Son of Philip the Handsome and his wife Joan of Aragon-Castille, Emperor in 1519, King of Spain tn 1516, Sovereign of the Netherlands and Duke of Luxembourg on 25th September 1506. He abdicated all his powers in 1555-1556. Knight of the Order of the Toison d'Or (Golden Fleece).

Since his birth at Ghent on 24th February 1500, Charles V had held the title Duke of Luxembourg. As, on the death of his father, Philip the Handsome, Charles was still a minor, his aunt Marguerite of Austria assumed the regency of the Netherlands. Charles was declared of age in 1515.

In 1525, the sovereign confirmed the privileges of the city of Luxembourg and on 19th November 1531, he organised the provincial council, deriving from the Council of Government created by Philip the Good in 1445.

The dominant and menacing position of Spain gave rise to a series of wars with France, in which Luxembourg suffered a great deal. In 1542, a French army, commanded by the Dukes Charles of Orleans and Claude de Guise, laid siege to the fortress of Luxembourg which surrendered on 1st September. Nine days later, it fell back into the hands of the imperial army led by Rene of Nassau. On 10th September the following year, it surrendered once more and on 28th September, Francis I, King of France, took possession of it in person. In December 1543, the imperial army returned to attack the fortress but had to withdraw.

Finally, in the summer of 1 544, the town was besieged by an imperial army commanded by Ferdinand de Gonzague and the Count of Fürstenberg and the city surrendered on 5th June. Peace was temporarily restored by the signing, on 18th September, of the Treaty of Crepy.

On his return from the disastrous siege of the city of Metz, Charles V, seriously ill, stayed for the entire month of January 1553 at the ducal castle of Luxembourg, not returning to Brussels until 5th February.

Having resigned his powers, Charles retired in the Estremadura of Spain; he died at the monastery of Yuste in 1558.

After: Raymond Weiller - Le Portrait dans I’Histoire du ays de Luxembourg (the portrait in the history of the country of Luxembourg).