of Lucca (Charles II, Duke of Parma). The crowning of De Luca was frustrated by the defeat of Buenos Aires during the battle of Cepeda, which ended the authority of the Supreme Directors and started a period of anarchy. The Prince of Lucca was a Bourbon distantly related to the Spanish king; the French premiers Richelieu and Desolle supported the plan to disrupt British activities in the region. This plan came after King Louis XVIII of France had vetoed Rivadavia's plan to have Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans invited as king. The Duke of Lucca was not only proposed as an Argentine monarch but the idea was to propose a marriage between him and one of the Brazilian princesses, whose dowry would include Cisplatina, then a Brazilian province. The United Provinces was at war with the Empire of Brazil over Cisplatina. The plan (both the Duke of Lucca and the marriage to a Brazilian princess) which had been approved by the United Provinces' parliament, came to nothing after the king of Spain - once again - refused to allow any member of his family as a monarch in one of his former colonies. Historical disputes The monarchism of Belgrano and San Martín has been criticized by their biographer, Bartolomé Mitre. In his book Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana, he considered that they did not comprehend the needs of the time and failed to represent the dominant popular opinions regarding the form of government. Even so, their works and military victories would have helped the country to become a democratic republic. Mitre considered the Inca plan an inconsistent project, without political or military foundation, which San Martín supported merely in order to strengthen the government and gather allies. Juan Bautista Alberdi considered that it was a mistake to judge the monarchism of San Martín or Bolívar by judging monarchy and republicanism as abstract concepts. Historian Milcíades Peña also pointed that monarchy became obsolete when society became strong enough to face more advanced forms of government, but it was instrumental at earlier stages of the European historical development to turn isolated fiefs and cities into countries with strong centralized governments. From this perspective, they would have promoted monarchism because the social development of Hispanic South America was closer to feudal Europe than to its Early modern period. According to Alberdi, the real dispute was not really between the