Maria Christina

Maria Christina, queen of Spain, born at Naples, 27th April 1806, was a daughter of Francis I., king of the Two Sicilies. In 1829 she became the fourth wife of Ferdinand VII. of Spain, and in October of that year gave birth to a daughter, Isabella II. Ferdinand died 29th September 1833, and by his testament his widow was appointed guardian of her children—the young Queen Isabella and the Infanta Maria Louisa, Duchess de Montpensier—and also regent. A civil war broke out (see CARLISTS); but the queen-mother seemed indifferent to everything except the company of Don Fernando Muñoz, whom she made her chamberlain, and with whom she was united, in December 1833, in a morganatic marriage. She had ten children by him. A conspiracy, which broke out on the night of the 13th August 1836, led the queen-mother to concede a constitution to Spain. In 1840 a popular commotion ensued, and she gave to the new prime-minister, Espartero, a renunciation of the regency, and retired to France, whence she returned in 1843. Her participation in the schemes of Louis-Philippe as to the marriage of her daughters in 1846, and the continual exercise of her influence in a manner unfavourable to constitutional liberty, made her hateful to the patriotic party in Spain. At length, in July 1854, a revolution expelled her from the country, and she again took refuge in France, but returned to Spain in 1864, only to retire again in 1868. She died at Le Havre, August 1878. See CARLISTS, and SPAIN.