June 22, 1902
According to the Rome correspondent of the Daily Express, Queen Maria Cristina of Spain "has asked the Pope to suggest an eligible bride" for her son, King Alfonso XIII. The correspondent reports that the Pontiff has recommended a Bavarian princess or an Austrian archduchess."
The Dowager Queen of Spain was born Archduchess Marie Christina of Austria.
2 comments:
Any bets on which princesses/archduchesses the Pope had in mind? There were honestly very few eligible Catholic candidates born within a few years of Alfonso who were not already married by the time Alfonso was looking for a wife.
Ludwig III of Bavaria's youngest three daughters, Wiltrud, Hemtrud, and Gundelinde would have been about the right age.
As for Austrian archduchesses, my best guess would be Isabella and Gabriele, the sixth and seventh daughters of Friedrich, Duke of Teschen. They were first cousins of Alfonso. Isabella had a very brief marriage to Georg of Bavaria, while Gabriele doesn't seem to have married.
Is there any record of Alfonso courting any of these women?
There were reports of a possible marriage with Marie of Mecklenburg, but Alfonso looked to England for a bride, not Austria or Bavaria.
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