On March 29, 1830, King Ferdinand VII, knowing that the child that was gestating in his wife’s womb could be a girl, decided to enact a Pragmatic Sanction by which he annulled the Salic Law and thus restored the right of women to accede to the throne of Spain instead of following the male line. De facto, this decision meant that the crown fell on the future Isabel de Borbón, who was born that same October, instead of on Carlos María de Isidro, brother of the king.
While the government of Fernando VII remained in power with the help of reformist absolutists since 1823, the so-called ultra-absolutists who defended the maintenance of the Old Regime and rejected any type of change gathered around Carlos María de Isidro and, naturally, they were not willing to accept a woman as monarch. In 1832 the so-called Farm events took place, a hoax promoted by the ultra-absolutists by which they took advantage of Fernando VII’s serious illness to annul the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830 and thus return the succession to his brother. Against all odds, the king’s condition improved and he annulled that second decree that had not been made public. Carlos María de Isidro had to flee to Portugal and the ultra-absolutists understood that they would only achieve their objectives by force of arms and conspiracies.
Fernando VII died on September 29, 1833. María Cristina de Borbón assumed the regency of the country until her daughter came of age and Carlos María de Isidro proclaimed not to recognize the future queen. The accession to the throne of Isabel II had great effects in Spain: it meant the return to the constitutional order (quite changing over the years), the definitive entry of the liberals into politics, the continuous confrontations of the Carlist wars and, at Finally, the establishment of the First Republic and the Bourbon Restoration after its failure.
The moment in which Fernando VII signed the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830 marked the development of the country throughout the 19th century and part of the 20th, but what would Spain be like if it had not been like that? What if Carlos María de Isidro had been king?
An alternative Spain
September 29, 1833. Fernando VII dies in his bed and Carlos María de Isidro succeeds him as king that same day. Aware that what she did in the events at the Farm could arouse resentment in María Cristina, who already saw her daughter sitting on the throne and herself at her side, she decides to take the widow and her niece “under her protection” both as a conciliatory gesture towards his valued brother to keep an eye on them. Both end up locked up in the Farm, being able to receive visits with the prior approval of the king or one of his trusted men.
The new monarch has the support of the most conservative sectors of the country, of the Church that fears the expropriation of its assets, of the old guard of the army, of the northern regions (especially the Basque Country and Navarre, where he has always defended the maintenance of their privileges) and the rural environment in general. The population believes that it was Ferdinand VII’s wish that he succeed him on the throne, so a large part of the populace accepts their new king without question. On the other hand, the reformist conservatives are confident that they will be able to get their hands on the government and continue the path undertaken with Fernando VII and the liberals raise their hands to their heads, resuming their conspiracies to end the Old Regime with more force. The persecutions, arrests and murders that took place during the hardest years of the Ominous Decade are not long in coming back.
Carlos María de Isidro, convinced that his brother had become soft over time, removes all the reformists from the government and introduces a hard core that returns Spain to the times before the War of Independence. His followers and the regions that have shown his support benefit from the situation while the public coffers continue to bleed to death in the war with the American colonies, which is not advancing. The cities, refuges of the liberal bourgeoisie, begin to protest the steps backwards that are being taken. The court of the Holy Inquisition returns to the charge to defend the “true faith”, the nobility enriches itself by promoting laws that exclusively favor them and the beneficiaries of the fueros gain more weight. The peasantry continues to live from day to day, as long as they are allowed to work and have enough to eat, but little by little they are waking up and becoming aware that, although they do not like the liberals, these new gentlemen who are too reminiscent of the old are not Of your liking.
The years go by. Revolts appear here and there, but they are controlled and suppressed by the king’s loyal subjects, at least at first. News arrives in Madrid from cities that are revolting throughout the country, rejecting the authority of the king and seeing in the young Isabel, close to the age of majority, a much more desirable leader. The liberals, with considerable support in the army, have made common cause to depose him from the throne and the National Militia takes to the streets of the main urban centers of Spain. Thus began the so-called Elizabethan War, a conflict in which Isabel de Borbón was only a pawn used by both sides.
As the months go by, Carlos María de Isidro understands that the tables are turning against him. The division of troops and the lack of resources cause the total loss of the colonies in America, the Holy Alliance that saved his brother years ago has vanished and countries like Great Britain are supporting the insurgents to seize his throne and take away his power and power. influence. María Cristina, whom the king suspected of being linked to the rebel liberals, is imprisoned for treason and dies shortly after. In the last months of the war, Carlos María tries to calm things down by reincorporating some reformists into his government, but the gesture comes too late and, desperate, he flees Spain, taking Isabel with him as life insurance. The king and his niece are captured near the border with Portugal and Carlos María de Isidro is executed. Spain lives its little French Revolution.
A new stage opens in the country. The liberals understand that they must stick together to stay in power and the differences between moderates and progressives are softening. The Constitution of 1812 serves as the basis for a new magna carta and Elizabeth II becomes queen with quite limited power (the liberals learned their lesson and do not end up trusting any king). The purge against the absolutists that followed the end of the war gave way to an attempt at reconciliation that left the Old Regime behind for Spain. Isabel governs until her death and her son Alfonso, who has been educated in Spain, plays the same secondary role as his mother in a government in which harmony was left behind and the differences between moderates and progressives bring back the ghosts of instability to the country.