Brewer’s Blackbird

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María de las Mercedes of Orléans (24 June 1860 – 26 June 1878) was Queen of Spain as the first wife of King Alfonso XII. She was born in Madrid, the daughter of Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.

Death

Shortly after their honeymoon, it became evident that Queen Mercedes suffered from typhoid fever.[1][2][3][4] The marriage would last only five months and three days,[5] during which she reportedly had a miscarriage.[3] She died due to the fever on 26 June 1878, at 18 years old.[6][7]

Legacy

Portrait of Mercedes in 1878, the year of her death
Portrait of Mercedes in 1878, the year of her death (portrait by Manuel Cabral Aguado-Bejarano)

The news of her demise spawned many folk songs accounting for it,[8] most notably the famous copla, with many variations in Spain and America, particularly popular among children delivered as a song accompanying a skipping rope game.[9] According to Benito Pérez Galdós, he had already heard about it few days after the incident: “¿Dónde vas Alfonso XII? ¿Dónde vas triste de ti? Voy en busca de Mercedes que ayer tarde no la vi…” ("Where are you going, Alfonso XII? Where are you going, sad man?—I'm going in search of Mercedes whom I did not see yesterday afternoon...").[9] A film about the romance between María de las Mercedes and Alfonso XII, Where Are You Going, Alfonso XII?, was released in 1958.[10]

Queen Mercedes co-initiated the building of the Cathedral of la Almudena in Madrid, opposite of the royal palace —the construction beginning in 1883.[citation needed] In May 2004 Felipe, Prince of Asturias, was wed there to Letizia Ortiz. Queen Mercedes' remains were re-interred there on 8 November 2000, in accordance with her widower's wishes.

A town in the northern Philippine province of Isabela was named Reina Mercedes in her honor in 1886 when the Spanish colonial government formally separated it from Cauayan.

When the King's minister Cánovas del Castillo suggested that he take a new wife, Alfonso acquiesced, choosing Mercedes' sister María Cristina. She also contracted tuberculosis, and died during the engagement period.[citation needed] In late 1879, he married Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria-Teschen; the eldest of their children, the Princess of Asturias, was named in honour of Queen Mercedes.

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^ "02 Nov 1878 - The Death of the Young Queen of Spain. - Trove". Nla.gov.au. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  2. ^ MCNBiografias.com. "María de las Mercedes. Reina de España (1860-1878) » MCNBiografias.com". mcnbiografias.com.
  3. ^ a b "Cumplida la última voluntad de una reina". El País. 9 November 2000.
  4. ^ "Alfonso XII y María de las Mercedes, real historia de amor - ArqueHistoria". arquehistoria.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  5. ^ "Alfonso XII | Real Academia de la Historia". dbe.rah.es. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  6. ^ "Muere María de las Mercedes de Orleans y Borbón, cinco meses después de casarse". Madridiario. 26 June 2019.
  7. ^ Parrado, Diego (9 November 2017). "La sortija maldita de Alfonso XII". Vanity Fair.
  8. ^ Pallardó Pardo, Esther (2016). "La restauración bajo el reinado de Alfonso XII desde la perspectiva de lo audiovisual". Opción: Revista de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (12): 120. ISSN 1012-1587.
  9. ^ a b Tejero Robledo, Eduardo (1998). "La tradición oral en la cadena etnográfica". Didáctica. Lengua y Literatura. 10. Madrid: Ediciones Complutense: 148.
  10. ^ Pallardó Pardo 2016, pp. 114–115.
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