Luisa's father abolished the Salic Law to prevent his brother Carlos from being king.
The novel explains that Fernando VII was a hated king as he handed Spain to Napoleon and went into exile, and then on his return he promised a constitutional monarchy, but he lied.
He was married four times and these were his wives:
Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (14 December 1784 – 21 May 1806) was the youngest surviving daughter of Ferdinand, King of Naples and Sicily, and Maria Carolina of Austria. As the wife of the future Ferdinand VII of Spain, then heir apparent to the Spanish throne, she held the title of Princess of Asturias. Maria Antonia died of tuberculosis on 21 May 1806 at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Aranjuez, Spain, at the age of 21. It was rumoured that Maria Antonia had been poisoned by Queen Maria Luisa and Manuel Godoy but there is no evidence to support this claim.
Maria Isabel of Braganza (19 May 1797 – 26 December 1818) was a Portuguese infanta who became Queen of Spain as the second wife of King Ferdinand VII. Maria Isabel was pregnantl, but the birth was indeed a difficult one: the baby was in breech and the physicians soon found that the child had died. Maria Isabel stopped breathing soon thereafter and the doctors thought she was dead.
Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony (6 December 1803 – 18 May 1829) was Queen of Spain as the third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. She died as a result of fevers on 18 May 1829 in Aranjuez, leaving her husband heartbroken, and was buried in El Escorial.
And the last wife was Isabel and Luisa's mother, María Cristina de las Dos Sicilias. Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (27 April 1806 – 22 August 1878) was the Queen of Spain from 1829 to 1833 and Queen regent of the kingdom from 1833, when her daughter became queen at age two, to 1840. By virtue of her short marriage to King Ferdinand VII of Spain, she became a central character in Spanish history for nearly 50 years.
Her aunt Luisa Carlota wanted Isabel and Luisa Fernanda to marry her sons, Francisco de Asís y Enrique. Isabel did marry Franciso de Asís, who was nicknamed Paquita.
Francisco de Asís de Borbón (13 May 1822 – 17 April 1902) was King of Spain as the husband of Queen Isabella II from their marriage in 1846 until Isabella's deposition in 1868.
Infante Enrique, Duke of Seville (17 April 1823 – 12 March 1870), was an Infante of Spain and a member of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon. He was a grandson of Charles IV of Spain and became the first Duke of Seville in 1823.
François Guizot conctocted the marriage between Luisa Fernanda and Antonio de Montpensier. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier (Antoine Marie Philippe Louis d'Orléans; 31 July 1824 – 4 February 1890[1]), was a member of the House of Orléans. He was the youngest son of King Louis Philippe I and his wife Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. He was styled as the Duke of Montpensier.
Luisa refers to the lover that Montpensier had in Paris before their marriage. Her lover was Beausire, married and an opera singer.
It was a double wedding, which Phramond Blanchard painted. Isabel II and her sister, Infanta María Luisa Fernanda, were married in a grand, simultaneous double wedding on October 10, 1846, at the Palacio Real de Madrid.
María Cristina, the mother of the two brides, was pregnant and her husband was the Duque of Riansares. Don Agustín Fernando Muñoz y Sánchez (4 May 1808 – 11 September 1873), 1st Duke of Riánsares, + was the second and morganatic husband of Queen Maria Christina, Regent of Spain.
Alexander Dumas, father and son, attended the wedding as they recorded their travels in a book.
Antonine de Latour was Montpensier's secretary. Antoine de Latour (Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, 30 August, 1808-Sceaux, 1881) was a writer,poet, historian and French traveller.
Palace of San Telmo is where the Montpensiers lived when they moved to Seville. In 1849 it was bought by Antoine, Duke of Montpensier.
Luisa Fernando prays in the chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Good Air. he exuberantly baroque chapel, accessed from one of the courtyards, is the work of architect Leonardo de Figueroa; among those involved in its decoration were sculptor Pedro Duque y Cornejo, stonecutter Miguel de Quintana, painter Domingo Martínez, and carpenter Juan Tomás Díaz. Presiding over the chapel is an early 17th-century statue of Nuestra Señora del Buen Aire .
Cecilia Bohl de Faber was a friend of Luisa Fernanda's and in her last days she imagines having a conversation with her. Fernán Caballero (24 December 1796 – 7 April 1877) was the pseudonym of Spanish novelist Cecilia Francisca Josefa Böhl de Faber y Ruiz de Larrea. Widowed, the writer was left in poverty. The Dukes of Montpensier and Queen Isabella II protected her and provided her with a home in the Patio de Banderas of the Alcázar of Seville.
Luisa Fernanda remembers when she was in Paris and the revolution of 1848 broke out. She was left alone and pregnant. The French Revolution of 1848 was a period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation of the French Second Republic. It sparked the wave of revolutions of 1848. Starting on 22 February as a large-scale protest against the government of François Guizot, it later developed into a violent uprising against the monarchy.
Before the revolution, Luisa Fernanda left Spain and settled in France. Her home was the Chateau of Viscennes. The Château de Vincennes is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris.
Antonio's father was the king of France, Louis Philippe. Louis Philippe I (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850), nicknamed the Citizen King, was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the penultimate monarch of France, the last French monarch to bear the title "King", and the only French monarch to descend from the Orléans branch of the Bourbon family.
The king relied on his sister for advice, Princess Adelaide. Louise Marie Adélaïde Eugénie d'Orléans (23 August 1777 – 31 December 1847) was a French princess, one of the daughters of Philippe d'Orléans, known as Philippe Égalité during the French Revolution, and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon. When Louis-Philippe became King of the French in the reign known as the July Monarchy (1830–1848), she was known as Madame Adélaïde. All her life, she was his loyal advisor or, in 19th century parlance, his "Egeria". It was she who, reportedly, encouraged him to accept the crown during the July Revolution, and her influence continued undisturbed during his reign.
During the days of the revolution, the king names several men the president of the government: Molé, Thiers and Barrot.
Louis-Mathieu, comte Molé (24 January 1781 – 23 November 1855) was a French statesman and a close friend and associate of Louis Philippe I, King of the French during the July Monarchy (1830–1848).
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers (/tiˈɛər/ tee-AIR; French: [maʁi ʒozɛf lwi adɔlf tjɛʁ]; 15 April 1797 – 3 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian who served as President of France from 1871 to 1873.
Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Barrot (19 July 1791 – 6 August 1873) was a French politician who was briefly head of the council of ministers.
The king abdicated and left Paris. Luisa Fernanda remembered when her mother lived in exile and Espartero didn't let her see her daughters. María Cristina and her ministers attempted to eliminate Espartero and his devotees, but a pronunciamiento ensued in Madrid and other large towns which culminated in the marshal's accepting the post of prime minister. He soon became virtually a dictator, as Queen Christina became offended by his popularity and resigned, leaving the kingdom very soon afterwards. The Cortes Generales met and elected Espartero regent by 179 votes to 103 over Agustín Argüelles, who was appointed guardian of the young queen. Forcing the regent, Maria Cristina, into exile for her conspiracy with the moderates, Espartero himself became regent with the intention of remaining so until the future Queen Isabella II became of age. Espartero's popularity enabled him to defeat moderate military rebellions across Spain during 1841.
When Montpensier left the Tuilleries, he left his wife under the protection of Jules de Lastyrie.
Narváez was the president of the government with Isabella II. Neither of them wanted the Montpensiers in Madrid, so they were sent to Seville. Ramón María Narváez y Campos (5 August 1800 – 23 April 1868) was a Spanish general and statesman who served as Prime Minister on several occasions during the reign of Isabella II. He was also known in Spain as El Espadón de Loja, "The Longsword of Loja".
The book mentions that Sissi visited Seville. Empress Elisabeth of Austria, famously known as Sissi, visited Seville in 1861. During her trip to Andalusia, she specifically spent time in the city and attended a bullfight held in her honor at the Plaza de Toros de la Maestranza. It was one of the few official events she agreed to attend, as she preferred to keep her subsequent travels highly discreet.
The Montpensier belonged to the Brotehrhood of "Carretería". The connection between La Carretería and the Dukes of Montpensier represents one of the most significant chapters of patronage in the history of Seville's Holy Week. In 1861, the dukes gifted the brotherhood its iconic banner (known internally as the sinelabe). This navy blue velvet piece, embroidered with gold thread, was crafted by the prominent artist Teresa del Castillo.The Montpensier family funded and promoted artistic upgrades for the processional canopy (paso de palio) of the Virgin of the Greatest Sorrow in Her Solitude (Virgen del Mayor Dolor en su Soledad), elevating its visual splendor.
The Monpensier also belonged to the Brotherhood of Passion. The Dukes of Montpensier (Antonio of Orleans and María Luisa Fernanda) had a deep, historical patronage of Seville's Hermandad de Pasión. Their close ties, beginning around 1849, elevated the Sevillian Holy Week and resulted in the Duke donating a luxurious gala coach still tied to the brotherhood's annual traditions. One of the most tangible connections is the historic carriage gifted by the Duke to the Brotherhood. It historically allowed them to transport the Holy Sacrament to the sick and homebound (known as the Procesión de Impedidos), a unique tradition still celebrated today.
The war in Marruecos broke out in 1859. The African War (also known as the First Moroccan War) was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Spain and the Sultanate of Morocco that took place from October 1859 to April 1860. Since the 1840s, Spanish enclaves like Ceuta and Melilla faced frequent attacks by Rif tribal fighters. The final trigger occurred in August 1859, when Moroccan forces attacked a Spanish guard post near Ceuta and destroyed the Spanish coat of arms. The war ended with a Spanish victory, cemented by the Treaty of Wad-Ras on April 26, 1860.
The Montpensier were in Chipiona and were impressed by the Virgin of Regla. The Dukes of Montpensier (Antonio de Orleans and Luisa Fernanda de Borbón) saved the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Regla in Chipiona from ruin in the 1850s. They restored the monastery and deeply venerated the patron saint, even naming their daughter, Infanta María de Regla (1856–1861), after her.
Montpensier wanted to be the emperor of Mexico, but Napoleon III chose his son Maximiliano, and he was executed. Maximilian I (6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who became emperor of the Second Mexican Empire from 10 April 1864 until his execution by the Mexican Republic on 19 June 1867.
In 1868 there was unrest in Spain and Isabella II's position was in jeopardy, and there was a faction who wanted María Luisa as the queen. This ended up with Isabella and María Luisa in exile. The Glorious Revolution took place in Spain in 1868, resulting in the deposition of Queen Isabella II. The success of the revolution marked the beginning of the Sexenio Democrático with the installation of a provisional government. When the generals Prim and Francisco Serrano denounced the government, much of the army defected to the revolutionary generals on their arrival in Spain. The queen made a brief show of force at the Battle of Alcolea, where her loyal moderado generals under Manuel Pavía were defeated by General Serrano.
The Montpensiers were banished to Portugal. In July 1868, King Luís I ultimately provided royal hospitality by visiting the exiled couple aboard the Spanish ship Villa de Madrid anchored in Lisbon, and later hosting them at the Royal Palace. The Duke and his family remained in Portugal before briefly moving to England and eventually returning to Andalusia.
In 1870 Enrique de Borbón and Antonio de Montpensier fought a duel and Enrique was killed. Enrique de Borbón published highly provocative pamphlets and articles in the press, publicly attacking his cousin, the Duke of Montpensier, and insulting his royal aspirations. Stung by the virulent attacks, which included name-calling, the deeply ambitious Duke of Montpensier challenged Enrique to a duel of honor. Armed with smoothbore pistols, the duelists stood 10 meters apart and were allowed consecutive shots until "first blood" was drawn. After both men missed their first attempts, Montpensier struck Enrique's shoulder with his third shot. Instead of yielding, Enrique continued, and Montpensier fired a fatal, direct shot into Enrique's forehead, killing him instantly.
Amadeo de Saboya was proclaimed king of Spain, but he resigned three years later. Amadeo I 30 May 1845 – 18 January 1890) was an Italian prince who reigned as King of Spain from 1870 to 1873. He was elected by the Cortes Generales as Spain's monarch in 1870, following the deposition of Isabella II, and was sworn in the following year. Amadeo's reign was fraught with growing republicanism, Carlist rebellions in the north, and the Cuban independence movement. After three tumultuous years on the throne, he abdicated and returned to Italy in 1873, and the First Spanish Republic was declared as a result.
Prim was shot after the session to choose Amadeo I and died in his home. It seems that the Duke of Montpensier was involved in his murder. Spanish General and Prime Minister Juan Prim died on December 30, 1870, from sepsis after a fatal ambush. Three days earlier (December 27), assassins blocked his carriage in the Calle del Turco in Madrid and shot him multiple times as he left the Congress of Deputies. The exact instigators behind the murder remain one of Spain's greatest historical mysteries. The attack occurred on the exact day the newly elected King, Amadeo I, arrived in Spain. The conspiracy is widely believed to have involved high-ranking political rivals, though the actual shooters were never definitively brought to justice.
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer died in Madrid. Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer died on December 22, 1870, in Madrid at the age of 34. The cause of death is debated: while his friends described symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, a later study indicates that he may have died of liver complications.
After the Republic failes, monarchy was restored in the figure of Alfonso XII. 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,although Cánovas himself disapproved of the intervention of the military in politics.
Alfonso fell in love with his cousin Mercedes in Randán, where the Montpensiers were living. The Château de Randan was a former royal domain in the French town on Randan in the department of Puy-de-Dôme.
Queen María de las Mercedes of Orléans died on June 26, 1878, at the Royal Palace in Madrid, at the young age of 18. Her passing occurred just two days after her 18th birthday and a mere five months after her highly popular marriage to King Alfonso XII. Her tragic and premature death was caused by an illness contracted shortly after suffering a devastating miscarriage. While the official medical report cited "nervous gastric fever," modern historians and contemporary reports confirm she actually succumbed to typhoid fever, though some historical accounts suggest tuberculosis may have been a contributing factor.
Alfonso courted her cousin Cristina but she also died. Alfonso XII was briefly engaged to his cousin, Princess María Cristina de Orleans, following the tragic death of his first wife (and her sister), Queen María de las Mercedes. However, their wedding never took place; Cristina, who was born in Seville, contracted tuberculosis and died in 1879 at the age of 26.
He married María Cristina and had children. Alfonso died when his wife was pregnant with his only male heir. The wedding of King Alfonso XII of Spain and Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria took place on November 29, 1879, at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid. The marriage produced three children, including the future King Alfonso XIII, who was born posthumously in 1886 after King Alfonso XII died of tuberculosis at the age of 27.
Montpensier died in a hut. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, died of influenza on February 4, 1890, at the age of 65, in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. He was ultimately buried in the Pantheon of the Princes at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial near Madrid.
At the end of the book María Luisa dies. Infanta Luisa Fernanda de Borbón, Duchess of Montpensier, died on February 2, 1897, at the age of 65. She passed away in her Sevillian residence, the Palace of San Telmo, after falling seriously ill in January, and was interred in the Pantheon of the Infantes at the Escorial Monastery.
These were the children of the Montpensier:
Isabel, Luisa's first-born, was married to the Count of Paris. Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans (21 September 1848 - 23 April 1919) was a Spanish infanta and French princess of the House of Orléans. She was the wife of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, and as such was Countess of Paris and consort of the Orléanist/Unionist pretender to the French throne.
Princess Maria Amelia of Orléans, Infanta of Spain (28 August 1851 – 9 November 1870) was a Princess of Orléans and Infanta of Spain who was the second child of Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier. She was a paternal granddaughter of Louis Philippe I and maternal granddaughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain. On 9 November 1870, she died in the Palace of San Telmo at the age of 19
María Cristina de Orléans (29 October 1852 – 28 April 1879) was one of the daughters of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. María Cristina was raised in Seville. She died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis.
María de las Mercedes of Orléans (24 June 1860 – 26 June 1878) was Queen of Spain as the first wife of King Alfonso XII. She was born in Madrid, the daughter of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier, and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.
Antonio was another son of the Montpensiers. Infante Antonio de Orleans y Borbón (23 February 1866 – 24 December 1930), was a member of the Spanish and French royal families.
Luisa Fernanda mentions some of her sister's lovers.
General Francisco Serrano was one of Queen Isabel II’s most prominent lovers—earning the nickname "El General Bonito". Shortly after the young queen was declared of age at thirteen, Serrano entered the royal court. He served as an influential Minister of War and quickly became her favorite, sparking jealousy among other conservative politicians. His romance with the queen was highly scandalous but cemented his political rise.
Enrique Puigmoltó (1827–1900) was a prominent military officer from Valencia. He caught the Queen's attention in 1854 after bravely defending the Royal Palace during a violent uprising. Their intense love affair coincided perfectly with the conception of the future king, Alfonso XII, who was born on November 28, 1857. Queen Isabella's marriage to her cousin, King Consort Francisco de Asís de Borbón, was notoriously unhappy and widely believed to be unconsummated.
The subplot features Susillo, a scupltor who created the statues on the facade of the Palace of San Telmo. Antonio Susillo Fernández (Seville, 16 April 1855- 22 December, 1896) was a Spanish sculptor. In the novel we only see him the night he killed himself. On December 20, 1896, he was seen at the Puerta de Barqueta train station approaching the tracks as the mail train passed by, and then backing away. On December 22, he went to the same station and again waited for the mail train to pass, though he let it go by. He walked along the tracks until he reached the Empalme station. After this, he headed to the livestock pier, pulled a pistol from his left pocket, and shot himself in the chin. In his pockets, they found a note for the judge and another for his wife. In the first one, he stated that he was killing himself alone and that his wife was his heir. In the second one, it said: 'Forgive me, María of my soul. I have become convinced that my career does not earn enough to make a living. Goodbye, my life.
Susillo was married to María Luisa Huellín. She was his second wife.
The night Susillo killed himself, Luisa wrote a note to Archbishop Marcelo Spinola. Marcelo Rafael José María de los Dolores Hilario Spínola y Maestre (14 January 1835 - 19 January 1906) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the Archbishop of Seville.
The book refers to the hands of the Virgin of Bitterness whose burnts hands were made by Susillo. Antonio Susillo restored the Virgen de la Amargura (Virgin of Bitterness) following the catastrophic fire of the canopy float (paso de palio) that occurred in the Plaza de San Francisco. The most famous Sevillian sculptor of that time would fashion new hands for the Virgin , as her original ones had been consumed by the fire. This was Susillo's first and only contribution to Seville's Holy Week.
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