Philip IV (1605-1665)

King of Spain from 1621, when he succeeded his father Philip III. By the end of his reign, Spain had ceased to be a major world power as a result of military defeats and economic decline. Philip was a patron of arts and letters, Velázquez being his court painter.

During the early part of Philip's reign the country was governed by Olivares, whose foreign policy was largely disastrous. Latterly, Philip relied on the advice of Maria de Agreda, a mystic nun. He married twice: first Elizabeth, daughter of Henry IV of France; then Maria Anna, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III.