The wedding of Princess Victoria Eugenie and King Alfonso XIII of Spain

On 31st May 1906, Princess Victoria Eugenie, daughter of Princess Beatrice and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain at the Royal Monastery of San Jerónimo, El Real Madrid, Spain.

In 1905, Alfonso traveled to England for an Official State Visit. At the time, he was known to be looking for a wife. Initially he hoped for a match with Princess Patricia of Connaught. However, Patricia was unimpressed by the King, who instead turned his attention to her cousin, Princess Victoria Eugenie. The two first met at the official State Banquet and immediately got along. The next day, they got to know each other more at a ball. After Alfonso returned to Spain, they continued to write frequent letters and postcards. However, despite her son’s infatuation, Queen Maria Christina wasn’t convinced.

Believing the Battenberg children to be ‘non-royal’ due to Prince Henry’s parents, Maria also disapproved of Victoria being Anglican rather than catholic; and also had concerns over the possibility of her being a carrier of the royal disease, haemophilia. Despite all of this, Alfonso was determined to marry Victoria.

Unlike other royal engagements of the time, Victoria and Alfonso’s was perhaps one of the least romantic. In early January, Queen Maria wrote to Victorias mother, speaking of Alfonso’s love for Victoria and requesting unofficial contact with King Edward VII. Edward then informed Victoria that the engagement had been arranged, although it wasn’t announced until 8th February.

On 22nd January, Victoria Eugenie and her mother, Princess Beatrice, arrived at Mauriscot, Biarritz, France. Here, she spent three days getting to know Alfonso before travelling to meet Queen Maria Christina. Despite forfeiting her right to the British throne, Victoria agreed to convert to Catholicism. Along with her mother, Victoria Eugenie travelled to Versailles, where she learnt the religion before her formal conversion on 7th March at the Miramar Palace.

The two were married on 31st May 1906, at the Royal Monastery of San Jerónimo, El Real Madrid. The first list included royalty and dignitaries from both of their families and around the world. Like all other royal brides, Victoria wore a wreath of orange blossom in her hair, which lined the base of the “The Fleur-de-Lys Tiara”, a gift from Alfonso. The procession started at 8:30am, with crowds cheering along the rout.

After the service, the newlyweds were riding back to the Palace when a Catalan anarchist, named Mateo Morral, threw a bomb, disguised as a bouquet, at them from a balcony above. He was quickly caught but shot the officer dead before killing himself. 23 people were killed and many were injured. Thankfully the couple escaped unscathed, thanks to the bomb being deflected by an electrical wire. However, blood splashes from the injured and dying covered Victorias dress.

Soon after the wedding, Victoria found herself unpopular amongst the Spanish people and also her husband. She quickly became alone and isolated in a foreign land. Her popularity was temporarily rejoiced in 1907 when she gave birth to the couples first child and heir to the throne, Alfonso, Prince of Asturias. However, this was short lived. During surgery to circumcise the Prince, doctors noticed that he was bleeding more than normal. As feared, he has inherited haemophilia. Alfonso was angry with his wife for infecting his son and never truly forgave her. Over the next seven years, she went on to have a total of six children but unfortunately their youngest, Infante Gonzalo, also inherited the disease and later died in 1934, aged just nineteen.

Over time, the couple’s relationship became more strained. Alfonso became known for his affairs and gathered at least five illegitimate children, leaving Victoria to fend for herself. In April 1931, the Spanish Royal Family voluntarily went into exile in France and later Italy, with the hope of preventing a civil war between republicans and monarchists. it wasn’t long before the couple decided to separate. Victoria spent most of her time between England and Switzerland. After Alfonso’s death in 1941, Victoria Eugenie only returned to Spain once in 1968 to stand as godmother at the baptism of her great-grandson, Infante Felipe. She died a year later in 15th April 1969, aged 81.

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