Bourbon Weddings
Matrimonial Alliances of the Spanish Bourbons
By Art Beéche
During
the Renaissance and in fact throughout history, the house of Habsburg achieved
more
political
success through marriage than by means of war. From a little castle in
Switzerland, the
Counts
of Habsburg expanded their possessions to encompass a considerable portion
of Central
Europe,
the Iberian Peninsula and the New World. Mattias Corvinus, King of Hungary,
is
responsible
for piecing together a logo to describe Habsburg matrimonial policy: A.E.I.O.U.
This
Latin
phrase basically translates to: "Let others make war, you happy Austria
marry, for kingdoms
given
to others by Mars, Venus will give to you." No other dynasty in Europe
was as successful as
the Habsburgs
in acquiring territory through marriage. Among these lands were: Burgundy,
Spain,
the New
World, Bohemia, Hungary, Tuscany, and portions of Northern Italy.
Yet, it
was this same matrimonial policy which brought the Habsburgs the ruin of
constant warfare
against
realms who were jealous of the family's expanding influence and power.
The policy of
matrimonial
alliances followed by the Habsburgs to protect their acquired territories
ultimately
caused
the genetic extinction of the family's Spanish branch. After two centuries
of marrying into
the same
gene pool, which caused a complete absence of new blood, the Spanish Habsburgs
became
extinct in 1700. Their royal inheritance, to Europe's utter surprise, was
not left to the
Austrian
Habsburgs, but to the French Bourbons. It was because of this that after
the death of King
Charles
II of Spain he was succeeded by a seventeen year old boy by the name of
Philip of
Bourbon,
Duke of Anjou.
Imported
from France, the Bourbons easily copied the Habsburg marriage policies.
The first
Bourbon,
Philip V, did not have enough time to settle in Madrid before his grandfather,
Louis XIV,
was busily
looking for a bride for the new Spanish monarch. Louis XIV's choice fell
on Maria
Luisa
of Savoy, daughter of Duke Amadeo of Savoy. Along with the bride came the
use of Alpine
passes
giving France a unique accessibility to the northern plains of Italy. Philip
gained a child
bride,
Louis XIV gained a military alliance.
Three sons
were the product of Philip and Maria Luisa's marriage. The couple's happiness
came to
an abrupt
end in early 1714, when Maria Luisa died from the exhaustion caused by
constant
childbearing.
Philip was desolate and his ministers set about finding their insatiable
king a new
wife.
Poor Maria Luisa's body had not been interred for long when Philip's delegates
traveled
around
Europe in search of a suitable princess. Within six months Spain had found
a new queen.
Their
choice was a twenty one year old Italian princess, Elisabeth Farnese. Elisabeth
was the
daughter
of Duke Eduardo II of Parma, and through her the Spanish Bourbon's inherited
this Italian
duchy.
Many in Madrid expected Elisabeth to be a quiet, docile and obedient consort.
Instead, they
found
a woman of strong character who easily controlled her husband and secured
the future
grandeur
of her own offspring.
Philip
continued ancient custom when he obtained the hand of Princess Louise Isabelle
of Orleans,
a granddaughter
of Louis XIV as the bride of his eldest son and heir, the Prince of Asturias.
The
wedding
took place in 1722. The marriage contract also stipulated that Philip's
daughter, Infanta
Maria
Anna Victoria, would marry King Louis XV. This double marriage between
the two
branches
of the Bourbon family was destined to strengthened the ties between France
and Spain.
Two years
later, Philip retired from the throne and his eldest son ascended with
the name Louis I.
Nonetheless,
the new monarch did not enjoy kingdom and bride for too long. He succumbed
to an
epidemic
within seven months of his accession. Philip had no other option than to
return to his old
throne
and rule until his own death in 1746.
Seventeen
years before becoming king in 1746, Ferdinand VI married Princess Barbara
of
Portugal.
The marriage contract was a friendship treaty between the two countries
occupying the
Iberian
Peninsula. Ferdinand, repulsed by his rotund bride, had no other option
but to undergo the
marriage
ceremony in 1729. It was not surprising that Ferdinand and Barbara did
not have any
children.
Barbara failed to gain the love and respect of the Spanish people because
of her
appalling
attachment to money. Always fearful of being left a widow in a foreign
country, Queen
Barbara
saved every penny she could lay her hands on. The Spanish populace did
not like
Barbara,
nor did she really find much of interest in Madrid. At her death she further
infuriated the
people
of Madrid by leaving her entire estate to her brother King Joseph I of
Portugal. Not a single
Spaniard
receive a penny of the widowed queen's vast inheritance.
Ferdinand
VI died unexpectedly in 1759. He was succeeded by his next brother King
Charles of
the Two
Sicilies. Upon receiving news of his brother's death in Spain, Charles
quickly boarded his
ships
and sailed to Spain to claim his inheritance. Charles III was one of the
most memorable and
well-prepared
monarchs in Europe. His mother, Elisabeth Farnese, played a key role in
finding the
best bride
for her eldest son. Charles married to Maria Amalia of Saxony. She gave
Charles a very
healthy
number of children and died in Spain soon after the couple's return. Spaniards
waited
patiently
as the king chose not to seek another bride and n the meantime the country
remained
without
a consort.
In 1765
the years of waiting came to an end when Charles III arranged the wedding
of his eldest
son and
heir, Charles, Prince of Asturias, to Princess Maria Luisa of Parma. She
was the daughter
of Prince
Philip of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, who had inherited his mother's duchy
in the 1740's.
The marriage
ceremony of Charles and Maria Luisa was a spectacle of gigantic proportions
as the
king sough
to restore ties between the different branches of the Bourbon family. No
other Spanish
consort
has been as hated, maligned and abused as the morally corrupt Maria Luisa
of Parma. She
had numerous
lovers and found in their arms more comfort than in those of her husband,
who kept
himself
busy assembling and dismantling clocks. Maria Luisa even had one of her
lovers, Manuel
Godoy,
Prince of Peace, serve as her husband prime minister for a long number
of years. Her deep
passion
for the much younger Godoy was the root of the many problems that engulfed
Spain during
the late
1790's and the first decade of the XIXth century. Led by an incapable and
corrupt ministry,
Spain
fell easy prey to the advancing forces of Napoleon. In 1808 the French
emperor forced the
abdication
of Charles IV and sent the Spanish royal family into exile in France. Napoleon's
brother,
the alcoholic Joseph, served as Spanish monarch until an uprising throughout
the country
forced
him to flee.
By the
time the Bourbons regained their lost throne in 1814, the Spanish colonial
empire had begun
to disintegrate.
During the years that the Bourbons spent imprisoned in France, the New
World
governed
itself without much interference from Madrid. By 1810 many of the Spanish
colonial
possessions
had declared their independence from Madrid. The return of the Bourbons
in 1814 did
very little
to stop this trend. The new king, Ferdinand VII, was not only a reactionary
opposed to
any concept
of political liberalism, but also completely incompetent. He expected the
colonies to
submit
to the royal will and when this did not happen, Ferdinand embroiled himself
in protracted
fighting
against his former subjects. In the end, precious resources were wasted
fighting the
revolutionaries
in Spanish America and Ferdinand failed to regain any of his former colonies.
Just as
he was unlucky in politics, Ferdinand had less luck in his many marriages.
His first wife,
Princess
Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Sicilies, was a first cousin of Ferdinand's. This
new
inter-Bourbon
alliance was further strengthened by the marriage of Ferdinand's sister,
Infanta
Maria
Isabela, to the Crown Prince of the Two Sicilies. Both alliances were destined
to join Spain
and the
Two Sicilies in the international arena as the power of Napoleon's France
was beginning
to expanded
unchecked. The fact that neither groom nor bride had ever seen a picture
of each other
did not
deter Ferdinand from following his father's command. Ferdinand's sacrifice
did not last
long for
Maria Antonia died of tuberculosis in 1804.
Without
any descendants to succeed him, Ferdinand VII was forced to find a new
bride. His long
bachelorhood
was put to an end in 1816 when Princess Maria Isabela of Portugal arrived
in Spain
to marry
her prince. Another Portuguese bride was found for Infante Carlos, Ferdinand's
brother.
The Portuguese
brides arrived at Cadiz on a ship transporting them from Brazil. The two
girls had
been raised
in that faraway land during the Portuguese royal family's exile during
Napoleonic
times.
Death seemed to hover around Ferdinand's bed chambers for two years later
Maria Isabela
died during
childbirth. After her passing the king was left a widower for a second
time, the crown
remained
without a direct heir.
A third
bride was found in Dresden and in 1819 Ferdinand VII married Princess Maria
Josepha of
Saxony.
The streets of Madrid were adorned for the king's third wedding and the
people merrily
received
the new bride. Unfortunately for Ferdinand, Maria Josepha was raised in
a convent and
fervently
believed that she could become pregnant by praying and contemplating. Ferdinand,
with
the ardent
Bourbon blood raging in his veins, was most displeased with his new wife.
Consequently,
the couple remained childless and estranged. Maria Josepha, who had a weak
condition,
died ten years later. By the late 1820's Ferdinand was still without a
direct heir. The
Infante
Carlos, a more reactionary character than Ferdinand, could taste his eventual
succession to
the throne.
There was no one separating Carlos from wearing the crown but his childless
brother.
Followers
of Carlos were frustrated in their efforts to keep a fourth bride from
being found.
Ferdinand
continued his search for a fourth bride hoping to fathered offspring and
deny his
brother's
accession. It was during this search that Ferdinand and his ministers found
a vivacious
princess
from Naples. Spanish liberals quietly celebrated the choosing of this new
princess for it
not only
kept Carlos away from the throne, but it also promised the implementation
of liberal
policies.
Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies promised to implement an
amnesty for
those
Spaniards exiled by her future husband's government. Maria Cristina arrived
in Madrid in
1829 and
within months she announced her first pregnancy.
Queen Isabela II of Spain, c. 1870.
The queen
pregnancy infuriated Carlos and his reactionary camarilla. Carlos felt
a certain degree
of satisfaction
when the long-awaited prince failed to arrive. Instead, Maria Cristina
and
Ferdinand
VII were the proud parents of two little girls: Isabela, born in 1830,
and Luisa
Fernanda,
born two years later. By the time of his first daughter's birth, Ferdinand
was in complete
opposition
to his brother. Against tradition in the house of Bourbon, Ferdinand declared
his
daughter
Isabela Princess of Asturias. This meant that upon his death, if no male
heir arrived prior
to that
event, Isabela would succeed her father as Queen of Spain. Carlos was enraged.
His
supporters
became involved in cabals and conspiracies to plunge the country into civil
war to
guarantee
that Carlos would succeed his brother. Not for the first time, and certainly
not the last,
Spain
was irreconcilably divided between two opposing political factions headed
by members of
the royal
family.
Ferdinand
VII died at the age of forty nine years in 1833. Queen Isabela II was but
three years old,
her mother
was named regent during the monarch's childhood. Soon after Ferdinand's
death, Carlos
plunged
the country into civil war. This conflict which periodically blared up
throughout the XIXth
century
is commonly known as the Carlist Wars. Carlos lost his bid for the crown
and so did his
heirs.
After several frustrated efforts to overthrow his niece, Carlos was forced
into exile. He and
his family
settled in Austria were they remained until their bloodline became extinct
in 1936.
The perennial
succession problem also clouded Isabela's early life. The European powers
played
an important
role in choosing the queen's future consort. Louis-Philippe of France wanted
one his
many sons
to marry Isabela, while Leopold I of Belgium had one of his Coburg nephews
in mind.
In the
end, Isabela was given the worst possible candidate that could be found,
her cousin Infante
Francisco
de Asis of Bourbon. The queen's sister was simultaneously married to Prince
Antoine of
Bourbon-Orleans,
Duke of Montpensier, and fifth son of Louis-Philippe. Isabela's husband
was
more interested
in his own vanity than in performing his marital duties. Isabela finally
opted by
securing
for herself a wide array of male companions who guaranteed that she would
produce the
long-awaited
male heir. In contrast, Luisa Fernanda and Montpensier were happily producing
child
after child. Montpensier also had his own designs on the throne and constantly
conspired to
get his
wife on the throne. This meddling in affairs of state caused Montpensier
to be exiled
several
times during Isabela's unstable reign.
After almost
four decades on the throne, Isabela was finally deposed by her people in
1868. Spain
was tired
of witnessing the country's dwindling fortunes and having a monarch who
seemed
incapable
of restoring the national luster. The fact that her marital life was a
complete disaster and
that some
family members were in open rebellion against Isabela only contributed
to her ouster.
Isabela
and her children left Madrid and settled in Paris. For the next seven years
Spain tried to
find a
suitable successor to the Bourbons. Very few European princes were willing
to sacrifice
their
relative peace and position for the unstable throne of Spain. Eventually,
the same politicians
who had
played a part in Isabela's dethronement headed to her Parisian residence
in search of a
new monarch.
Isabela could never be restored for the Spanish public would not have her
again, but
her only
son, Alfonso, seemed a very promising choice. Hence in 1874 Alfonso, Prince
of
Asturias,
was offered the Spanish throne left vacant by his mother. For the second
time in less than
seven
decades the Bourbons were restored to power.
Born in
1857, Alfonso was the nation's hope. The new king was well-liked by his
subjects who
saw in
him the hope for renewed Spanish prominence in Europe. Once installed in
Madrid,
Alfonso
and his ministers busily searched for a bride. Their choice was Maria de
Las Mercedes of
Bourbon,
daughter of Montpensier and Luisa Fernanda. Alfonso XII's ministers felt
that if a
Spanish
bride was found, the public would be happier than having to put up with
the antics of a
foreign
queen. The wedding was celebrated in Madrid on January 23, 1878. Among
great pomp
and circumstance,
Maria de Las Mercedes made her triumphant entry into the capital, where
her
husband's
subjects were showing their pleasure in street celebrations. The country's
joy did not
last long
for the young queen died of typhus within six months of her wedding. Once
again the
Spanish
monarch was without queen and heir.
Queen Mother Maria Cristina of Spain (1858-1929)
The Archduke
Charles Ferdinand of Austria and his wife lived peacefully in one of the
family's
castles
in Bohemia. The couple's third child, a little archduchess was born there
on July 21, 1858.
The new
arrival was baptized Maria Cristina. Raised in a devoutly Catholic environment,
Maria
Cristina
excelled in her studies and linguistic abilities. Charles Ferdinand and
his family also
spent
a considerable time in Vienna every year. It was there in the 1870's when
the family first
came in
contact with an exiled Spanish prince by the name of Alfonso. No one could
have guessed
that these
two playmates would eventually marry. After Maria de Las Mercedes' death,
Spain went
around
Europe finding a wife for Alfonso, their choice fell on Archduchess Maria
Cristina.
Alfonso
and Maria Cristina were married in Madrid on November 29, 1879. The ceremony
was
attended
by the Spanish royal family in full, even Isabela II traveled from Paris
to attend her son's
second
wedding, something she did not do when Alfonso married the unfortunate
Maria de Las
Mercedes.
The inhabitants of Madrid did not take to Queen Maria Cristina with the
same sympathy
that they
had extended to the previous queen. To most Spaniards Maria Cristina seemed
a
thoroughly
distant and aloof figure, yet after years of dedicating her life to the
well-being of her
people,
Maria Cristina gained their love and respect. Alfonso was never in love
with his second
wife for
he had married her out of royal duty. He continued to carry on liaisons
outside the royal
chambers
and his fame was well known around the capital. Nevertheless, the royal
couple had two
daughters
within three years of their marriage. The eldest, Infanta Maria de Las
Mercedes was to
marry
Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 1901. The second daughter, Infanta
Maria Teresa
married
Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria in 1906.
Alfonso
XII died of tuberculosis on November 25, 1885. For some months the king
had been living
in hell
as his health collapsed. It was common to see him coughing blood as his
lungs were
destroyed
by the terrible affliction. Added to the tragedy of the royal family was
the fact that
Alfonso
would most likely never meet his third, and yet unborn, child. Maria Cristina
was made
regent
of the kingdom as no monarch could be declared until she give birth. It
the newborn was a
son, he
would become the new king. If it was a daughter, then the Infanta Maria
de Las Mercedes
would
become queen. In the end, after six months of careful waiting, Queen Maria
Cristina gave
birth
to very healthy boy. He was baptized his father's namesake and history
knows him as King
Alfonso
XIII of Spain.
The Spanish
line of succession, tenuous for most of the XIXth century, continued to
provide the
royal
family with a constant headache. In 1904 Infanta Maria de Las Mercedes
died days after
giving
birth to her third child. Among Alfonso's successors at the time were three
children and an
unmarried
sister. The king's marriage certainly gained urgency with the continuous
instability
affecting
the succession. This problem was solved in 1905 when Alfonso visited London
and fell
madly
in love with Princess Victoria-Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of
Queen Victoria.
The Battenberg's
were minor German princelings. The founder of this morganatic branch of
the
House
of Hesse was Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, who had married a
Polish countess
against
his family's wishes. Alexander's wife was eventually created Princess of
Battenberg and
the couple's
children were given the name as well. As minor as the Battenberg might
have been,
their
incredible good looks allowed the sons of Alexander to enter into prominent
marriages:
Louis
married Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, Henry married Princess
Beatrice of Great
Britain.
Another Battenberg, Alexander was chosen as reigning Prince of Bulgaria.
Victoria-Eugenie
was the only daughter of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice.
King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria-Eugenia minutes
before Morral's bomb exploded, 1906.
The marriage
of Alfonso and Victoria-Eugenie took place in Madrid among incredible pomp
on
May 31,
1906. It was attended by a large number of European royalty most of whom
were related
to the
groom or the bride. Yet the day was marred by a terrorist attack which
almost killed Alfonso
and Victoria
as they were traveling towards the Royal Palace. An anarchist by the name
of Mateo
Morral
threw a floral arrangement at the couple's carriage. The object rebounded
and landed on
the street
killing some of the royal guards and many of the people bidding greetings
to the recently
married
couple. The carnage caused by the explosive was gruesome and Victoria's
white wedding
gown was
splattered with blood. Fortunately Alfonso and Victoria were unharmed.
The
assassination
attempt served as an introduction to the volatility of Spanish politics
and the
uncertainty
Victoria-Eugenie was going to face as Queen of Spain.
The initial
happiness experienced by Alfonso and Victoria quickly evaporated as royal
nursery
received
new arrivals. Their first son, Alfonso, was born in 1907. He suffered from
the dreaded
"royal"
disease, hemophilia. The second son, Jaime was born in 1908. He suffered
from an acute
hearing
handicap. The third child was a daughter, Infanta Beatriz. This fourth
child was another
son, but
he was stillborn in 1910. Infanta Maria Cristina followed in 1911. The
couple's sixth
child
was \Infante Juan, who was a strong and healthy boy. The last child, Infante
Gonzalo, was
born in
1914. He also suffered from hemophilia. Alfonso XIII felt deceived by his
wife's family
and blamed
Victoria for the handicaps of their children. As the years passed, the
couple continued
to live
separate lives.
The Spanish
monarchy was overthrown in 1931 and the royal family was forced into exile.
While
Alfonso
settled in Rome, Victoria-Eugenie in Switzerland. The decade of the 1930's
witnessed the
complete
breakdown of their marriage. The former king and his wife were also faced
with the
tragic
death of two of their children: Alfonso, who died in Miami, Florida, from
wounds received
in an
auto accident, and Gonzalo, who died of the same causes in Austria. Jaime
renounced his
royal
rights and married a commoner. Later on he would try to renege his renunciation
and position
himself
as the future king of Spain. Alfonso's inheritance fell on the shoulders
of his third surviving
son, Juan,
Count of Barcelona.
The Count
of Barcelona was serving as a sailor in the Spanish navy when his father
was
overthrown.
For some years, Juan served in the British navy as he completed his training.
As a
result
of the renunciation signed by Juan's brothers in 1933, he became Alfonso
XIII's dynastic
heir.
Juan married Princess Maria de Las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in
1935. The couple
had four
children: Infanta Maria del Pilar, Juan Carlos I of Spain, Infanta Margarita
and Infante
Alfonso.
During
the Franco dictatorship, the Count of Barcelona positioned himself as the
royal option for
Spain's
future. Although he kept in contact with Franco, the Count of Barcelona
was deeply
opposed
to the dictator's extreme conservatism. From his villa in Portugal, Juan
tried to negotiate
his return
to a restored Spanish throne. Franco did not trust the Count of Barcelona's
liberalism and
instead
chose Juan's son, Juan Carlos, as the dictatorship's heir in 1969. The
Count of Barcelona
was opposed
to this action and it almost brought him to a rupture with his only son,
for by then the
Infante
Alfonso had died in tragic circumstances.
In the
end, the Count of Barcelona never ruled the destinies of Spain. When Franco
died in 1975,
the Count
of Barcelona's son was restored to the throne. He chose the name of Juan
Carlos I, a
name that
broke with royal tradition. Within years the new king had done away with
the
dictatorship's
legacy and thus become Europe's most successful monarch. It is in no small
measure
to Juan
Carlos' efforts that the Spanish monarchy has managed to survive and gain
widespread
respect
and support. By the late 1970's the Count of Barcelona resigned himself
to his son's
accession
and at a ceremony in Madrid he transferred his dynastic rights to Juan
Carlos. Juan,
Count
of Barcelona, died on April 1, 1993.
By the
early 1960's the Spanish royal family had been reduced to just a few male
members. Of
Alfonso
XIII's children only the Count of Barcelona was eligible for the throne.
The Count himself
had only
one son, Juan Carlos. Thus, if Juan Carlos did not marry within the bounds
of royalty his
branch
of the Bourbon family would loose their dynastic rights. The succession
would then pass to
the eldest
son of Infanta Maria de Las Mercedes, Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
and his
children.
It was with a great degree of trepidation that Juan Carlos announced his
wedding to
Princess
Sophia of Greece in 1962.
Wedding of Juan Carlos of Spain and Sophia of Greece,
1962
Princess
Sophia of Greece, born in 1938, was the eldest daughter of King Paul of
Greece and
Queen
Frederica, née Princess of Hanover. Frederica herself was the only
daughter of Duke
Ernst-August
of Hanover and Princess Victoria-Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of
Kaiser
Wilhelm
II. Both of Sophia's parents, as was the Count of Barcelona, were descendants
of Queen
Victoria.
Sophia's only brother, Constantine, succeeded his father as King of Greece
in 1964.
Juan Carlos
and Sophia met at the wedding of a mutual cousin, Edward, Duke of Kent,
in 1961.
Within
months the chance meeting in London had turned into a romance. The couple
became
engaged
at the Swiss residence of Queen Victoria-Eugenie and May 14, 1962, was
settled as their
wedding
day. The ceremony was held in Athens and was one of the greatest congregations
of
European
royalty since the end of the Second World War. Soon after the wedding in
Athens, Juan
Carlos
and Sophia settled at the Zarzuela Palace in the outskirts of Madrid. They
continue to
inhabit
this modest former hunting lodge. The couple had three children: Elena,
Cristina and
Felipe,
Prince of Asturias.
Very few
people expected Juan Carlos to remain on the throne for as long as he has.
many Spanish
politicians
initially saw him as the inheritor of Franco's extreme right-wing politics,
yet Juan
Carlos
surprised many of his detractors. By the time he had been on the throne
for five years, the
king had
willingly returned his political powers to the Spanish parliament. Democracy
in Spain
owes its
survival, and success, in no small manner to the role played by this intrepid
monarch.
Juan Carlos
and Sophia have become model sovereigns, an example for other dethroned
royalty to
follow.
It is not odd to hear these days that many of the couple's exiled royal
cousins consider Juan
Carlos
and Sophia the model to follow if their thrones are ever restored. That
in itself should be
one of
the crowning glories of the restored Spanish monarchy.
Juan Carlos
and Sophia are a very relaxed, fun-loving couple. They have transmitted
this
unostentatious
lifestyle to their three children. The two Infantas, Elena and Cristina,
are married
now. Elena
married a Spanish nobleman in 1995. Cristina surprised most royal watchers
by
marrying
a Spanish sports figure in the 1997. Neither of the two seems to have lost
their place in
the line
of succession even though they married outside the bounds of royalty. It
only remains to be
seen if
Prince Felipe is allowed the same choices by his forward-looking parents.
After all, the
future
of Spain's royal family rests on his shoulders. And, given the history
of his future kingdom,
that is
not an easy task to fulfill.
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