History
The House of Bourbon - Part Three - The Second Restoration
By m.p. - Jun 5, 2008 - 8:52 AM
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Alfonso XII: Born 1857, reigned 1875-1885. The only son of Isabella II’s four children to reach adulthood, Alfonso accompanied his mother and his father, the Duke of Cádiz, when the royal family went into exile in France in 1868. Isabella abdicated in her son’s favour in 1870, but the Cortes decided to offer the throne to Amedeo of Savoy, the younger son of Victor Ammanuel II of Italy. Amadeo became Amadeo I of Spain on 2nd January 1871, abdicating when the First Spanish Republic was proclaimed on 11th February 1873. It effectively lasted until a coup d’état by General Pavía in January 1874, although the Republic would officially continue for almost another year until General Martínez Campos proclaimed the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy on 29th December 1874.
Alfonso returned to Spain in January 1875 and was proclaimed King before the Cortes. Known as the Peacemaker, his reign saw the end of the Third Carlist War, an end to the ten year war in Cuba, and stability at home. Spain was established as a bi-cameral parliamentary monarchy under the 1876 Constitution, with two parties taking alternating turns in government. The King had two marriages: the first, to his cousin, María de las Mercedes de Orléans in January 1878, who died of typhoid before she could give her husband any children. His second marriage in November that year was to the Archduchess María Cristina of Hapsburg, daughter of the Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria. The couple had four children, including the King’s namesake, Alfonso, born posthumously, who would later become Alfonso XIII.
Alfonso XII died just before his 28th birthday in 1885 from tuberculosis.
Alfonso XIII. Born May 1886, proclaimed king at his birth and abdicated in 1941. The King’s mother, María Cristina of Hapsburg, held the crown in regency for her infant son until 1902.
The first period of the reign of Alfonso XIII saw Spain losing her last colonies, war in Morocco, and, at home, increasing social conflict with strikes and political violence, and rising support for left-wing and nationalist movements. The growing discontent led to a military coup by General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, with the approval of the King, who named the General Prime Minister. Primo de Rivera effectively led a dictatorship for the next seven years. He was forced to resign in 1930 as opposition to his dictatorship escalated and, just over a year later, local elections were held, giving a resounding victory to the Republicans. The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed and the King went into exile.
He had married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenburg, a niece of Edward VII of Britain and also a grand-daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1906. They had seven children, five of them boys. One was stillborn, and the eldest two both renounced their rights to the throne in 1933. Alfonso abdicated in favour of his fourth son, Juan, in 1941, just over a month before he died in exile in Rome. Juan de Borbón y Battenburg, the Conde de Barcelona, formally renounced his claim to the throne in 1977, in favour of his own son, Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón, who was sworn in as Juan Carlos I on 22nd November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco saw the Bourbon monarchy once more restored in Spain.
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