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ABSTRACT
Studies on nationalism have rarely given importance to the role played by the monarchy. In the Spanish case, studies have principally underlined its negative impact at the beginning of the twentieth century. This article aims to approach the origins of this political and cultural junction between the crown and the phenomenon of nationalism in Spain. A process that took place during the reign of Queen Isabel II (1833–68) and that followed very similar times and formulas to its neighbouring countries. It is first discuss the challenge that the monarchy faced in resignifying and relocating itself politically and symbolically in the nineteenth century. On this path, the crown found in the nation a perfect partner. However, liberalism also used the historical legitimacy of the monarchy to construct a nationalist discourse where monarchical identity was a structuring and undeniable piece of the national essence. Then, the author studies two typologies of strategies undertaken by them to convey their idea of nation, to mobilize people and to engender national loyalty: royal travel and images of the monarchy – both literal and figurative – used by the state. A comparative perspective with different European cases is always follow, particularly with Queen Victoria.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Raquel Sánchez and Isabel Burdiel for supervising the PhD thesis from which this paper derives, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their comments on previous versions.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Anderson, Imagined Communities, 36.
2. Ibid., 85.
3. Ibid., 86–110.
4. Hobsbawm, Nations, 46–7.
5. Ibid., 81–2.
6. Ibid., 84–5.
7. Billig, Talking, 25.
8. Billig, Banal Nationalism, 45.
9. Barral, Alfonso XIII; Moreno–Luzón, “Performing Monarch.”
10. San Narciso, Barral, and Armenteros, Monarchy; Romeo and Millán, “Modelos.”
11. Kirsch, Monarch; Marcuello, “La Corona”; Bogdanor, The Monarchy; Namier, Monarchy.
12. Sellin, Das Jarhhundert; Langewiesche, Die Monarchie; Kirsch, “La trasformazione.”
13. Mayer, The Persistence, 135–52.
14. Cannadine, “The Last,” 142–3.
15. Cannon, The Modern.
16. Mehrkens, “How European.”
17. Wienfort, “Dynastic.”
18. Burdiel, “The Queen,” 303.
19. Plunkett, Queen Victoria.
20. Deploige and Deneckere, “The Monarchy.”
21. Lilti, Figures.
22. Giloi, “So Writes”; Freifeld, “Empress Elisabeth”; Kohlrausch, “The Working.”
23. Billig, Talking.
24. Quiroga, “The Three.”
25. Braud, L’émotion, 131–9.
26. Brice, Monarchie.
27. Yuval–Davies and Anthias, Woman.
28. Burdiel, “La revolución”; Burguera, “Al ángel”; Gutiérrez and Mira, “Ser reinas.”
29. Reyero, Monarquía.
30. Thompson, Queen Victoria.
31. Herrero, Viajes; Rubí, “La Corona.”
32. Burdiel, “Monarquía.”
33. Truesdell, Spectacular.
34. Plunkett, Queen Victoria; Aldrich and McCreery, Crowns.
35. Álvarez–Junco, Mater, 383–431.
36. Confino, The Nation.
37. Thiesse, Ils apprenaient; Núñez, “The Region.”
38. La España, 4 August 1865.
39. Moreno-Luzón and Núñez, Los colores.
40. La España, 8 August 1865; La Época, 10 August 1865.
41. San Narciso, “Viejos ropajes.”
42. El Mundo Pintoresco, 30 May 1858.
43. La Época, 2 December 1858. The castles and lions were only the symbol of Castile, but an abbreviated version of the Spanish coat of arms was sometimes used which was made up solely of the Castilian arms.
44. La Época, 27 September 1860.
45. Flores, “Crónica,” 194.
46. Ibid., 325.
47. Barral, “Performing”; San Narciso, “Celebrar,” 203–11.
48. Rada, “Viaje,” 755.
49. Flores, “Crónica,” 189–90.
50. Fradera, Cultura nacional; Rubio, La identidad vasca; Beramendi, De provincia.
51. Cannadine, “From Biography,” 306.
52. Loughlin, “Royal,” 18.
53. Morales and Esteban, ¿Alma.
54. Colley, “The Apotheosis.”
55. Langland, “Nation.”
56. Unowsky, The Pomp.
57. Trevor-Roper, “The Invention,” 29–31.
58. Tyrrell, “The Queen’s.”
59. Tyrrell and Ward, “God Bless.”
60. Mansel, Dressed, 136–7.
61. Finlay, “Queen Victoria.”
62. Davies, “Victoria.”
63. Loughlin, The British.
64. Schulte, “The Queen,” 269.
65. Gabriel and Pérez–Vejo, “Iconografías.”
66. Bell, “The Idea.”
67. Pérez–Vejo, “Entre.”
68. Giloi, Monarchy.
69. Flores, Ayer, 224.
70. Sánchez, “La imagen.”
71. Jeffery, “Crown.”
72. Since the order of 14 May 1841 the national flag had to wave in all public buildings on gala days, national days and on occasions of special relevance (as noted in Moreno–Luzón and Núñez, Los colores, 49). In this fusion between the crown and the nation, monarchical ceremonies were always one of these important events.
73. San Narciso, “Celebrar,” 189–96.
74. Williams, The Contentious, 157.
75. Moreno–Luzón, “The Strange.”
76. Álvarez–Junco, Mater, 511–16.
77. Alarcón, Diario, 66.
78. Ibid., 107.
79. Ibid., 265.
80. Güell, Paralelo.
81. Watson, “Gloriana.”
82. La Iberia, 27 July 1854.
83. Orobon, “La carne,” 78–83; Mira, “La imagen.”
84. The Manchester Guardian, 15 August 1873.
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David San Narciso
David San Narciso is currently pre-doctoral fellow at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, where he prepared his PhD in Contemporary History. His areas of interest include political and cultural dimensions of the monarchy and the construction of masculinity in the Spanish nineteenth century. He is co-editor of Monarchy, Liberalism and the Struggle for Spain’s Modernisation (1780–1931) (with Margarita Barral and Carolina Armenteros [2020]) and La cuestión de Palacio: Corte y cortesanos en la España contemporánea (with Raquel Sánchez [2018]). He is author of several articles published in international peer-reviewed journals.