Spain's Controversial Queen Isbella II

While Queen Victoria enjoyed a nation riding high in imperial glory, her contemporary in Spain found her nation in disarray, plagued by political instability. Thrust into the position at a young age, others ruled on her behalf. She  must find her position and role in the country or face dire consequences.

Early Life

Born on October 10, 1830, Isabella was the celebrated child of King Ferdinand VII to his 4th wife, Maria Cristina of Two Sicilies after a series of short-lived children and miscarriages. Indeed, she came to Ferdinand as a sunshine amidst turbulent decades in his life and Spain. The country suffered destruction during the Napoleonic Wars, the chaos of the War of Independence in the Americas, and the mayhem between the liberals and conservatives within the country.

Queen Maria Cristina

Isabella, however, had no lasting memory of her father who passed away 3 years after her birth. The event propelled her to the throne, but not all agreed to her succession. Her uncle Don Carlos, the Count of Molina, challenged her gaining the support of conservatives as well as the clerical faction known as the Apostolicos. Don Carlos’ supporters  came to be known as the Carlist.

 

They argued the succession of Isabella II as illegal because a women cannot inherit the throne under the Salic Law. A law in placed since the reign of Philip V (r. 1700 – 1724), thus in the absence of a son, the King's brother should inherit the throne. Hence, the basis of Carlos’ claim. 

Isabella II in her childhood

With Isabella a toddler, her mother, the widowed Queen Maria Cristina, served as regent and the defender of her claim to the throne. They claimed that Charles IV revoked the Salic Law in 1789 which Ferdinand VII used as a basis for the Pragmatic Sanction in 1830. Therefore, it allowed Isabella to succeed to the thone. The Carlist refused to accept Isabella and civil war, known as th First Carlist War erupted.

 

Amidst the Carlist War

The Carlist War raged for 6 years exposing a great divide Spanish society. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic War unleashed a wave of liberalism - of ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity - that swept Europe including Spain. The Constitution of 1812 or the Cadiz Constitution embodied these ideals in the Iberian Kingdom attacking the nobility, absolutism, and clergy. Don Carlos championed the conservative and reactionary forces and entrenched themselves in the Basque Country and Catalonia while also gaining the support from the traditionalist rural populace.

The declaration of the Constitution of 1812, the work of Salvador Viniegra

Maria Cristina, at the head of the Isabelline faction, found military support in General Baldomero Espartero. But martial support alone did not pushed back the Carlists, they needed political allies. They then formed an alliance of convenience with the liberals bringing into the fold the urban population, intelligentsias, and rising bourgeoisie. Moreover, the support of the British and the French strengthened the position of the Isabelline party. Ultimately the war came to an end in 1839 resulting to the exile of Don Carlos to France.

By war’s end, Isabella, 9 years old, witnessed her mother’s political downfall due to love. As regent, Maria Cristina pledged not to remarry. But with a fragile heart, she secretly married a royal guard officer named Agustin Fernando Muñoz resulting in several children. This scandal went public in 1840 plummeting her reputation. Isabella watched her mother relinquish her regency and leave for France. Her mother’s political demise demonstrated the impact of a royal’s private life to political survival.

Gen. Baldomero Espartero

General Baldomero Espartero assumed the regency, but for only 3 years. After alienating all liberals, a pronunciamiento, a Spanish euphemism for a military coup, erupted in 1843. The liberal-backed Ramon Maria Narvaez in 1843 overthrew Espartero and declared Isabella, despite being 13, an adult and fit to assume her direct rule.

 

Reign of Queen Isabella II

Only a teenager with a silver spoon in her mouth, Isabella thrusted forward into Spanish politics. During this time, Martin Andrew Sharp Hume described her not so much of a great beauty nor as fit to be a ruler of a turbulent Spain, writing:

A stoutly built, very precocious girl with full cheeks, a snub nose, and thick, sensuous lips, incredibly ignorant, but with a great deal of natural shrewdness; in  manner somewhat bluff, jovial, and outspoken, partaking of her father’s malicious jocosity and her mother’s frank fascination. She was good-hearted and generous to the point of prodigality, impulsive and imprudent beyond belief, even for so young a girl, and this quality she has never lost.

The people initially welcomed her direct rule. They praised her generosity, especially when she forgave a government debt of about 100 million reales or when she donated her jewelry to the poor. Finally, her decision to pardon Angel de la Riva, a lawyer and journalist, who attempted to assassinate gave her a Jesus Christ vibes. 

She also earned a reputation of a pious Queen, washing the feet of her subjects during Maundy Thursdays and tremendously praying with some even said to have seen her kneeling in cold floors for hours sobbing as if in a deep trance. Her generosity and piety, however, came overshadowed by her personal affairs beginning with her husband.

Bad Marriage and Scandals 

In 1846, Isabella II followed the European royal tradition of inbreeding by marrying her cousin the Duke of Cadiz, Francisco de Asis. A Duke with notoriety for alleged homosexuality and impotence. As a cousin, Isabella knew the rumors regarding the Duke and she loathed him for it. She even said to her close confidants, “¿Qué te diré de un hombre que la noche de nuestras bodas vi que llevaba más encajes que yo?” (What can I say about a man who on our wedding night I saw wearing more lace than me?)

Francisco de Asis, Duke of Cadiz

The marriage ended Isabella’s honeymoon with her subjects. In private, the royal couple lived separately and seldom shared a bedroom. Isabella became pregnant 12 times and rumors spread all 12 fathered only by the Duke of Cadiz on paper, but biologically, a result of Isabella’s relation with courtiers and military officers. 

Her 1st affair after her marriage immediately began in 1847 after she fell in love with the ambitious dandy General Francisco Serrano. The young infatuated teenage Isabella contemplated seriously divorcing her husband. The idea of a Catholic monarch divorcing her husband back then was an unthinkable move and General Ramon Narvaez and the Papal Nuncio opposed it. Narvaez then worked successfully to reconcile the royal couple, while sending Serrano away from Madrid. Later on Francisco Serrano played a key role in the 1868 Revolution.

The episode regarding Serrano spread to the public. It became a subject of gossip and rumors that tarnished Isabella’s reputation. After Serrano, Isabella had an affair with an opera singer, who General Narvaez kicked out of court. Another followed with a Colonel Gandara. On December 20, 1851, Isabella finally gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Maria Isabel. The Infanta, acknowledged by Francisco de Asis as his own, said to have been a result of Isabella’s relation with a young soldier named Jose Ruiz de Arana. Then on November 28, 1857, Isabella delivered Prince Alphonse, once again said to be a result of another extramarital affair with the military engineer Enrique Puigmolto. 3 daughters followed, Maria del Pilar (born in June 4, 1861), Maria de la Paz (born on June 23, 1862), and Eulalia (born February 12, 1864), all 3 attributed to Miguel Tenorio de Castilla, a government administrator and diplomat.

Left to Right: Paz, Pilar, Eulalia

Her series of love affairs and suspicious pregnancies scandalized the country and contributed to her declining popularity. In the Philippines, a once colony of Spain, the national artist for literature Alejandro Roces said that the Tagalog word of “pera” or money originated from “La Perra” or the b*tch in Spanish to describe coins bearing her profile in the 1860’s. Unsurprisingly, Isabella II also inspired grotesque caricatures that spread in the 1860’s which later came to be known as Los Borbones en Pelota competing in vulgarity and explicitly with cartoons depicting Catherine II the Great of Russia and Marie Antoinette of France. 

In addition to her love affairs, her mother Maria Cristina and step father, Agustin Fernando Muñoz, fanned discontent with Isabella and the monarchy. The 1850’s saw an economic and technological growth for Spain. Foreign investment flowed into Spain and concessions for railroads, mines, and banks rose. Alongside investments came corruption with the government, the Queen Mother, and Muñoz filling their pockets with kickbacks. Corruption spread and Isabella’s reputation suffered for it.

Gen. Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1865

In 1854, Leopoldo O’Donnell staged a Pronunciamiento that brought him and his Liberal Union to power. They aimed to restore order and to curb corruption within the government starting with the final exile of the Queen Mother Maria Cristina. Despite the exile of the Queen Dowager, Isabella continued to receive public backlash. Newspapers urged her to abdicate while deputies refused to kiss the Queen’s hand allowing her hand to be awkwardly extended in embarrassment.

 

Isabella's extramarital affairs and the loose hands of her mother led to her declining popularity. Suddenly the only passion that she and her husband, the love and belief on mystics shared also exacerbated the situation.

Isabella II’s Rasputin

Surprisingly, despite her constant violation of the 6th Commandment, "Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery", the Queen displayed extreme piety. Francis Henry Gribble described Isabella’s contradictions, “if she sinned, she also confessed her sins, and that even if it did not occur to her to abandon them, at least she promised to do penance for them, like persons of humbler degree.” The Queen also showed great fondness to holy men and women, in particular the nun Sor Patrocinio.

Sor Patrocinio arrived in Isabella’s court with the Duke of Cadiz in 1846. She dazzled the couple with her alleged stigmata, or wounds resembling those Christ suffered in the hands. In 1836, the court declared her a fraud, nevertheless, with the right connections and the changing tide in the relations between the Crown and the Church, she managed to be in the good graces of Isabella. Isabella, on the other hand, “regarded her sore hands as signs of God’s special grace.” General Espartero and later General O’Donnell believed the stigmata of Sor Patrocinio as an irritation that could be healed. 

Sor Patrocinio

Nevertheless the Queen remained a fervent believer of Sor Patrocinio and followed her advice which many liberals criticized, including Generals Espartero and O’Donnell. In 1854, the sale of Church lands became a hot topic in Spain’s politics. Of course, Isabella with the influence of the Papal Nuncio and Sor Patrocinio, opposed. General Espartero then turned against Sor Patrocinio and expelled her from the court. As a result of the stigmatic nun's meddling, images of Sor Patrocinio also appeared in caricatures, for example in Los Borbones en Pelota. It also reinforced the idea of the Queen’s conservative leanings, thus damaging her politically.

Spanish Politics

While Isabella II delved with Christian mysticism and extramarital liaison, Spain descended into political instability. The 1850s saw several Prime Ministers coming from different political wings, but still dominated by Generals and their Pronunciamientos. A ray of stability shone between 1858 and 1863 when Queen Isabella suddenly took a active political role, but it ended with her worst vacation ever in 1868.

In 1851, General Ramon Narvaez fell from power sparking a Game of Thrones for Spain’s premiership. Narvaez’s downfall resulted from intrigues of the returning Queen Mother Maria Cristina. A series of conservative reactionary governments came and went. Martin Hume described Spain’s descent: 

The frequent changes in the financial system had thrown everything into confusion, the country at large was growing more and more restive at the loudly proclaimed scandals in high quarters. One non-entity after another had tried his prentice hand at governing the State, and Espartero and Narvaez, the only men who had a large following, were both in exile. Cristina and her (new) husband were turning political influence to their concession-mongering ends and piling up riches. The futile King-consort, surrounded by a peddling little camarilla (favorites) of priests, nuns, and compliant friends, was forever planning absolutist treachery; whilst the Queen, swayed by all sorts of people, good, bad, and disgraceful, could never be depended upon to keep in the same mind for a week together.

In 1854, General Leopoldo O’Donnell joined the political fray, but a series of riots and initial clashes with the Queen resulted in his temporary downfall while the elder Baldomero Espartero returned to power. Espartero exiled the Queen Mother once again along with Isabella’s camarilla including Sor Patrocinio. By 1855, Isabella allied with O’Donnell to bring Espartero’s retirement before they turned against each other with the Queen bringing back Ramon Navraez in 1856. 2 years later, Navraez once again fell from power and a few months later General O’Donnell came back. General O’Donnell, determined to stay in power, pacified the Catholic Church by not touching their privileges and wealth until an opportune moment came later. His decision proved to be successful as he brought a much needed stability at least for 5 years.

Gen. Ramon Narvaez

In 1863, the Queen began her descent to the abyss. For the past 5 years, she still distrust O’Donnell and plotted in the shadows to bring down the Irish-descent PM. She built allies among other liberal parties and finally succeeded in bringing down O’Donnell’s government, but this triggered another round of political instability. Queen Isabella suddenly used her authority making Spain’s situation worse amidst economic and social despair. In 1865, Spain suffered a cholera outbreak followed by an Andalusian famine. The Spanish populace turned restless and began to blame the Queen’s promiscuity and the once again PM the heavy handed General Narvaez. 

A failed Pronunciamiento by General Juan Prim in 1866 turned Queen Isabella into a reactionary autocrat. She suspended civil liberties and the Cortes. Many liberals either fled in exile or went to jail including some military officers like Queen Isabella’s one-time favorite Francisco Serrano who criticized the repression and later escaped prison. Thus, the Queen set the stage for a revolution. In France, Prim enlisted the support of Serrano, the Spanish Admiral Juan Bautista Topete, and the wealth of the Queen’s brother-in-law Antoine, Duke of Montpensier. Together, they plotted the overthrow of Queen Isabella.

In the summer of September 1868, Isabella enjoyed the warmth of the resort town of Lequeitio in Biscay.  Meanwhile, Admiral Topete mutinied, demanding the Queen’s abdication. The Glorious Revolution thus began. 

Provinces and cities rose up in rebellion calling for the return of liberties and the Queen’s overthrow. Prim and Serrano then smuggled themselves back to Spain landing in Cadiz. From there, Prim gave way for Serrano to lead the revolution recognizing the latter’s broader support in the army. 

The revolutionary army marched from Cadiz to Madrid, while loyalist forces in Madrid scrambled to stop the advance of the rebels. An army under General Manuel Pavia, the Marquis of Novaliches, made a futile resistance against General Serrano in the Battle of Alcolea. By then Isabella no longer had a competent General with a strong powerbase to support her. Espartero already retired from politics, General O’Donnell passed away in 1867 and General Ramon Narvaez followed in 1868. 

Battle of Alcolea, 1868

By the end of the month, news of the defeat in Alcolea reached the distraught and indignant Isabella. She already rode a train back to the capital when the news reached her. Officials then urged her to flee Spain and she did. While doing so, she uttered the words in the Franco-Spanish border, “I thought I had struck a deeper root in this land.” By the end of the year, Isabella received asylum from Napoleon III and General Serrano ushered in a new liberal government ruling as a regent while choosing a new monarch for Spain.

Life after Reign

Queen Isabella spend much of her exile life in Paris, France. She wanted to prevent the resurgence of the Carlist movement by formally abdicating in 1870 in favor of her son Alfonso despite her adviser’s opposition. Her son Alfonso eventually became the King of Spain in 1874 and she made a brief return to the Kingdom, but the new government of Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo prevented her from staying in the capital. She finally decided to stay in Paris living comfortably in her residence known as the Palace of Castile. She passed away on April 9, 1904.

Queen Isabella II

Summing Up

Queen Isabella II took the role of monarch immaturely and incompetently. Unfortunately, she demonstrated the weakness of monarchies where even the incompetent and the unwilling must serve the role even as a meager age of 3. She turned into a symbol only while her mother and generals spiralled Spain downwards.

She witnessed her mother’s mistakes, yet she failed to learn from it  and instead copied her. She lived a promiscuous life to escape her husband. When she failed to influence politics, the least she could do was to was be a symbol of comfort, but instead she became a figure of ridicule being one of the decadent and selfish establishment.

About the generals, she found a father-figure in some of them such as the case of General Ramon Narvaez who did not hesitate to call her “naughty” and controlled her impulsive love of men. Unfortunately they failed to prevent Isabella following his husband’s love of mystics that led her to oppose key reforms. 

Eventually, her late and lacking display of political acumen brought about instability in Spain’s worst time amidst epidemic and famine. Her reactionary leanings eventually sealed the coffin of her reign. Lacking the know-how and experiene as well as the absence of her strong Caudillos, she finally succumbed and lived her life as an exiled monarch. 

Surprisingly, an unintended consequence of her incompetence gave rise to a powerful new Empire, but not her own. By 1870, General Serrano’s government continued to search for a new monarch for Spain. Among the candidates included Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a cadet branch of Prussia’ ruling dynasty, the Hohenzollerns. The candidacy alarmed Napoleon III’s government who sent a diplomat to King Wilhelm I of Prussia to received assurances over Prince Leopold’s withdrawal from the contest. The cunning and sharp Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismark took a hold of the dispatch, edited it to antagonize the French releasing afterwards to Paris press. The Ems Dispatch caused such an uproar that the French public demanded Napoleon III to declare war, thus leading to the Franco-Prussian War, ending with the establishment of the German Empire. The deposition of Queen Isabella’s unpopular regime unintentionally opened the door to German unification.

See also:

Industrial Revolution in Spain

Bibliography:

Websites:

“Isabella II (1830-1904).” Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia.com Accessed on January 1, 2022. URL: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/isabella-ii-1830-1904

 

Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Isabella II.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on December 31, 2021. URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Isabella-II-queen-of-Spain    

Viguera, M.J. et. Al. “Spain.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed on December 31, 2021. URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain   

Barton, Simon. A History of Spain. New York, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

Hume, M.A. Spain: Its Greatness and Decay. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1905.

Magazine:

“Memoirs of Maria Cristina, Recently Queen Regent of Spain, and of her Daughter, Queen Isabella II.” In The St. James’s Magazine. London: T. Hookham, 1842.