Maria Christina of Austria

Known to her family as Christa, she was born at Židlochovice Castle (Groß Seelowitz), near Brünn (now Brno), in Moravia, a daughter of Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria.

Her paternal grandparents were Archduke Charles of Austria and Princess Henriette Alexandrine of Nassau-Weilburg.

Various sources attributed good traits to Maria Christina before her marriage. One states she was "tall, fair, sensible, and well educated".Wormeley Latimer, p. 382. She was Princess-Abbess of the Theresian Royal and Imperial Ladies Chapter of Prague Castle (1875-1879).{{Cite web|url=http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/czech_eccleastical.htm|title = Czech Eccleastical}}

{{See also|Reign of Alfonso XII}}File:FOTOGRAFIA DEL REY ALFONSO XII, LA REINA M. CRISTINA Y LA PRINCESA DE ASTURIAS (1880).jpg

After the death of Queen María de las Mercedes in June 1878, King Alfonso XII was determined to remarry to produce an heir. The Queen had died just a few months after her marriage with no descendants and negotiations started with the court of Vienna. In August, Alfonso XII traveled to Arcachon, Gironde, with the specific purpose of meeting Archduchess Maria Christina and her mother Archduchess Elisabeth. In this first meeting, the King proposed to her and she accepted.

In early September 1878, the Spanish Government approved the engagement and Emperor Franz Joseph asked his niece to officially relinquish her title of Abbess of the Theresian Convent of Prague as it was necessary for the future queen to abandon all her Austrian appointments. The proposal was gazetted in the Wiener Zeitung on 7 September: "His Majesty the King of Spain, during his visit to Arcachon, has requested the hand of the Most Serene Lady Archduchess Maria Christina... with previous consent of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, as Chief of the Imperial Family, the Most Serene Lady Archduchess has accepted the said proposal".

In compliance with Article 56 of the Constitution of Spain, the Cortes passed a law granting a 500.000 pesetas annuity for the future queen consort on 2 November. The terms of the marriage were settled in an agreement executed between Austria and Spain in Vienna on 15 November by their respective plenipotentiaries. That same day Maria Christina renounced her succession rights to the Austrian throne before the Emperor and the court according to the tradition imposed to the archduchesses who were to marry a foreign prince. Another marriage agreement was signed in Madrid on 28 November by the King and Maria Christina themselves.

The wedding took place on 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid.{{Cite web|url=https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/articulos/boda-alfonso-xii-maria-cristina-de-habsburgo/41928|website=Vanity Fair|title=a boda de Alfonso XII y María Cristina de Habsburgo: la historia que comenzó con un rey deseando a su futura suegra|date=23 November 2019|first=Raquel|last=Piñeiro}} The arranged marriage (the second of Alfonso XII after the death of his first wife María de las Mercedes of Orléans), was concerted on the basis of the conservative profile espoused by the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as by the prestige attained by the Habsburgs in their previous involvement in the history of Spain, and blocked the possibility of a prospective Austrian endorsement to the Carlist cause.{{Sfn|Moreno Seco|2011|pp=390–391}}

After giving birth to two daughters —María de las Mercedes (born 1880) and María Teresa (born 1882)— she ensured dynastic continuity, yet, with the threatening landmark for the ruling dynasty set by the previous Carlist Wars, she was still pressured to undergo a new pregnancy and give birth to a male child in order to consolidate the political system, as it was considered at the time.{{Sfn|Moreno Seco|2011|pp=395–396; 401–402}}

File:Muerte de Alfonso XII o el Último Beso.jpg

She became pregnant again before the death of her husband in November 1885 (the king suffered from tuberculosis yet he led an active life). An attributed dying wish by Alfonso XII pleading to her is "Ya verás cómo todo se arregla providencialmente. Pero, si muero, guarda el coño y ándate siempre de Cánovas a Sagasta y de Sagasta a Cánovas" ("You will see how everything is going to be providentially fixed, yet if I die, keep your pussy at bay and always go from Cánovas to Sagasta and from Sagasta to Cánovas").{{Cite news|journal=El País|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1995/06/20/cultura/803599205_850215.html|title=El destino de la historia es convertirse en literatura|date=20 June 1995|first=Amelia|last=Castilla}} While possibly apocryphal, it is representative of the Restoration era. Months later, in May 1886, she would give birth to a male child, Alfonso, who reigned as Alfonso XIII upon his birth.

{{Main|Regency of Maria Christina of Austria}}

File:Jura de la regente María Cristina de Habsburgo (Francisco Jover, Joaquín Sorolla).jpg

Designated as regent upon the death of her husband in 1885, Maria Christina swore on the 1876 Constitution on 30 December 1885 at the Palacio de las Cortes, before the two legislative bodies.{{Cite book|url=http://e-spacio.uned.es/fez/eserv/tesisuned:Derecho-Mcasado/CASADO_TRIGO_Manuel_Tesis.pdf|title=Análisis histórico-jurídico de la normativa de ceremonial y protocolo en las Cortes Generales Españolas|first=Manuel|last=Casado Trigo|pages=341–342|year=2015|location=Madrid|publisher=UNED}}{{Cite web|url=https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/inesperada-muerte-alfonso-xii_12827|website=National Geographic|title=La inesperada muerte de Alfonso XII|first=María Pilar|date=14 June 2018|last=Queralt del Hierro}} She rejected the title of reina gobernadora ("Queen Governor"), distancing from the memory of the previous regent Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies,{{Sfn|Casado Sánchez|Moreno Seco|2014|p=117}} who had used it in the 1830s.

File:María Cristina de Habsburgo con Alfonso XIII.jpg

When the King died on 25 November 1885, Maria Christina was pregnant, so the throne was vacant, depending on whether Maria Christina's unborn child was a male or a female; a male would make that child king, while a female would place the elder daughter, the Princess of Asturias, María de las Mercedes, on the throne. During this period, Maria Christina ruled as regent until her child Alfonso, a son, was born on 17 May 1886; he was King (Alfonso XIII) from birth.

She nurtured a persona of austerity and staidness, and became known among the populace as Doña Virtudes, María la Seca ("Mary the Curt One") and la institutriz ("the governess").{{Cite book|chapter=María Cristina de Habsburgo, la (in)discreta regente|first=Mónica|last=Moreno Seco|title=La imagen del poder: Reyes y regentes en la España del siglo XIX|editor-first=Emilio|editor-last=La Parra López|year=2011|isbn=978-84-975678-5-5|chapter-url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43566887.pdf|page=393|publisher=Síntesis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329135935/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/43566887.pdf|archive-date=29 March 2019}} She displayed strong religious beliefs which gained her the endorsement of Pope Leo XIII, weakening the adherence to Carlist stances within the clergy.{{Sfn|Moreno Seco|2011|pp=414–415}}

Her chief adviser and head of government was Práxedes Mateo Sagasta. Her rule is described{{according to whom|date=September 2020}} 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 Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the 1898 Spanish–American War.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/hemeroteca/20180429/443149445571/desastre-del-98-batalla-de-cavite-colonias.html|journal=La Vanguardia|title=El principio del fin del Imperio español|date=29 April 2018|first=Teresa|last=Amiguet}}{{clr|left}}

File:Visita de la reina María Cristina a un grupo de militares heridos en la guerra de África (4 de 6) - Fondo Car-Kutxa Fototeka.jpg.]]

After the marriage of her son with Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906, she took a secondary role in public events.{{Cite journal|journal=Historia y Política|location=Madrid|publisher=UCM; UNED; CEPC|url=https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/Hyp/article/view/21759|volume=31|title=María Cristina de Borbón y María Cristina de Habsburgo: dos regentes entre los modos aristocráticos y los burgueses|first1=Mª Ángeles|first2=Mónica|last1=Casado Sánchez|last2=Moreno Seco|year=2014|page=134}} Nevertheless, Alfonso XIII continued to look to her on many occasions for advice.

She was the leading figure around which the Germanophile stronghold within the Royal Court coalesced during World War I, in contrast to the pro-Entente minority faction represented by her daughter-in-law, the British-born Victoria Eugenie.{{Cite journal|url=http://umer.es/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/umer-Cuaderno-87.pdf|title=España ante la Primera Guerra Mundial|first=Feliciano|last=Páez-Camino|year=2015|page=5|location=Madrid|publisher=UMER}}{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://publicaciones.unirioja.es/catalogo/online/Historia_nuestro_tiempo_5/pdf/02_RomeroSalvado.pdf|first=Francisco J.|last=Romero Salvadó|page=14|chapter=España y la I Guerra Mundial. El Crepúsculo de una Era. Más allá de los campos de batalla|editor-last=Navajas Zubeldia|editor-first=Carlos|editor-last2=Iturriaga Barco|editor-first2=Diego|title=Siglo. Actas del V Congreso Internacional de Historia de Nuestro Tiempo|location=Logroño|publisher=Universidad de La Rioja|year=2016}} Spain remained a neutral country during the conflict.

She died on 6 February 1929,{{Cite journal|url=https://www.diariodesevilla.es/espana/decadas-morir-lejos-casa_0_972203081.html|journal=Diario de Sevilla|title=Nueve décadas de morir lejos de casa|first=Francisco|last=Correal|date=16 November 2015}} at the Royal Palace of Madrid, after some weeks of heart disease. She is buried at El Escorial.

Sir Charles Petrie, Alfonso XIII's biographer, maintained that the Queen dowager's death had a disastrous effect on her son, and that the latter never recovered politically from the blow. Within little more than two years the monarchy had collapsed.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia described her in her 1932 memoirs as "Queen Christine, a trim vivacious little old lady with an intelligent, sharp face and white hair. Her manner was perfectly simple and cordial, but you felt, nevertheless, that she was a sovereign of the old school, who had never stepped outside the palace walls."{{Cite book |last=Romanov |first=Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna |title=A Princess In Exile |year=1932 |pages=212}}

She received the following awards:Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie (1918), Genealogy [http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=32&size=45 p. 12]

{{columns-list|colwidth=25em|

• {{flag|Austria-Hungary}}:
• Grand Cross of the Order of Elizabeth, 1898{{citation|chapter-url=https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=424&size=45|chapter=Ritter-orden|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie|date=1918|location=Vienna|publisher=Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei|page=[https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1918&page=702&size=45 328]}}
• Dame of the Order of the Starry Cross, 1st Class
• {{flagcountry|Restoration (Spain)}}: 805th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 1 September 1879;{{cite book|url=http://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/issue.vm?id=0001059782&search=&lang=es|chapter=Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa|title=Guía Oficial de España|date=1928|access-date=21 March 2019|page=231|language=es}} Grand Mistress, 29 November 1879
• {{flagicon image|Flag of Siam (1855).svg}} Siam: Dame of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 18 October 1897{{cite journal |author=Royal Thai Government Gazette |author-link=Royal Thai Government Gazette |date=4 June 1899 |url=http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2442/010/134.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304212536/http://www.ratchakitcha.soc.go.th/DATA/PDF/2442/010/134.PDF |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2016 |title=พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ที่ประเทศยุโรป (ต่อแผ่นที่ ๙ หน้า ๑๓๐)|language=th |access-date=2019-05-08 }}
• {{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, 17 November 1898{{cite book|author1=M. Wattel |author2=B. Wattel | title = Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers |location= Paris |date = 2009 |publisher= Archives & Culture | pages = 21, 450, 598 | isbn = 978-2-35077-135-9| ref = M. et B. Wattel}}
• {{flag|Kingdom of Portugal}}:{{cite journal|last1=Bragança |first1=Jose Vicente de|date=2014 |title=Agraciamentos Portugueses Aos Príncipes da Casa Saxe-Coburgo-Gota |url=https://www.academia.edu/10576008 |language=pt|trans-title=Portuguese Honours awarded to Princes of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|journal=Pro Phalaris |volume=9–10 |pages=12–13 |access-date=28 November 2019 }}
• Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel, 14 November 1879
• Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, 14 October 1886
• Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders, 8 November 1892
• {{flagicon image|Flag of the Papal States (1825-1870).svg}} Holy See: Golden Rose, 1886{{Cite journal|url=https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1886/185/A00029-00029.pdf|title=Cancillería.- Acta de la entrega de la Rosa de Oro que Su Santidad León XIII remite á S. M . la Reina Regente de España.|date=4 July 1886|journal=Gaceta de Madrid|access-date=29 November 2019|language=es}}
• {{flag|Empire of Japan}}: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of the Precious Crown, 16 February 1889{{cite book|author=刑部芳則|title=明治時代の勲章外交儀礼|url=http://meijiseitoku.org/pdf/f54-5.pdf|year=2017|publisher=明治聖徳記念学会紀要|language=ja|page=157}}
• {{flag|Kingdom of Bavaria}}:
• Dame of the Order of Saint Elizabeth, 1st Class
• Dame of Honour of the Order of Theresa
• {{flag|Belgium}}: Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1902Royal Decree of 19 January 1902
• {{flag|Sovereign Military Order of Malta}}: Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, with Distinction for Jerusalem
• {{flag|Ottoman Empire}}: Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of Charity
• {{flag|Russian Empire}}: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St. Catherine
• {{flagcountry|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland}}: Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, 1st Class{{cite book|author=Joseph Whitaker|title=An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord ...|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TUMsAAAAMAAJ|year=1897|publisher=J. Whitaker|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_TUMsAAAAMAAJ/page/n119 110]}}

}}

|}

{{ahnentafel

|collapsed=yes |align=center

| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;

| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;

| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;

| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;

| 1 = 1. Maria Christina of Austria

| 2 = 2. Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria

| 3 = 3. Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria

| 4 = 4. Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen

| 5 = 5. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg

| 6 = 6. Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary

| 7 = 7. Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg

| 8 = 8. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor

| 9 = 9. Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain

| 10 = 10. Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg

| 11 = 11. Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg

| 12 = 12. Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (= 8)

| 13 = 13. Infanta Maria Louisa of Spain (= 9)

| 14 = 14. Duke Louis of Württemberg

| 15 = 15. Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg

}}

;Informational notes

{{Reflist|group=n.}}

;Citations

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last=Campos y Fernández de Sevilla |first=Francisco-Javier |author-link= |date=1994 |title=María Cristina de Habsburgo y la Regencia, 1885–1902 |language=es |location=San Lorenzo de El Escorial |publisher=Estudios Superiores del Escorial, Real Colegio Universitario "María Cristina" |page= |isbn=}}
• {{cite book |last=Cancio R. Capote |first=Rita Mariea |author-link= |date=1957 |title=The Function of Maria Christina of Austria's Regency, 1885–1902, in Preserving the Spanish Monarchy |url= |location= México |publisher=Ediciones Botas |page= |isbn=}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ferrer |first1=Eusebio |last2=Puga |first2=Maria Teresa |last3=Rojas |first3=Enrique |author-link= |date=1994 |title=Cuando reinar es un deber: regencia de María Cristina de Austria de Habsburgo-Lorena: minoría de edad de Alfonso XIII, 1885-1902 |language=es |location=Barcelona |publisher=Ediciones Internacionales Universitarias |page= |isbn=}}
• {{cite book |last=Figueroa y Torres, Conde de Romanones |first=Alvaro de |author-link= |date=1934 |title=Doña María Cristina de Habsburgo Lorena, la discreta regente de España |language=es |location=Madrid |publisher=Espasa Calpe |page= |isbn=}}
• {{cite book |last=Latimer |first=Elizabeth Wormeley |title=Spain in the Nineteenth Century |url=https://archive.org/details/spaininnineteent00lati/page/n5/mode/2up |publisher=A. C. McClurg |location=Chicago |year=1907}}
• {{cite book |last=Martín Alonso |first=Aurelio |author-link= |date=1914 |title=Diez y seis años de regencia, María Cristina de Hapsburgo-Lorena, 1885–1902 |language=es |url=https://archive.org/details/diezyseisaosde00martuoft/page/2/mode/2up |location=Barcelona |publisher=L. Tasso |page= |isbn=}}
• {{cite book |last=Queralt |first=María Pilar |author-link= |date=2014 |title=La pasión de la reina: María Cristina, la mujer que amo a Alfonso XII |language=es |location=Barcelona |publisher=Ciudad de Libros |page= |isbn=9781497645523}}
• {{cite book |last=Thoma |first=Helga |author-link= |date=2003 |title=Habsburgs letzte Herrscherin: Maria Christine, Erzherzogin von Österreich, Königin-Regentin von Spanien |language=de|location=Wien-Klosterneuburg |publisher=Edition Va Bene |page= |isbn=3851671406}}

{{commons category|Maria Christina of Austria}}

• {{PM20|FID=pe/019417}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|House of Habsburg-Lorraine|21 July|1858|6 February|1929}}

{{s-roy|es}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-vac|last=Mercedes of Orléans}}

{{s-ttl|title=Queen consort of Spain|years=29 November 1879 – 25 November 1885}}

{{s-vac|next=Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg}}

{{s-end}}

{{Spanish consorts}}

{{Austrian archduchesses}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Christina of Austria}}

Category:1858 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:Regents of Spain

Category:House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Category:Spanish royal consorts

Category:Spanish queen mothers

Category:19th-century Spanish people

Category:20th-century Spanish people

Category:Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert

Category:Austrian princesses

Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour

Category:Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa

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Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Precious Crown

Category:Burials in the Pantheon of Kings at El Escorial

Category:Alfonso XII

Category:19th-century women regents

Category:19th-century regents

Category:20th-century women regents

Category:20th-century regents

Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Catherine