Anita Arnon

Napoleon invades Spain in 1808, and this triggers a constitutional crisis that will eventually shatter the Spanish Empire.

Yeah, but nobody, as you know, in this period of time, friendships, they fragment with startling regularity.

And this is quite complicated.

But in essence, the old king, Charles IV, is forcibly deposed by his own son, who then becomes King Ferdinand VII.

Now, both appealed to Napoleon, who is a Frenchman, to say, can you sort this out between us?

Who should it be?

Should it be me or should it be my son?

It's just stupid.

He's French, for goodness sake.

And Napoleon is a land grabber.

So when is he going to look at a situation when a father and son are squabbling and looking to him to adjudicate who should be running Spain?

He sees the opportunity.

So he says, you know what?

Let's chat about this a bit more.

Come to France.

Let's have a cup of tea and talk about it.

And so when they do, he says, right, it's going to be neither of you.

Joseph, my brother, is going to be on the Spanish throne.

Shock, horror, surprise.

I mean, if only anyone could have guessed this could have been in Napoleon's playbook.