King Philip III (Felipe III) of Spain (as well as being King Philip II (Felipe II) of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan) ruled from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, and like many Habsburgs, he is considered to be the product of extensive inbreeding. Ultimately, the end of the Spanish Habsburg line came with Philip’s grandson, Charles II.

This statue of the monarch on his steed stands in Plaza Mayor in Madrid.

In 1616, the Grand Duke of Florence presented the statue of King Philip III. The sculptor Giambologna (real name Jean Boulogne) designed and sculpted the statue in bronze and his pupil Pietro Tacca finished it. It stood in the Casa de Campo until 1848, but was then moved to the Plaza Mayor in the centre of the Madrid where it remains.

Philip III was also known as Philip The Pious and historians have described him as being an ‘undistinguished and insignificant man, a miserable monarch and an anonymous creature’. Unlikely to have been the life and soul of the party.