Marie Isabelle of Spain (Reign of Kings)

Marie Isabelle (21 September 1848 – 23 April 1919) was a Spanish princess, who became Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVIII. She was the eldest child of Queen Maria Isabella and King Leopold. She was the mother of Louis XIX of France. She ruled as queen regent during the vacancy of the throne between her husband's death and during the minority of their son, from May 1878 to May 1894. Accounts of French court life of her era emphasize her difficult marital relations with her husband, her closeness to her son Louis XIV, and her disapproval of her son's marriage to her daughter-in-law Margaret of Prussia.

Birth
Marie Isabelle was born at the Ajuda Royal Palace in Lisbon. She was the eldest daughter of Queen Maria Isabella and King Leopold, and baptised María Isabelle. She held the titles of Infanta of Spain and of Portugal (since her mother was Queen of Portugal as well as Spain). In addition, she was heir presumptive to the throne of Spain, before the birth of her younger brother Alfonso Ferdinand (Alfonso XII).

Marie Isabelle was raised mainly at the Royal Palace of Madrid. Unusual for a royal princess, Marie grew up close to her parents, who were very religious. She was raised to be religious too, and was often taken to visit monasteries during her childhood. Queen Maria Isabella and her husband wanted to remove their children from court life as much as possible, so they often lived at their official summer residence the Royal Palace of La Granja.

Queen of France
At age eleven, Marie Isabelle was betrothed to King Louis XVIII of France. To pay the dowry of the Princess, the Spanish Parliament allotted the sum of 40,000 crowns and also gave her an allowance of 8,000 pounds per year, while her mother gave her many beautiful jewels. For fear that Louis XVIII would die early, the Spanish court stipulated that she would return to Spain with her dowry, jewels, and wardrobe if he did die. Prior to the marriage, Marie Isabelle renounced all succession rights she had for herself and her descendants by Louis, with a provision that she would resume her rights should she be left a childless widow.

A marriage by proxy to the French king was held in Fuenterrabia. Her father and the entire Spanish court accompanied the bride to the Isle of Pheasants on the border in the Bidassoa river, where Louis and his court met her in the meeting on the Isle of Pheasants on 7 November 1853, and she entered France. They were wed on 29 January 1853 in a civil ceremony at the Tuileries, and on the 30th, there was a grander religious ceremony at Notre Dame.

MArie and Louis, both fourteen years old, were pressured to consummate their marriage in order to forestall any possibility of future annulment, but Louis ignored his bride. Louis's grandmother, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, continued to conduct herself as queen of France, without showing any deference to her granddaughter-in-law. Marie, surrounded by her entourage of high-born Spanish ladies-in-waiting headed by Inés de la Torre, continued to live according to Spanish etiquette and failed to improve her French.During the first years of their marriage they stayed with Louis's godmother Queen Victoria in Great Britain. During this time she befriended Alexandra, Princess of Wales.

Following their return to France. Louis's mother Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin attempted to remedy the formal distance between Louis and his queen. He sent away Inés de la Torre and the other Spanish ladies and replaced them with French ones, notably Anne Debelle, Princesse d'Essling, and the dame d'honneur, Pauline de Bassano, with whom he organized court events that would bring the couple together under amiable circumstances. Marie began to dress in the French manner, and in 1857 the Duchess pressed the king to bed his queen. Some affection developed, to the point where it was noted that Louis was distracted during a serious illness of the queen. A series of daughters disenchanted the king and served to chill their relations.

Public Life
As Queen, Maria Isabelle was considered by some as extravagant, but far more for her many charitable works in aid of the French people. She was known by the French people as an "angel of charity" and "mother of the poor" for her compassion and work on social causes. At a masquerade ball in 1865, she changed her costume three times. When the French parliament discussed her expenses, she replied saying "if you want a Queen, you have to pay for her". Marie Isabelle faithfully performed the duties of an queen, The Queen was "perhaps the last Royal personage to have a direct and immediate influence on fashion". She set the standard for contemporary fashion through her extravagant dress sense, becoming the most important patron of French haute couture and the flourishing luxury industries of the Kingdom. Gowns, colors, and hairstyles "à l'impératrice" were avidly copied from the Queen throughout Europe and America. She was famous for her large crinolines and for rotating her outfits throughout the day, with a different dress for the morning, afternoon, evening, and night.

She never wore the same gown twice, and in this way commissioned and acquired an enormous wardrobe, which she disposed of in annual sales to benefit charity. Her favored couturier, Charles Frederick Worth, provided hundreds of gowns to her over the years and was appointed the official dressmaker to the court in 1869. In the late 1860s, she caused a shift in fashion by turning against the crinoline and adopting Worth's "new" slimmer silhouettes with the skirt gathered in the back over a bustle. Marie Isabelle's influence on contemporary taste extended into the decorative arts. She was a great admirer of Queen Marie Antoinette and decorated her interiors in revivals of the Louis XV and Louis XVI styles. A general vogue arose for 18th century French design, becoming known as "Style Louis XVI Impératrice".

She traveled to Egypt to open the Suez Canal and officially represented her husband whenever he traveled outside France. In 1860, she visited Algiers with Louis. Her husband often consulted her on important questions, and she acted as regent during his absences in 1859, 1865 and 1870, as he would often accompany his soldiers on the battlefield in an effort to motivate them during the wars. A Catholic and a conservative, her influence countered any liberal tendencies in the king's policies. She was a staunch defender of papal temporal powers in Italy and of ultramontanism. As part of her role as a member of French royalty, Marie Isabelle visited churches and convents across France.

In 1868, Marie Isabelle visited the Dolmabahçe Palace in Constantinople, the home to Pertevniyal Sultan, mother of Abdülaziz, 32nd sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Pertevniyal became outraged by the forwardness of Marie Isabelle taking the arm of one of her sons while he gave a tour of the palace garden, and she gave the queen a slap on the stomach as a reminder that they were not in France. According to another account, Pertevniyal perceived the presence of a foreign woman within her quarters of the seraglio as an insult. She reportedly slapped Marie Isabelle across the face, almost resulting in an international incident.

Biarritz
In 1854, the King and Marie Isabelle bought several acres of dunes in Biarritz and gave the engineer Dagueret the task of establishing a summer home surrounded by gardens, woods, meadows, a pond and outbuildings. Louis XVIII chose the location near Spain so his wife would not get homesick for her native country. The house was called the Villa Eugénie, today the Hôtel du Palais. The presence of the imperial couple attracted other European royalty like the British monarchs Queen Victoria and her brother Alfonso XIII and made Biarritz well-known.

Regent of France
Designated as regent upon the death of her husband in 1871, Marie Isabelle swore on the Constitutional Charter of 1815 on 30 December 1871 at the Conciergerie, before the two legislative bodies. When the King died on 25 November 1871, Marie Isabelle was pregnant, so the throne was vacant, depending on whether Maria Isabelle's unborn child was a male or a female; a male would make that child king, while a female would have handed the throne to the Absolutists or Orleanists. During this period, Maria Isabelle ruled as regent until her child Marie Isabelle, a son, was born on 17 May 1872; he was King ( Louis XIX) from birth. Maria Isabelle continued as regent until Louis XIX attained his majority in 1894.

Her chief adviser and head of government was Émile Ollivier. Her rule is described as well-balanced and in accordance with respect for constitutional rights, and many political reforms were instated during her regency to prevent political conflicts and chaos. Her role was mostly ceremonial, and her purpose was to preserve the crown for her son until he became an adult.

Her spell as regent saw the loss of Haiti, Tortuga, Saint Lucia, and Dominica after the Second Haitian Revolution.

Queen Mother
In 1894, when her son Louis XIX officially came of age, her regency legally ended. However, she kept much power and influence over her son until his marriage to Margaret of Prussia. She continued to live in the Élysée Palace in Paris and at the Palace of Versailles. Before retiring to the convent of Val-de-Grâce. She remained very active and continued with her social projects while holding a dominating position at court. She served as regent during the absence of the king and queen abroad.

In 1904, she travelled to the funeral of her mother Queen Maria Isabella. She was the leading figure around which the pro-Entente stronghold within the Royal Court coalesced during World War I, confronted to the Germanophile minority faction represented by her daughter-in-law, the German Princess Margaret of Prussia. And during World War I, she visited soldiers and became part of the red cross.