The life of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Consort of Spain. Part II.

Tags

El Escorial, Fernando VII of Spain, Kingdom of Spain, Knight of the Golden Fleece, Louis Philippe, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Isabella II of Spain

Maria Christina as Regent

On December 28, 1833, three short months after the death of Fernando VII, Maria Christina had secretly married an ex-sergeant from the royal guard, Agustín Fernando Muñoz (1808–1873). Maria Christina and Muñoz had several children together while trying to keep their marriage a secret. This fact certainly proves that Maria Christina was carrying on an affair with Muñoz during her marriage with the king.

If Maria Christina had officially made the marriage public, she would have forfeited the regency; but her relations with Muñoz were perfectly well known within the Spanish court. When on 13 August 1836 the soldiers on duty at the summer palace La Granja mutinied and forced the regent to grant a constitution, it was generally, though wrongly, believed that they overcame her reluctance by seizing Muñoz, whom they called her guapo, or fancy man, and threatening to shoot him.

Agustín Fernando Muñoz

Eventually, news of Maria Christina’s marriage to this low-ranking soldier became public. That news made Maria Christina deeply unpopular. Her position was undermined by news of her remarriage and concerns that she was not actually supportive of her liberal ministers and their policies. Eventually, the army, which was the backbone of Isabella II’s support, and the liberal leadership in the Cortes combined to demand that Maria Christina stand aside from the regency. In 1840 Maria Christina found her position intolerable; she renounced the regency and left Spain with Muñoz. The army commander, General Baldomero Espartero, Count of Luchana, replaced her as regent.

Maria Christina Later in life.

In 1842 Maria Christina purchased the Château de Malmaison as their residence. In 1843, on the overthrow of General Baldomero Espartero they returned to Spain. In 1844, Muñoz’s stepdaughter Queen Isabella II was declared to be of age. On 23 June 1844 Isabella gave to Muñoz the title duque de Riánsares, to which was attached a Grandeza de España; the title came from the river Riánsares, near Muñoz’s birthplace in Tarancón. On October 12, 1844 Isabella gave official consent to the marriage between her mother and Muñoz, and it was publicly performed.

In 1846 Isabella made Muñoz a Knight of the Golden Fleece. On May 30, 1846 she gave Muñoz a second title, marqués de San Agustín. Muñoz was made a Captain General, the highest rank in the Spanish Army. In 1847 Louis Philippe, King of the French, gave Muñoz the title duc de Montmorot; he also invested Muñoz with the Grand Cross of the Légion d’honneur. In 1854, Maria Christina left for France a second time. France remained her primary residence for the remainder of her life.

In 1846, by the express request of the former president Juan José Flores, the Queen participated in an attempt to restore the monarchy in Ecuador. This two-phase plan was first that her son Agustín Muñoz of Bourbon should become King of Ecuador, and later in restorer of the Spanish monarchy in Perú and Bolivia, converting the child in the monarch of the tentative United Kingdom of Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia, with herself and Flores as Regents. When everything was organized, the attempt was denounced by the press and Latin American diplomats, and plans collapsed.

Death and burial

Maria Christina’s illness returned and she suffered from serious coughing, fainting and fever. She died in Le Havre, France on August 22, 1878, aged 72. As the mother of Isabella II, Maria Christina was buried in the royal crypt of El Escorial.

The life of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen Consort of Spain. Part I.

Tags

Carlist War, Charles III of Spain, Charles IV of Spain, Don Carlos, Francis I of the Two Sicilies, Kingdom of Spain, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Pragmatic Sanction, Regency, Salic Law, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (April 27, 1806 – August 22, 1878) was queen consort of Spain from 1829 to 1833 and regent of the Kingdom from 1833 to 1840.

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies was born in Palermo, Sicily the daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife, Maria Isabella of Spain. King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies was the son of Ferdinand I of the Two Siclies (who was the third son of King Carlo VII-V of Naples and Sicily by his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony.) By the way, King Carlo VII-V of Naples and Sicily was also King Carlos III of Spain.

Carlos IV of Spain

María Isabella of Spain

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies’ mother, Maria Isabella of Spain, was the youngest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma. This means her parents were first cousins; her grand fathers (Carlos IV of Spain & King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies) were brothers.

On May 27, 1829, Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen Consort of Spain as the third wife of King Fernando VII of Spain, died. Fernando VII, old and ill, had gone his entire reign without producing a male heir, sparking a succession duel between the Infanta Maria Francisca and the Infante Carlos, and the Infanta Luisa Carlotta and the Infante Francisco de Paula. Fernando VII declared his intention to marry and assembled the Council of Castile, who tasked the King with remarriage.

King Fernando VII of Spain

Following Luisa Carlotta’s suggestion, Fernando VII sent for Maria Christina of the Two Siclies, his niece, who had already given birth to a child and pleased the King’s eyes. The two were wed on December 12, 1829 at the Church of the Atocha.

With her betrothal and then marriage to Fernando VII, Maria Christina became embroiled in the conflict between the Spanish Liberals and the Carlists. The Liberal faction, and the Spanish people, greatly revered Maria Christina, and made her their champion; when she first arrived in Madrid in 1829, the blue of the cloak she wore became their official color. The Carlist’s were absolutists and highly conservative, and derived their name from the Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina who they favored for the throne. Using King Felipe V’s enactment of Salic law, which banned women from taking the throne.

Fernando VII and Maria Christina produced two daughters, Isabella in October 1830 and Luisa Fernanda the next year. However, in a secret session of the Cortes in 1789, King Carlos IV reversed the Salic Law of succession with the Pragmatic Sanction. Seeking to secure the succession of an heir of his siring, no matter their gender, Ferdinand VII announced the Pragmatic Sanction in March 1830. The Pragmatic Sanction removed the Salic system established by Felipe V of Spain and returned Spain to a a male preferred primogeniture, similar to the British style of mixed succession that gave succession rights to women. This type of system of succession predated the Bourbon monarchy in Spain.

On the trip to La Granja, Fernando VII was badly injured by a coach accident. He became ill and increasingly sick over the summer. At one point, Fernando VII was found unconscious at the palace chapel. Seeking council in the event of Fernando VII’s death, Maria Christina approached the Carlist Francisco Calomarde, who advised her that the Spanish people would rally behind Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina (March 29, 1788 – March 10, 1855) was an Infante of Spain and the second surviving son of King Carlos IV of Spain and of his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma and the younger brother of King Fernando VII.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina

Fearing the actions of Infante Carlos de Borbón, and wanting to make him his ally, Maria Christina coerced Fernando VII into signing a decree making her regent if he died, with Infante Carlos de Borbón, as her chief adviser. Infante Carlos de Borbón refused, demanding total governance. Calomarde, with Maria Francisca and Maria Theresa, reissued his warning, coercing the King and Queen into repealing the Pragmatic Sanction.

When Fernando VII appeared to have died, the repealing was announced publicly, and Maria Christina was deserted by her courtiers. Fernando VII was discovered to be alive, and news of this also spread. Altogether, Luisa Carlotta, at that time in Andalusia, soon arrived at La Granja and speedily re-enacted the Pragmatic Sanction and orchestrated Calomarde’s dismissal.

When Fernando VII actually did die on September 29, 1833, Maria Christina became regent for their daughter, proclaimed Queen Isabella II of Spain. Isabella’s claim to the throne was disputed by Infante Carlos de Borbón who claimed that his brother Ferdinand had unlawfully changed the succession law to permit females to inherit the crown.

Infante Carlos de Borbón, Count of Molina immediately claimed the throne of Spain after the death of his older brother King Fernando VII in 1833. Claiming the style and title, King Carlos V of Spain, first of the Carlist claimants to the throne of Spain, he was a reactionary who stridently opposed liberalism in Spain and the assaults on the Catholic Church. His claim was contested by liberal forces loyal to the dead king’s infant daughter, the new Queen Isabella II. The result was the bloody First Carlist War (1833–1840).

Isabella II as a child. She is depicted wearing the sash of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa.

Some supporters of infante Carlos went so far as to claim that Fernando had actually bequeathed the crown to his brother but that Maria Christina had suppressed that fact. It was further alleged that the Queen had signed her dead husband’s name to a decree recognizing Isabella as heir. Despite considerable support for Carlos from conservative elements in Spain, the Liberal faction supporting Queen María Christina as Regent, successfully retained the throne for her daughter.

The Lineage of King Alfonso XII of Spain, Part II.

Tags

Alfonso XII of Spain, Carlos IV of Spain, Fernando VII of Spain, Francis I of the Two Sicilies, Isabella II of Spain, Kingdom of Spain, María Isabel of Spain, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Maria Louisa of Parma, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

King Alfonso XII of Spain

In examining the lineage of King Alfonso XII of Spain I mentioned that most of us commoners have eight unrelated great-grandparents. Alfonso XII only had four great-grandparents, and even then they were all from the House of Bourbon. These four individuals were his paternal great-grandparents as we have seen:

Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma
Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his his first cousin María Isabel of Spain

In examining his maternal great-grandparents we find these same four individuals:

Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma
Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his his first cousin María Isabel of Spain

The difference of course is in who their children were and whom they were married to. For example, paternally Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma had Infante Francisco de Paula, Duke of Cádiz who married his niece Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies daughter of Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabel of Spain.

However, on Alfonso XII’s maternal side, Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma had King Fernando VII of Spain who married, as his fourth wife his, niece Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, (her mother wife, Maria Isabella of Spain’s older brother).

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies

Therefore, maternally, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, parents were of Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabel of Spain.

This means that these two sisters of the House of Bourbon-Two Siclies (below) each married their uncles (who were brothers) of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon.

* Luisa Carlotta (1804–1844), who married her mother’s younger brother Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain.
* María Cristina (1806–1878), who married firstly her uncle Ferdinand VII of Spain (her mother’s older brother);

They were King Alfonso XII’s grand parents.

His paternal grand parents were Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies and they were the parents of King Alfonso XII’s father…Infante Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz.

Francisco married Queen Isabella II of Spain, his double first cousin, on October 10, 1846. There is evidence that Isabella would rather have married his younger brother, Infante Enrique, Duke of Seville, and complained bitterly about her husband’s effeminate habits after their first night together.

Infante Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz

Alfonso XII’s maternal grandparents (his maternal side is where he derived his claim to the throne) were King Fernando VII of Spain Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies and they were the parents of his mother, Queen Isabella II of Spain.

Isabella II, was Queen of Spain from 1833 until 1868. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, whose refusal to recognize a female sovereign led to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1868, and formally abdicated in 1870. Her son, Alfonso XII, became king in 1874.

Isabella II, was Queen of Spain

With Alfonso XII being the result of multiple first cousin marriages and two uncle-niece unions, he should have been as inbred as his predecessor King Carlos II of Spain. The fact that Alfonso XII did not suffer from the curse of inbreeding like Carlos II has given rise to the speculation that Infante Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz was not the real father of King Alfonso XII. That will be the topic of the next post on the lineage of King Alfonso XII.