Charles III

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Charles III (1716–88) King of Spain (1759–88) and of Naples and Sicily (1735–59), son of Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese. He conquered Naples and Sicily in 1734, and inherited the Spanish crown from his half-brother Ferdinand VI. He handed Naples and Sicily to his son Ferdinand, who ruled as Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. Charles was a highly competent ruler. He encouraged commercial and agrarian reform, and brought the Spanish Catholic Church under state control, expelling the Jesuits in 1767. Allied with France in the Seven Years' War, he received Louisiana in 1763. His son succeeded him as Charles IV.

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