The ambivalent faces of domestic queens: gender, power, and political crisis in the nineteenth century Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century, three reigning queens ruled their countries: Victoria in England, Maria II in Portugal, and Isabel II in Spain. These were three women who had to assume political power in a moment both of the redefinition of womanhood towards domesticity and the establishment of liberal, constitutional regimes. Their queenship, therefore, was built on a close relationship with their moral and domestic attributes as women, feeding one process back into the other. This article aims to show the relevance of gender in the modern legitimization of the monarchy and its critique. Many studies have focused on Queen Victoria, comparing her successful formula to other female monarchs. This article studies the cases of Portugal and Spain comparatively to make the process more complex and diverse. For this purpose, I first point out how critical gender was in the legitimization of both queens with very similar lives and political contexts. This intricately linked relationship was apparent in the symbolic construction of their reigns but was particularly evident in the numerous political crises they would have to face. I compare their experiences to show that domesticity played a central role in shaping their queenship and political (de)legitimization.