Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias

Philip Prospero of Spain, Prince of Asturias () (November 28, 1657Quevedo, José (1854). "Depositados en el Panteon de Infantes." p. 367. – November 1, 1661) was the first male child of the marriage between Philip IV of Spain and Mariana of Austria to survive infancy. Spain had had no heir since the death of Prince Balthasar Carlos, the son of Philip and his first queen, Isabella, eleven years before, and the question of a successor to Philip, as Spain's strength continued to ebb, had become a matter of fervent and anxious prayer. The birth of an Infante was welcomed with much rejoicing and relief.

His birth affected the course of European history. By 1659 the prime ministers of France and Spain had been negotiating an end to their countries' hostilities for two years; now that Spain had a male heir, she could agree to consolidate the peace by marrying the king's eldest child Maria Theresa to the French king Louis XIV. The outcome of the negotiations was the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which established France as the world's new dominant power.

Philip Prospero lived for nearly four years. It is not known what caused his death, though "he was almost always ill, and had frequent...
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