The deposed king and his wife were placed under the protection of Napoleon and were guarded by troops of Murat. At the same time, Napoleon invited the king to meet with Fernando, which the king agreed in the hope that the emperor was recognized and supported as the king of Spain. While the reunion was to take place in Spain, finally went to Bayonne. On April 20 the step boundary. Although not even know what was the beginning of an exile that would last six years. In the meantime, Napoleon had managed to be the release of Godoy and bring it to Bayonne. Faced with the prospect of meeting her favorite, kings parents also requested to go to Bayonne. Escorted by French troops arrived in Bayonne on April 30. Two days later, in Madrid, the people would be lifted arms against the French, leading to the events of May 2, 1808, marking the beginning of the Spanish War of Independence.
Meanwhile, the situation in Bayonne becoming grotesque dyes. Carlos IV state that caused the resignation to the throne after the mutiny of Aranjuez was invalid and demanded the return of his throne. Napoleon was forced to cede their rights in exchange for asylum in France for his wife and his favorite Godoy, as well as a substantial pension (30 million reais a year). When they reached Bayonne news of the uprising in Madrid and its repression, Napoleon and Charles IV Ferdinand VII pressed to recognize his father as the legitimate king. In exchange for a castle and an annual pension of four million reais, I accept the May 6, 1808, not knowing that his father had already given up in favor of Bonaparte, therefore, the rights to the crown of Spain , went to Napoleon, which were granted to his brother Jose, who reign in Spain as Jose I Bonaparte. All this act of transfer of the Spanish crown is known as Bayonne abdicated.
These Abdications not only a dynastic change. In a proclamation to the Spanish May 25, Napoleon proclaimed that Spain faced a regime change, with the benefits of a constitution without a prior revolution. Then, Napoleon convened an assembly of notables Bayonne Spanish, the Spanish Board of Bayonne. Although the assembly was a failure for Napoleon (just turned 75, planned the 150 notables), in nine meetings discussed the draft constitution prepared by Napoleon, and with little amendment, approved in July 1808 the Constitution of Bayonne.
Meanwhile, Fernando VII saw Napoleon was not even bothered to fulfill his agreement to the former sovereign and domestic, along with his brother Carlos Maria Isidro and his uncle Antonio Pascual in Valencay Castle, owned by the Prince of Benevento, which received alli on May 10. Valencay was a property with a rustic town of about 2,000 inhabitants, isolated in central France, about 300 kilometers from Paris. Fernando Valencay remain on until the end of the War of Independence. However, their conditions of captivity were not severe, the King and his brother was receiving dance and music, went out to ride or fishing and organized dances and dinners. forbes They had a good library, but the Infante Don Antonio Pascual put all possible obstacles in order not read French books which may exert a bad influence on his young nephews. As of September 1 of that year, however, the progress of Talleyrand and Bonaparte's refusal to adhere to with respect to its expenses, led to his standard of living ever more austere, reducing to a minimum easement .
Believing that nothing could be done against the might of France, Fernando tried to link their interests with those of Bonaparte, and maintained a correspondence with the Corsican servile to the point that, in his exile in Saint Helena, thus recalling the actions of Spanish monarch:
"Fernando did not cease to ask my wife a choice: to complete spontaneously wrote me whenever I got a victory, the Spanish issued proclamations to submit, and Jose admitted to, which maybe will be considered is the son of force, when it is not, but I also asked her great banda, I offered to his brother Don Carlos to the Spanish regiments mandar iban to Russia, all things that have no accurate way to do. Anyway, I strongly urge you to go left I Court of Paris, and if I do not give a show that had attracted the attention of Europe, trying in this way the stability of all my power, it was because of the seriousness of the circumstances to call me out of my frequent absences and Empire capital of not providing me the occasion. "
His slavish humiliation you get to the point of organizing a sumptuous feast with toasts, dinner, concert, special lighting and a solemn Te Deum AT Bonaparte's wedding with Maria Luisa of Austria in 1810.
