FAMILY PACT. — It is the political alliance concluded between the dynasties belonging to the House of Bourbon, which reigned in the 18th century in France, Spain, Naples, and Parma. This bond had already been desired for France and Spain since the beginning of the century by Louis XIV, who obtained from Charles II of Habsburg the testament in favor of his grandson Philip.
The first diplomatic act of this policy was the pact concluded on 28 Oct. 1743 at Fontainebleau between the two kings Louis XV and Philip V, with the aim of securing for France, engaged in conflict with the Habsburgs of Austria, the support of Spanish arms; to this end, France made many promises: the conquest of Lombardy, to be united with a principality for Philip of Bourbon, son of Philip V; guarantee for the other son Charles of the possession of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily; reconquest of the two English possessions of Gibraltar and Minorca to be returned to Spain; Spain would be released at the peace from the commercial servitudes assumed in 1719 toward England in America. England, however, sought to wreck the Family Pact with a separate peace with the government of Madrid. At the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, after negotiations in which it was Louis XV who tried to evade the commitments of Fontainebleau, it was established that Philip of Bourbon would receive the French dominions of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla with the right of succession to his brother in Naples; the political and economic situation of Spain remained unchanged. The Family Pact was preserved, but without effect; during the Seven Years' War, Spain remained on the sidelines. Only in 1761 did Choiseul, minister of Louis XV, succeed in renewing with the new Charles III, assisted by Grimaldi, a new pact that included the four Bourbon dynasties. Grimaldi consented because Spain did not wish to remain isolated and exposed to English military and economic offensives. The conclusion of the Pact (15 Aug. 1761) was the rupture of Anglo-French negotiations and the resumption of hostilities: on 3 Jan. 1762 war was declared by the government of Madrid against that of London. The war ended, however, with the Peace of Paris on 10 Feb. 1763: Spain lost Florida and received in exchange from France Louisiana; England abandoned its monopoly rights in the Spanish colonial empire.
The Family Pact continued to dominate French and Spanish foreign policy, deemed a necessity in the face of English expansion: Choiseul calculated that through the Pact he could achieve the economic union of the two nations, the renewal of Spain, and the development of French exports to the Spanish colonies. England saw in the Pact the danger of the union of the largest colonial power with the country most ready for industrial development; while on the continent the Franco-Austrian alliance guaranteed peace and made it impossible for England to find allies against the two hostile powers. The Family Pact, moreover, guaranteed the two Bourbon houses of Naples and Parma against any Austrian or English hostility. The Family Pact also functioned in the struggle between England and the rebellious American colonies: the government of Versailles, after the alliance concluded on 6 Feb. 1778 with the English colonies, dragged along that of Madrid, which on 12 Apr. 1779 concluded the Convention of Aranjuez in the hope of regaining Gibraltar, Minorca, and Florida.
The Treaty of Versailles of 1783 marked the failure of Franco-Spanish aspirations; however, the Family Pact survived. Even in May 1790, in the face of English threats, Spain invoked France’s aid in the name of the pact. The Constituent Assembly, on 26 Aug. 1792, declared the old dynastic alliance void, though stating itself ready to renew the alliance with Spain.