Alfonso XII

Alfonso XII[a] (Alfonso Francisco de Asís Fernando Pío Juan María de la Concepción
Alfonso XII
Gregorio Pelayo; 28 November 1857 – 25 November 1885), also known as El Pacificador
or the Peacemaker, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885. After
a revolution that deposed his mother Isabella II from the throne in 1868, Alfonso studied in
Austria and France. His mother abdicated in his favour in 1870, and he returned to Spain as
king in 1874 following a military coup against the First Republic. Alfonso died aged 27 in
1885, and was succeeded by his son, Alfonso XIII, who was born the following year. He is
the most recent monarch of Spain to have died while on the throne.

Contents
Political background, early life and paternity
A split nation
The Republic
Return from exile
First marriage
Second marriage and rule
Portrait by Federico de Madrazo, c.
Death and impact 1886
Honours King of Spain (more...)
Ancestry Reign 29 December
1874 –
See also
25 November 1885
Explanatory notes
Predecessor Amadeo I (1873)
References
Successor Alfonso XIII
External links
Born 28 November 1857
Royal Palace of
Political background, early life and paternity Madrid, Madrid,
Spain
Alfonso was born in Madrid as the eldest son of Queen Isabella II on 28 November 1857.
Died 25 November 1885
His official father, Isabella's husband Francisco de Asís, has been generally viewed as
(aged 27)
effeminate, impotent or homosexual, leading writers to question his biological paternity.
There is speculation that Alfonso's biological father may have been Enrique Puigmoltó y Royal Palace of El
Mayans, a captain of the guard.[1] The relationship of the queen with Puigmoltó was so Pardo, Madrid,
much of a public hearsay at the time that Francisco de Asís initially refused to attend the Spain
baptism ceremony of Alfonso (the heir apparent) even if he was eventually forced to do Burial El Escorial
so.[2] These rumours were used as political propaganda against Alfonso by the Carlists, and
Spouse Maria de las
he came to be widely nicknamed "Puigmoltejo" in reference to his supposed father.[3][4]
Mercedes of Orléans
Others have assigned the fatherhood to Federico Puig Romero, a colonel who was
(m. 1878; died 1878)
murdered under unclear circumstances in 1866.[5]
Maria Christina of
His mother's accession created the second cause of instability, the Carlist Wars. The Austria
supporters of the Count of Molina as king of Spain rose to have him enthroned. In addition, (m. 1879)
within the context of the post-Napoleonic restorations and revolutions which engulfed the Issue María de las
West both in Europe and the Americas, both the Carlistas and the Isabelino conservatives Detail Mercedes, Princess
were opposed to the new Napoleonic constitutional system. Much like in Britain, which of Asturias
subtracted itself from the liberal constitutional process, Spanish conservatives wanted to
continue with the Traditional Spanish Organic Laws such as the Fuero Juzgo, the Novísima María Teresa,
Recopilación and the Partidas of Alfonso X. This led to the third cause of instability of note, Princess Ferdinand
the "Independence of the American Kingdoms", recognized between 1823 and 1850. of Bavaria
Alfonso XIII of Spain
 House Bourbon
A split nation
Father Infante Francis,
When Queen Isabella II and her husband were forced to leave Spain by the Revolution of Duke of Cádiz
1868, Alfonso accompanied them to Paris. From there, he was sent to the Theresianum in Mother Isabella II of Spain
Vienna to continue his studies. On 25 June 1870, he was recalled to Paris, where his mother
Religion Roman Catholicism
abdicated in his favour, in the presence of a number of Spanish nobles who had tied their
fortunes to those of the exiled queen. He assumed the name Alfonso XII, for although no Signature
king of united Spain had borne the name "Alfonso XI", the Spanish monarchy was
regarded as continuous with the more ancient monarchy represented by the 11 kings of
Asturias, León and Castile also named Alfonso.[6]

The Republic
After the revolution, the Cortes decided to set up a new dynasty on the throne. Prince Amadeo of
Savoy, the younger son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and a distant cousin of Alfonso by
common descent from Charles III, was recognized as King of Spain in November 1870. During a
tumultuous reign, Amadeo was targeted by assassination attempts and struggled with opposition
from both Carlists and republicans while his own faction split. After the Carlists revolted and the
Third Carlist War broke out, he abdicated and returned to Italy in early 1873.[7]

A young Alfonso with his
mentor, the Duke of Sesto
Following Amadeo's abandonment, the First Spanish Republic was established, including the
territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Pacific Archipelagos. The first act of President Estanislao
Figueras was to extend the abolition of slavery to Puerto Rico; Cuban slaves would have to wait
until 1889. The republicans were not in agreement either, and they had to contend with a war in
Cuba and Muslim uprisings in Spanish Morocco. In the midst of these crises, the Carlist War
continued and the Carlist party made itself strong in areas with claims over their national and
institutional specificity such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. This unrest led to the creation of
a group in favour of the Bourbon Restoration, led by the moderate conservative Antonio Cánovas
del Castillo.

Alfonso was well-educated and cultured, especially compared to his mother. His tutors took great care to have him educated in good
schools and to familiarize him with different cultures, languages and government models throughout Europe. During the Franco-
Prussian War, Alfonso relocated from Paris to Geneva with his family, and then continued his studies at the Theresianum in Vienna
in 1872. Cánovas began to take responsibility for Alfonso's education with the goal of shaping him into the ideal king for the
planned Bourbon Restoration, and next sent him to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in England.[8] The training he received
there was severe but more cosmopolitan than it would have been in Spain, given its atmosphere at the time.

On 1 December 1874, Alfonso issued the Sandhurst Manifesto, where he set the ideological basis of the Bourbon Restoration. It
was drafted in reply to a birthday greeting from his followers, a manifesto proclaiming himself the sole representative of the Spanish
monarchy. At the end of 1874, Brigadier Martínez Campos, who had long been working more or less openly for the king, led some
battalions of the central army to Sagunto, rallied the troops sent against him to his own flag, and entered Valencia in the king's name.
Thereupon the President resigned, and his power was transferred to the king's plenipotentiary and adviser, Cánovas.[6] The 29
December 1874 military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ended the failed republic and meant the rise of the young Prince
Alfonso.

Return from exile

Within a few days after Canovas del Castillo took power as Premier, the new king,
proclaimed on 29 December 1874, arrived at Madrid, passing through Barcelona and
Valencia and was acclaimed everywhere (1875). In 1876, a vigorous campaign against the
Carlists, in which the young king took part, resulted in the defeat of Don Carlos and the
Duke's abandonment of the struggle.[6]

Initially led by Canovas del Castillo as moderate prime minister, what was thought at one 5 Peseta of Alfonso XII
time as a coup aimed at placing the military in the political-administrative positions of power,
in reality ushered in a civilian regime that lasted until Primo de Rivera's 1923 coup d'état.
Cánovas was the real architect of the new regime of the Restoration.

In order to eliminate one of the problems of the reign of Isabel II, the single party and its destabilizing consequences, the Liberal
Party was allowed to incorporate and participate in national politics, and the 'turnismo' or alternation was to become the new system.
Turnismo would be endorsed in the Constitution of 1876 and the Pact of Pardo Palace (1885). It meant that liberal and conservative
prime ministers would succeed each other ending thus the troubles.
 This led to the end of the Carlist revolts and the victory over the New York-backed Cuban
revolutionaries, and led to a huge backing both by insular and peninsular Spaniards of
Alfonso. His government continued the operations of the Ministry for Overseas Affairs
which began under his mother's reign. The ministry was responsible for the theft of
indigenous human remains and artifacts throughout colonized lands from 1863 to 1899. To
this day, the majority of the stolen bodies of indigenous peoples, some still displayed in
Spanish museums, have yet to be returned to their ancestral lands.[9]

Alfonso surrounded by his relative
European monarchs and their
spouses at Homburg Castle in 1883.
Edward VII, Wilhelm I and Carlos I
can be seen amongst others
peso.
Alfonso's short reign established the foundations for the final socioeconomic recuperation of
Spain after the 1808–1874 crisis. Both European (the coastal regions, such as the Basque
Country, Catalonia, and Asturias) and Overseas – Antilles and Pacific were able to grow
steadily. Cuba and Puerto Rico prospered to the point that Spain's first train was between
Havana and Camagüey, and the first telegraph in Latin America was in Puerto Rico,
established by Samuel Morse, whose daughter lived there with her husband. Upon the
American invasion of Puerto Rico, ten US dollars were needed to buy one Puerto Rican

First marriage
On 23 January 1878 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his first cousin, Princess Maria de las Mercedes, but she
died within six months of the marriage.[6]

Second marriage and rule

On 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso married his double
third cousin, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria. During the honeymoon, a pastry cook
named Otero fired at the young sovereign and his wife as they were driving in Madrid.[6]

The children of this marriage were:

María de las Mercedes, Princess of Asturias, (11 September 1880 – 17 October

1904), married on 14 February 1901 to Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies,
and titular heir from the death of her father until the posthumous birth of her
brother
María Teresa, (12 November 1882 – 23 September 1912), married to Prince
Ferdinand of Bavaria on 12 January 1906
Alfonso XIII (17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941). Born posthumously. He
married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg

Alfonso had two sons by Elena Armanda Nicolasa Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (15
December 1849, in Castellón de la Plana – 24 December 1898, in Paris):
King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria
Christina with their daughter
Alfonso Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (28 January 1880, in Madrid – 19 March
Mercedes in 1880
1970, in Paris), married in 1922 to María de Guadalupe de Limantour y
Mariscal
Fernando Sanz y Martínez de Arizala (28 February 1881, in Madrid – 8 January 1925, in Pau, France), unmarried
and without issue

In 1881 Alfonso refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months. Upon the
consequent resignation of Canovas del Castillo, he summoned Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, the Liberal leader, to form a new cabinet.[6]

Death and impact

In November 1885, Alfonso died, just short of his 28th birthday, at the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid. He had been
suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of dysentery.[10]

In 1902, his widow Maria Cristina initiated a national contest to build a monument in memory of Alfonso. The winning design, by
José Grases Riera, was erected in an artificial lake in Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro in 1922.

Coming to the throne at such an early age Alfonso had served no apprenticeship in the art of ruling. Benevolent and sympathetic in
disposition, he won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by earthquake in
1885. His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular
party. During his short reign, peace was established both at home and abroad, finances were
well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards
enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without the threat of
a revolution.[6]

Honours
Spain: Knight of the Golden Fleece, 1857[11]
Death of Alfonso XII or The last kiss,
 Kingdom of Portugal: Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, 1861[12]
by Juan Antonio Benlliure
French Empire: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, March 1863[13]
 Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert, 1865[14]
 Monaco: Grand Cross of St. Charles, 7 September 1865[15]
 Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (civil), 20 February 1866[16]
 Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1875[17]
 Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 1875[18]
Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Black Eagle, 13 June 1875[19]
Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 23 October 1877[20]
 Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 8 January 1878[21]
 Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Annunciation, 4 February 1878[22]
 Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 11 September 1879[23]
 United Kingdom: Stranger Knight of the Garter, 24 October 1881[24]
 Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1883[25]

Ancestry
Ancestors of Alfonso XII
8. Charles IV of Spain
4. Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain
9. Princess Maria Luisa of Parma
2. Infante Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz
10. Francis I of the Two Sicilies
5. Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies
11. Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain
1. Alfonso XII of
Spain
12. Charles IV of Spain (= 8)
6. Ferdinand VII of Spain
13. Princess Maria Luisa of Parma (= 9)
3. Isabella II of Spain
14. Francis I of the Two Sicilies (= 10)
7. Princess Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies
15. Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain (= 11)

See also
Monument to Alfonso XII

Explanatory notes
a. In the languages of Spain, his name was:
Aragonese: Alifonso XII
Asturian: Alfonsu XII
Basque: Alfontso XII
 Catalan: Alfons XII
Occitan: Anfós XII
Galician: Afonso XII
Spanish: Alfonso XII

References
1. Juan Sisinio Pérez Garzón, Isabel II: Los Espejos de la Reina (2004)
2. Bermúdez Ruíz-Cabello, María Inmaculada (2013). "Influencias en la imagen pública y privada de una reina:
Isabel II (1833-1868)" (https://revistaaportes.com/index.php/aportes/article/viewFile/60/48). Aportes. 28 (83): 129.
ISSN 0213-5868 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0213-5868).
3. Burgo Tajadura, Jaime Ignacio del (2008). Boletín de la Real Academia de la Historia, p. 242: "A few months later,
on the night of November 28 at 10:15, the queen gave birth to a child, who in time would be Alfonso XII, to whom
the tongues, more or less deridingly, gave the name of Puigmoltejo". ISSN 0034-0626 (https://www.worldcat.org/se
arch?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0034-0626).
4. "El puñal del godo en la familia Borbón" (https://www.elespanol.com/opinion/tribunas/20170629/227597240_12.ht
ml). 30 June 2017.
5. "Maria Nieves Michavila presenta un libro sobre la paternidad del hijo de la reina Isabel II" (https://www.levante-e
mv.com/horta/2016/02/11/maria-nieves-michavila-presenta-libro-12458899.html). 11 February 2016.
6. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm,
Hugh, ed. (1911). "Alphonso s.v. Alphonso XII.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University
Press. p. 736.
7. "AMEDEO Ferdinando Maria di Savoia, duca di Aosta, re di Spagna" (https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/amedeo
-ferdinando-maria-di-savoia-duca-di-aosta-re-di-spagna_%28Enciclopedia-Italiana%29/).
8. "Alfonso XII" (http://dbe.rah.es/biografias/6413/alfonso-xii). Real Academia de la Historia.
9. Ancede, M. (2020). The Spanish explorer who desecrated graves in the name of science. El Pais.
10. "Death of the King of Spain", The Times (26 November 1885): 7.
11. Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or – Knights of the Golden Fleece" (http://www.antiquesatoz.com/sgfleec
e/knights6.htm). La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
12. "Grand Crosses of the Order of the Tower and Sword" (https://geneall.net/en/title/25080/grand-crosses-of-the-order-
of-the-tower-and-sword/). geneall.net. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
13. M. Wattel, B. Wattel. (2009). Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et
étrangers. Paris: Archives & Culture. p. 448. ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9.
14. Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1877 (https://books.google.com/books?id=UPMxe-rjK0oC&pg=
PA8). Landesamt. 1877. p. 8.
15. Journal de Monaco (http://journaldemonaco.gouv.mc/Journaux/1865/Journal-0379)
16. Almanach royal officiel de Belgique (https://books.google.com/books?id=kqBCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA53). Librairie
polytechnique De Decq. 1867. p. 53.
17. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" (http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101222022
855/http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm) 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
18. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/vie
wer/jportal_derivate_00183988/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_15_0021.tif) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201
91007030638/https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00183988/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_15_002
1.tif) 7 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine (1885), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 14
19. "Schwarzer Adler-orden" (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015049878864&view=1up&seq=5&skin=20
21), Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 1, Berlin, 1877, p. 14 (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id
=mdp.39015049878864&view=1up&seq=18&skin=2021)
20. Sveriges statskalender (https://web.archive.org/web/20110611181811/http://runeberg.org/statskal/1881/0404.html)
(in Swedish), 1881, p. 378, archived from the original (http://runeberg.org/statskal/1881/0404.html) on 11 June
2011, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
21. Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (https://books.google.com/books?id=glw-AQAAI
AAJ) (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 470. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
22. Italia : Ministero dell'interno (1884). Calendario generale del Regno d'Italia (https://books.google.com/books?id=nI
42-d6rlRQC&pg=PR1). Unione tipografico-editrice. p. 48 (https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=nI42-d6rlRQC&p
g=PA48).
23.刑部芳則 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼
(2017). 明治聖徳記念
(http://meijiseitoku.org/pdf/f54-5.pdf) (PDF) (in Japanese).
学会紀要 . p. 143.
24. Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 62 (https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092537418#pag
e/n155/mode/2up)
25. Sachsen (1886–1887). "Königlich Orden". Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Sachsen: 1886/87. Dresden:
Heinrich. p. 5 (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924012426437&view=1up&seq=27) – via hathitrust.org.

External links
Historiaantiqua. (http://historiaantiqua.byethost8.com/paginas/liberalismo.htm#AlfonsoXII) Alfonso XII; (Spanish)
(2008)

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