diplomacy, Maria Cristina, who personally disliked his nephew Francisco de Asis, agreed to sanction the marriage of her daughter Queen Isabella to her cousin.

Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, the youngest son of King Louis Philippe of France, was chosen as Infanta Luisa Fernanda's husband.

[45] In his will, Infante Francisco de Paula tried to protect his youngest son's inheritance and placed him under the custody of Queen Isabella II.