Queen Isabella II of Spain
Today marks the 190th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Isabella II of Spain, who was born on this day in 1830! The eldest daughter of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and his fourth wife and niece, Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, the King had issued a Pragmatic Sanction that insured her accession…
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Today marks the 190th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Isabella II of Spain, who was born on this day in 1830! The eldest daughter of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, and his fourth wife and niece, Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, the King had issued a Pragmatic Sanction that insured her accession to the Spanish Throne as Queen Isabella II in 1833, at the age of 2, but her succession was disputed by her uncle, Infante Carlos, which led to the Carlist Wars. Under the regency of Dowager Queen Maria Christina, Spain transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, and lost much of their global influence after losing their Colonial Possessions in the Americas in the reign of her father. In 1846, the Queen married her first cousin, Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz, and the couple had twelve children, five of them who reached adulthood, though its possible that most of them were not fathered by the Duke. Queen Isabella had a tumultuous reign, marked by intrigues and military coups, and she was eventually deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, and abdicated in 1870, in favour of her son, King Alfonso XII, who became king in 1874. While Queen Isabella returned to Spain periodically, she spent the rest of her life at the Palacio Castilla in Paris, where she passed away in 1904.