From the
Queen to the Crown Princess
Osborne,
January 6, 1875
No one
here but one paper thinks Serrano has made this coup d’etat, and Alfonso is not
his son. But it is a great thing he should be proclaimed King and
everyone praises the boy.
*************
(Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre: Spanish prime minister, general, and possible baby daddy to Isabella II of Spain. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.)
Forbidden
lovers, political scheming, and children with mysterious parentage – we’ve got
some juice stuff to discuss today! Our story concerns deposed Queen
Isabella II of Spain and the shaky throne, the Spanish prime minister, and her
(their?) son. Isabella was a near-contemporary of Victoria, and the two
had a lot in common – both grew up without fathers, both were women ruling in
an arena dominated by men, and both had their upbringings strictly controlled
by outside forces. In the case of Isabella, Victoria and British whims
was one of those outside forces.
After
enjoying warmer relations in the early 1840s, Britain and France were again at
odds due to differences of opinion over a clash between Egypt and the Ottoman
Empire in Syria. In the interest of maintaining the status quo within
Europe, Britain and France both weighed in on a prospective spouse for
then-teenaged Isabella. Isabella’s mother Maria Cristina was ruling Spain
as regent for young Isabella, and the country was constantly embroiled in the
political machinations of the Moderados (conservatives who supported strong
royal power) and the Progresistas (those who favored greater constitutional
control over the monarchy). The 1840s was not an easy time to be in
Spain.
Lord
Palmerston, Britain’s foreign minister during the mid to late 1840s, supported
the Progresistas and German prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, a cousin of
Victoria and Albert and the brother of the king consort of Portugal as the
choice candidate for Isabella’s hand. Palmerston’s opinion differed from
that of his predecessor, Lord Aberdeen and the French foreign minister, François
Guizot. Both had thought a Spanish or Italian prince would be
a more appropriate and neutral candidate. Victoria naturally supported
Palmerston in Isabella marrying her cousin. Guizot was disappointed and
angered by the British challenge to a neutral husband for Isabella. He
felt that the Coburg family and their influence had spread far enough in
Europe.
King
Louis-Philippe of France wanted to offer up his own son Antoine as Spanish
consort, but knew this would never fly with the rest of the European
powers. So Louis-Philippe instituted a more subtle plan: he proposed Isabella
marry her double first cousin, French-Spanish prince Francis, Duke of
Cadiz. Isabella’s younger sister (and heir at the time) Luisa would marry
Antoine. As Francis was rumored to be gay and/or impotent, Louis-Philippe
figured the succession would eventually run through Luisa, Antoine, and
Louis-Philippe own grandchildren. The Moderados supported Francis and
Antoine as well. On October 10, 1846, Isabella (aged 16 that day) and
Luisa (aged 14) were married to Francis and Antoine as planned. The British
were furious and their relations with France were poor for some time.
As
Louis-Philippe had hoped, Isabella was soundly unimpressed by Francis.
Isabella claimed in a letter to her mother that Francis wore more lace on the
wedding night than she did. The first few years of the marriage produced
no children, while Luisa and Antoine had their first baby in 1848.
Despite losing his throne that year following the 1848 revolution,
Louis-Philippe could at least be comforted in knowing things were proceeding as
planned in Spain. Except…
Louis-Philippe
did not count on Isabella taking matters of succession into her own
hands. Between 1850 and 1864 Isabella gave birth to twelve children, but
few (if any) are believed to have been fathered by Francis. Of those
children, the Alfonso mentioned in Victoria’s letter was the eldest surviving
son. While his father was legally Francis, during Alfonso’s boyhood even
Victoria and her daughter had heard the rumors that this was probably not the
case. Among the list of his possible fathers was Francisco Serrano, 1st
Duke of la Torre – the Serrano to whom Victoria refers in the letter.
Serrano
was a celebrated soldier during the Spain’s Carlist War, which launched him
into political career. He was one of a
group of men who managed to overthrow Maria Cristina’s regency in favor of
declaring Isabella of age to rule alone in 1843. Serrano later served as the governor of Cuba
and was even exiled briefly for an attempt to remove Isabella’s Moderado
advisors. Although he married in the
1850s, Serrano did have significant contact with Isabella for many years. Considering their closeness and Isabella’s
chaotic love life, rumors started to spread that Serrano was more than just an
advisor to his queen.
The
attempt to remove the Moderados sparked a revolution in Spain, removing
Isabella from power. She and her family
went into exile in France escorted by none other than Serrano, who had allied
with Isabella’s brother-in-law, Antoine of Montpensier. After a short and disastrous reign of Italian
prince Amadeo of Savoy as King of Spain, a shaky republic was proclaimed in
Spain. Alfonso, now a Sandhurst-educated
young man of 17, produced a manifesto naming himself the new King of Spain. Though Serrano had opposed the formation of
the republic, his involvement with it led to his exile to France at the start
of Alfonso’s reign. He served for a
short time as a marshal in the Spanish senate during Alfonso’s reign.
It was a
rather muted end to Serrano’s adventurous political career. But perhaps he gave up with the somewhat smug
knowledge that Spain was in the hands of his own secret son? Although Alfonso did rule for a rather short
time (about 10 years), Spain went through an uncharacteristically peaceful and
calm period of financial and political stability. He was said to have been a ruler with a
excellent skills at diplomacy and sound judgment – much like Serrano.
Victoria
seemed to believe that Alfonso was not Serrano’s child, but historians have
long suspected that Alfonso’s biological father was either Isabella’s captain
of the guard, or Serrano himself. In a
strange coincidence, Alfonso and Serrano died just hours apart in November
1885. With the loss of both men, Spain
was left without a king. Alfonso’s pregnant widow gave birth to the future
Alfonso XIII a few months later – and Spain was soon pushed back into the chaos
and confusion that had occurred during Isabella’s reign.
But of
course Victoria figures into this story – doesn’t she always? After years of political upheaval and
multiple assassination attempts, Alfonso XIII was finally, permanently deposed
as ruler of Spain in 1931. Among those
to be exiled from Spain with Alfonso was his estranged wife, Ena – also known
as Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Victoria’s granddaughter.
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