This is a curious story about Ferdinand VII's sucession. As we studied, Ferdinand VII got married four times, but he didn't have any children until he married to his niece Maria Christina of Bourbon- Two Sicilies. When she got pregnant in 1830, Ferdinand VII tried to make sure that his successor (boy or girl) would be the monarch of Spain and issued thew Pragmatic Sanction approved by the Cortes in 1788, during his father's reign, which abolished the Salic Law and restored the traditional succession law of Castile. The child born was a girl, Isabella. But the most intransigent absolutists didn't accept this and wanted Carlos María Isidro, Ferdinand VII's brother, to be the successor. The episode that gives name to this post took plce during Ferdinand VII's illness in 1832. Maria Christina acted as regent, replacing her husband, but both suffered a high pressure in order to favour Carlos María Isidro and declare him the heir of the crown. One of the most insistent figures in Carlos Mª Isidro's side was Francisco Tadeo Calomarde, minister of Grace and Justice and leader of the ultra-royalist party. Pressure was such that Ferdinand VII finally accepted to sign a decree annulling the Pragmatic Sanction and designating Carlos as heir, but with the condition of keeping this decision secret until Ferdinand VII’s death, in order to avoid instability. These events provoked a lot of commotion in La Granja Palace, when the royal court was spending the holidays. When Infant Luisa Carlota, Maria Christina's sister, knew what had happened, she called Calomarde to her presence and asked him to show her the decree. When she read what Ferdinand VII had signed, excluding his own daughter from the throne, she tora the document, threw it to the fire and slapped Calomarde with force. Calomarde bore the ofense and answered with the famous quote: White hands don't offend, mylady!
Infant Luisa Calota, a temperamental woman
Francisco Tadeo Calomarde, ultra-royalist minister
When Ferdinand VII recovered, he and his wife received the supoport of many members of the court and this decided him to annul the decree, re-appoint his daughter as his successor and exclude his brother from the throne. This would finally cause the beginning of the First Carlist War.
Luisa Carlota's husband was infant Francisco de Paula, another of Ferdinand VII's brothers and they were Francisco de Asís of Bourbon's parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment