Alfonso XII, King of Spain

ALFONSO XII, king of SPAGNA. - Son of Queen Isabella II and of the “consort” king Francesco Alfonso di Borbone; b. in 1857, d. at the Prado on 25 Nov. 1885. When his mother was overthrown by the revolution of Sept. 1868, A. had to follow her to France; but, recognizing the insuperable difficulty of recovering the throne, Isabella abdicated two years later in favor of her thirteen-year-old son. Since, however, opposition to the Bourbon dynasty was so great among the nation’s liberal parties, Prince Amedeo di Savoia was preferred in 1871, and took the name of Amedeo I. Unable to restore harmony in the country, he laid down the crown after two years, and thus the republic was proclaimed in 1873. Once this had fallen into disrepute, it was easy for General Martinez Campos, by a coup d’état in Dec. 1874, to restore the ancient monarchy, and on 9 Jan. 1875 A. was able to regain the throne. The new king married his cousin Mercedes di Orléans in 1878 and, when she died a few months later, married the Austrian archduchess Maria Cristina in 1879, by whom he had two daughters and a son: King Alfonso XIII. After the Carlist civil war in the north of the peninsula ended in 1876, thanks to the constitution of that year and to the alternating rule of the liberal and conservative parties, there followed a period of relative peace. The rebellion on the island of Cuba in 1878 and 1880 was suppressed, while abroad the serious conflict over the Carolines was resolved through the agreement between Spain and Germany secured by Pope Leone XIII.