Ferdinand VII succeeded to the throne of Spain and the Indies on his father's abdication on 19 March 1808. A few months later, he renounced his rights in favour of his father and with him ceded Spain to Napoleon I and lived in exile in Valençay during the Spanish reign of Joseph Bonaparte. He was restored to the throne by the Treaty of Valençay on 11 December 1813 and, on his return to Spain on 24 March 1814, he declared his daughter Isabel heiress to the throne, abolishing the law of 1713 which had provided for male succession only. He married four times: first, Maria Antonieta Teresa, daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies; his niece Maria Isabel Francisca, daughter of John, King of Portugal; Maria Josepha, fourth daughter of Prince Maximilian of Saxony, and finally, in 1829, his niece Maria Cristina, later Queen Regent of Spain 1833-1840.