The influential women of Liberal monarchy. Gender and politics in the Spanish and British royal courts, c. 1830-1860

ABSTRACT

This article shows how women, thanks to their courtly positions, could continue exerting some political power in the time of their exclusion of formal politics resulting from the Liberal, constitutional system. Their close and intimate contact with a queen regnant as Isabel II provided them a decisive role in this tug-of-war between political pressure groups and alliances. Likewise, we employ a comparative perspective with a contemporary ruling woman as Queen Victoria, the epitome of idealized transition to a parliamentary monarchy and a specific courtly system. Among their extensive staff, our attention will focus on the two principal figures: the Camarera Mayor – equivalent to the Mistress of the Robe – and the Damas de la Reina – who held positions and had duties similar to those of the Ladies of the Bedchamber–. By studying an extensive archival and press documentation, we defend the importance of the court as an informal and alternative place of participation of these women in politics.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• monarchy
• court
• informal power
• elites
• nineteenth century

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Archivo General de Palacio (hereafter AGP)-Personal, 16601/15.

2. Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangers, Correspondance Politique de l’Espagne (hereafter AMAE–CPE), 766, 8 December 1834.

3. AGP-Personal, 974/14.

4. AGP-Personal, 1091/13.

5. Argüelles designated three ladies-in-waiting as proof of “the well-appointed services they [their parents] provided to the national freedom and independence,” in AGP-Reinado Isabel II, 250/10, 30 July 1842.

6. AGP-Personal, 662/2.

7. Royal Archives (hereafter RA), VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W), 9 May 1839.

8. AGP-Personal, 16605/8.

9. As the French ambassador informed, the Marchioness of Bélgida has resigned “having complained of Argüelles, Heros, Countess of Mina and, more recently, the appointment the appointment of three ladies-in-waiting made despite her consent,” in AMAE-CPE, 810, 23 July 1842.

10. AGP-Personal, 16877/15.

11. Foreign Office Archives (hereafter FOA), 72/721, 8 April 1847.

12. The queen would argue in her appointment “her sincere adhesion to My person,” in AGP–Personal, 529/17.

13. AMAE-CPE, 830, 4 April 1847.

14. AGP-Personal, 1059/26.

15. AGP-Personal, 1341/36.

16. AGP-Personal, 833/4 and 861/15.

17. AGP-Personal, 685/12.

18. AMAE-CPE, 832, 31 October 1847.

19. FOA, 72/727, 27 December 1847.

20. AGP-Personal, 529/17.

21. AGP-Personal, 475/8.

22. AMAE-CPE, 832, 2 January 1848.

23. AMAE-CPE, 837, 25 February 1851.

24. AMAE-CPE, 835, 30 October 1849. A similar account in La España, 31 October 1849.

25. AGP-Personal, 143/4.

26. AMAE-CPE, 835, 16 November 1849.

27. AGP-Personal, 609/40.

28. AHN–DTF, 3460/304/2.

29. Id.

30. AGP-Personal, 773/69 and 12998/6.

31. AMAE-CPE, 847, 25 September 1855.

32. FOA, 72/870, 1 October 1855.

33. Id.

34. As it appears in her letters, preserved in AGP–Reinado Isabel II, 359.

35. AGP-Personal, 16538/7, 74/1, 16846/28 and 24/6.

36. AGP-Personal, 74/8.

37. FOA, 72/719, 14 February 1847.

38. FOA, 72/808, 11 December 1852.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science, Innovations and Universities of Spain under Grant [PGC2018-093698-B-I00]; the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain under Grant [HAR2015-66532-P]; and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid–Banco Santander under Grant [CT27/16-CT28/16].