Philip IV 1605-65
King of Spain

Born in Valladolid, he was the son and successor in 1621 of Philip III. A discerning patron of the arts (particularly of Velazquez), and a periodically remorseful debauchee, he had no interest in politics and left the administration of government to his favourite (valido), the Count-Duke of Olivares. Spain declined as a dominant European power during his reign. France declared open war (1635), in 1640 Portugal regained its independence, and the United Provinces confirmed theirs at the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), while in 1659 the Treaty of the Pyrenees cost Spain her frontier fortresses in Flanders. His daughter, Maria Theresa (1638-83), was the first wife of Louis XIV of France. He was succeeded by his four-year-old son, Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs.