It’s War!

* French Army in skirmishes with liberals

* Then they invade through Basque Country

* Objective seems to be the capital, Madrid

* King Ferdinand is being taken to Seville

Ending months of uncertainty, thousands of French troops have crossed the border into Spain in a bid to give King Ferdinand VII back his power as a hardline conservative ruler in Madrid.

The invasion ordered by the King of France, Louis XVIII began on 7 April - but only after a cross-border face-off between the French Army and hundreds of liberals from France and Italy. They waved the republican Tricolour, sang the Marseillaise, and urged soldiers to mutiny and refuse to cross the frontier.

French forces fired at the protestors and several were killed. The next day, King Louis’ army crossed the Bidasoa river to enter Spain though the Basque Country, with no sign of desertions.

Spanish forces supporting the country’s liberal and democratic government are said to have retreated to the fortress at San Sebastian 15 miles away.

King Ferdinand is reported to be in a heavily-guarded convoy approaching Seville, 300 miles south of Madrid, despite his attempts to delay the evacuation sought by his liberal ministers.

Or is it just a special military operation?

The Spanish king will have been waiting for this moment since the Congress of Verona late in 1822 when conservative leaders from Austria, Prussia, and Russia - but not Britain - approved intervention on the side of Ferdinand.

The French force has been dubbed ‘The Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis’, but some estimates say troop numbers are only 60,000.

Questions are being asked about the aims of this military operation and the French exit strategy. It seems likeliest that their aim is just to restore Ferdinand’s absolute power and remove the liberal ministers who have been a thorn in his side since 1820, then withdraw back to France.

FRENCH FORCES ARE LED BY THE DUKE OF ANGOULÊME (PICTURED). HE WAS BORN AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES IN 1775, 14 YEARS BEFORE THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND IS A NEPHEW OF KING LOUIS VIII. HE FOUGHT AT WATERLOO ON THE BRITISH SIDE AGAINST NAPOLEON.

Where does UK stand?

King George and his ministers will be hugely disappointed. Their strategy - combining disapproval of the use of force with calls for compromise by Madrid - has come to nothing.

Sources in Whitehall say that the Foreign Secretary, George Canning, has told Paris that Britain will be neutral, providing its forces do not stay in Spain, seize any of her colonies, or attack Portugal.

From 2023, on our back page: as Charles III prepares to be crowned, a Brighton exhibition on George IV’s extravagant coronation in 1821.

Sign up here to be tipped off when 200 is published