Isabella II was Queen of Spain from age 3 until she was deposed in a revolution at age 40 in 1868. She spent the second half of her life in exile in France. As queen, she faced constant turmoil including two Carlist civil wars between supporters of her rule and those of her uncle. Her first marriage failed quickly and she took several lovers while rumors spread of her frivolity and incompetence as queen. When she refused to allow progressives to form a government, it triggered a revolution that sent her into exile where she died of influenza at age 73.
3. Death of ex-Queen Isabella II of Spain
By Richard Cavendish
Published in History Today Volume 54 Issue 4 April 2004
After spending almost half her life in exile, the former Queen of Spain died on
9th April, 1904.
Queen of Spain from the age of three, Isabella II abdicated after thirty-six
years of more or less ceaseless turmoil, and spent almost half her life in exile
in France, though she characteristically never learned to speak French
properly. Her accession as a baby in 1833 in succession to her father, the
autocratic Ferdinand VII, precipitated seven years of civil war with the Carlists
– the staunchly Catholic, traditionalist supporters of her uncle, Don Carlos.
Isabella’s first regent was her mother, who weakened her position by
morganatically marrying a shop-keeper’s son and by her reputation for ruthless
greed – she was involved in the Cuban slave trade. In 1840 she was ousted by
General Baldomero Espartero. There were mutinies in the army and an
attempt to kidnap the young queen from the royal palace in Madrid, possibly
inspired by her mother. In 1843 Baldomero was sent packing by other army
officers and the thirteen-year-old Isabella was declared of age. On her
sixteenth birthday, at the urging of her mother and Louis Philippe of France,
she was married to her Bourbon cousin, Prince Francisco de Asis, a pious
hypochondriac widely believed to be impotent.
4. Louis Philippe contrived to marry his son to Isabella’s younger sister at the
same time in the hope that Isabella would have no children and a grandson of
his would one day rule Spain. Isabella was fun-loving, cheerful, wilful, ill-
educated and plump. The marriage was an almost instant failure and Isabella’s
fondness for a handsome young general named Francisco Serrano was soon
noticed. A second Carlist civil war broke out and military men continued to
dominate the government during palace and political intrigues, and one uprising
after another. Scandalous reports spread about the queen’s numerous lovers.
Historians castigate her for frivolity and incompetence, but still she managed to
hang on until 1868, when her refusal to allow the self-styled Progressives to
form a government provoked a revolution.
Isabella was at her summer residence in San Sebastian, whose blossoming as
a resort under royal patronage was perhaps her principal contribution. With her
was her latest lover, Carlos Marfori, a former actor. She found herself deserted
by her generals, including Serrano, and fled by train to exile in Paris. Her
husband and Marfori went with her and she bought a house in the Avenue
Kleber and christened it the Palais de Castille. There two years later she
abdicated in favour of her teenage son, Don Alfonso. Who his father was is a
good question, but he prudently went off to study soldiering at Sandhurst.
5. There followed a ludicrous interlude in which Prince Amadeo of Savoy was the
nominal ruler, popularly nicknamed King Macaroni because he spoke Spanish
with an Italian accent. When he resigned in despair in 1873, Spain became an
anarchic republic until the military restored order the following year, turned the
parliament out and, to general relief, put Isabella’s son on the throne as Alfonso
XII. She returned to Spain briefly, but was not allowed to exercise any
influence. There was yet another Carlist civil war in the 1870s and Alfonso died
in 1885.
In Paris in March 1904, while recovering from influenza, Isabella received a
visit from another ex-monarch, the Empress Eugenie of France. It was a cold
day, the room was draughty and Isabella’s condition took a serious turn.
Eventually the papal nuncio gave her extreme unction and her last words were,
‘I think I am going to faint’. She was seventy-three.
Source: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-ex-queen-isabella-ii-spain
6. QUESTIONS
1.- What is a morganatic marriage?
2.- Whose marriage was declared as “morganatic”?
3.- How old was Isabella II when she was declared “of
age”?
4.- How does the author portray Isabella?
5.- Who was Queen Isabella’s husband?
6.- Why was her marriage an instant failure?
7.- This article is clearly biased. What is the author's
position relative to republic and monarchy? Please give
some examples from the text.
8. Who is the father of Queen Isabella’s son?
9. How many Carlist wars occurred during Queen
Isabella’s reign?
10. What did Queen Isabella II die of? What were her last
words?
7. QUESTIONS
1.- What is a morganatic marriage?
2.- Whose marriage was declared as “morganatic”?
3.- How old was Isabella II when she was declared “of
age”?
4.- How does the author portray Isabella?
5.- Who was Queen Isabella’s husband?
6.- Why was her marriage an instant failure?
7.- This article is clearly biased. What is the author's
position relative to republic and monarchy? Please give
some examples from the text.
8. Who is the father of Queen Isabella’s son?
9. How many Carlist wars occurred during Queen
Isabella’s reign?
10. What did Queen Isabella II die of? What were her last
words?
