Carlos King Emperor

Spain in the early sixteenth century is no place for a foreign king. When the young Charles of Habsburg arrives to claim his inheritance, he is met with suspicion, resentment, and a court that sees him as an outsider. What follows is one of history's most extraordinary political journeys: the transformation of an awkward, taciturn young man into the ruler of the largest empire Europe had ever known.

Produced by RTVE and Diagonal, this ambitious Spanish historical series traces that journey in full, moving across the great centres of power of the Renaissance world. Charles faces rivals of genuine stature, Francis I, Suleiman the Magnificent, Henry VIII, and a papacy unwilling to bend. He fights on multiple fronts, governs territories spanning three continents, and carries the weight of an era in which the old chivalric order is quietly dying around him.

Álvaro Cervantes leads a strong ensemble cast, with Blanca Suárez as Isabel of Portugal, the woman who ruled wisely in his absence and whom he loved without reservation.

The series is as interested in the private man as in the public figure, and it is ultimately his own ideals that cost him most. A four-time winner at the ACE Awards, including Best Direction and Best Cultural Program.