Isabel II of Bourbon. Queen Isabel II of Spain.

Isabel II of Spain (Madrid 1830 - Paris 1904) also known as the Queen of Sad Destination, was queen of Spain between 1833 and 1868, following the repeal of the Salic law through the Pragmatic Sanction, which caused the insurgency Prince Carlos of Bourbon-backed absolutist groups (the Carlists) who had already tried him king over the agony of King Ferdinand VII of Spain.

The future Isabel II was christened Luisa Maria Isabel, the daughter of King Ferdinand VII and his fourth wife Maria Cristina of Bourbon - Two Sicilies. To favor the position of Elizabeth, Philip Pragmatic Sanction adopted whereby Isabel could happen after his death if the sovereign died without sons (Isabel had a sister, Princess Luisa Fernanda). Isabel took the throne of Spain in 1833 after the death of her father, without having yet reached 3 years of age, which is why it was necessary to appoint her mother as regent of the kingdom.

Her birth and subsequent ascension to the throne caused the beginning of a long dynastic conflict, since his uncle, Prince Carlos María Isidro of Bourbon not accept Isabel was named Princess of Asturias and later Queen of Spain.

When Isabel was 16 years, the Government entered into a marriage with her ​​cousin Prince Francis of Assisi and Bourbon, Duke of Cádiz. The spouses were first cousins ​​via double, Prince Francis of Assisi was the brother of Fernando VII, while his mother, Carlota Luisa of Bourbon - Two Sicilies was the sister of the mother of Isabel. Despite their relationship, marriage foundered soon and never be happy.

Isabel did not get along with his cousin and husband Francisco, whose sexuality has been questioned by some authors. The queen occasionally commented on their wedding night, "what could I expect from a man in the wedding night wore more lace than me than me?"

Officially Isabel and Francisco were parents eleven times, although several pregnancies ended in abortions or infants died after a very short time:

- Prince Louis of Bourbon and Bourbon (1849) born dead.

- Prince Charles of Bourbon and Bourbon, who died shortly after birth.

- Princess Isabel of Bourbon and Bourbon, Countess of Girgenti.

- Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon and Bourbon, died days after birth.

- Francis Prince Leopoldo of Bourbon and Bourbon, stillborn.

- Prince Alfonso of Bourbon, Pricipe of Asturias and later King of Spain.

- Princess Maria Concepcion who died at age 3.

- Princess Maria del Pilar Berengaria, died unmarried.

- Princess Mary of Peace, Princess of Bavaria.

- Princess Maria Eulalia, Duchess of Galliera.

- Prince Francis of Assisi, who died a few weeks of life.

The Queen of The Sad Destination, as has also been called, had to deal with the Revolution of 1868 (known as the Glorious), which forced her to leave Spain and seek shelter in France under the protection of Napoleon III and his wife Eugenia of Montijo. In Paris abdicated in favor of her son, the future King Alfonso XII.

Isabel lived the rest of her life in France, thence witnessed the First Spanish Republic, the reign and death of her son Alfonso XII, the regency of her daughter in law, Maria Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine and the beginning of the personal reign of Alfonso XIII (her grandson). Since being overthrown in 1868 ceased to live together with her husband, who went to live in Epinay-sur-Seine, where he died in 1902. Isabel died in Paris in 1904 and was buried in the Monastery of El Escorial, opposite the remains of her husband.