Carlos III (1716 -1788) known as "El Político" or "The best mayor of Madrid" was Duke of Parma (1731-35), King of Naples and Sicily (1734-59) and of Spain (1759-88) and belonging to the House of Bourbon
Carlos III of Spain was the third son of Felipe V, the first he had with his second wife, Isabel de Farnesio, so it was his brothers Luis I and Fernando VI who succeeded their father on the Spanish throne. Their death without issue would lead Carlos to occupy the throne. Carlos served family politics as a piece in the struggle to recover Spanish influence in Italy: he initially inherited the duchies of Parma, Piacenza and Tuscany from his mother (1731); but later, when Felipe V conquered the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the course of the War of the Polish Succession (1733-1735), he became king of those territories with the name of Carlos VII. He married in 1729 Maria Amalia of Saxony, daughter of Frederick Augustus II, Duke of Saxony and Lithuania and King of Poland.
A man endowed with extraordinary dynamism and an entrepreneurial spirit, he fostered the economic, cultural and educational growth of the country. Politically, he granted political power to the bourgeoisie, favoring their interests with legislative initiatives such as the creation of the Order of Carlos III, the opening of overseas trade or the suppression of 'vile trades'.
Founder of the Royal Weapons Factory of Toledo, he promoted the construction of important architectural works and the modernization of the country's capital, for which he is known as "the best mayor of Madrid."
The first issue that he had to deal with when accessing the reign of Spain was the Seven Years' War to stop British expansion in America and, later, he collaborated in the independence of the United States of America. In line with the Enlightenment typical of his time, Carlos III made important changes, without breaking the basic social, political and economic order, Enlightened Despotism. He reformed the army and increased Spanish naval power, to the point that it could be considered in his time as the most powerful after the British.
He died in 1788, his son Carlos IV succeeding him on the throne.