Philip V of Spain

Reign: 1700 – 1706; 1714 – 1724; 1724 – 1746
Life: 1683–1746

His total reign (45 years, 9 months and 8 days) is the longest in the history of the Spanish monarchy, surpassing Philip IV. Although his ascent to the throne precipitated the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V instigated many important reforms in Spain, most especially the centralization of power of the monarchy and the suppression of regional privileges, via the Nueva Planta decrees, and restructuring of the administration of the Spanish Empire on the Iberian Peninsula and its overseas regions. Philip was born into the French House of Bourbon during the reign of his paternal grandfather King Louis XIV. While Spain maintained its empire in the New World and East Asia, it removed the Spanish Netherlands and Spanish-controlled territories in Italy from the Spanish monarchy, even if the latter were reconquered as additional Bourbon kingdoms during his reign.

During Philip V of Spain's reign, Frederick William I of Prussia ruled Prussia, Anna I of Russia ruled Russia, and Kangxi Emperor ruled China.