8 Reales - Fernando VII Seville, 1st portrait

Fernando VII was proclaimed king in March 1808, but within weeks Napoleon had summoned him to Bayonne and coerced his abdication in favor of Joseph Bonaparte. The Seville mint, operating under the authority of the Supreme Central Junta after the French were driven from Andalusia, continued striking in Fernando's name as a deliberate political act — coinage functioning as a declaration of legitimate sovereignty against the intrusive Bonapartist regime in Madrid.

The "first portrait" designation distinguishes this type from later busts introduced as the war dragged on. Seville fell to French forces in February 1810, ending this specific issue abruptly.