Spanish-Philippines
Reign
of King Amadeo
1871 -
1873
Nigel Gooding Collection
King Amadeo I
Reign Between November 16, 1870 to February 11, 1873
With the void created by the forced exile of Queen
Isabella II on September 30, 1868 and her abdication on June 25, 1870, the
Spanish Generals were determined to keep the leadership of the revolution in
their own hands by channelling it into a constitutional monarchy. They were,
however, faced with a problem of finding an appropriate constitutional
monarch. Because of the political interests of other European Nations, which
seemed to them to authorise their active interference, the selection of an
occupant for the vacant throne was no easy matter.
During the interregnum,
Francisco Serrano undertook the Regency, and the Cortes drew up a brand new
Constitution by which an hereditary King was to rule
in conjunction with a Senate and a Popular Chamber.
There were four
prominent candidates for the throne: a Bourbon, a
German, a Portuguese, and an Italian. As no Bourbon candidate was found
acceptable, the offer of the crown was made to Leopold of Hohenzollern. This
offer was opposed by France and
set off the Franco-German war in 1870. Amadeus, Duke of Aosta,
and second son of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy,
with the support of General Juan Prim and Francisco Serrano, Amadeus was
elected king by the Cortes on November
16, 1870. On December 30 of that same year, the same day on which
Prim died from an assassin's attack, Amadeus arrived in Spain.
Amadeus swore to uphold the constitution in Madrid on January 2, 1871, thus
proclaiming him King Amadeo I of Spain.
King Amadeo, as he was called in Spanish, attempted to rule as
a Constitutional Monarch. Compounded by the loss of Prim, Amadeo’s
chief supporter, he was opposed both by Republicans and by the Carlists. As a result he was unable to form a stable
government. Amadeo faced continuous turmoil,
dealing with difficult situations, with unstable Spanish politics, republican
conspiracies, Carlist uprisings, separatism in
Cuba, same-party disputes, fugitive governments and assassination attempts.
Amadeo could count on the support of
only the progressive party, whose leaders were trading off in the government
thanks to parliamentary majority and electoral fraud. The progressives
divided into monarchists and constitutionalists, which made the instability worse, and in 1872 a violent
outburst of interparty conflicts hit a peak. There was a Carlist
uprising in the Basque and Catalan regions, and after that, republican
uprisings happened in cities across the country. The artillery corps of the
army went on strike, and the government instructed the King to discipline
them.
Though warned of a plot against his life on August 18,
1872, Amadeo refused to take precautions. While
returning from Buen Retiro
Park to Madrid in company with the queen, they were repeatedly shot at in Via
Avenal. The royal carriage was struck by several revolver and rifle bullets,
the horses wounded, but its occupants escaped unhurt. A period of relative
calm followed the event. However, the elite Madrid society feared
ongoing social unrest and wished a return to Bourbon rule.
With the possibility of reigning without popular support
and following the Hidalgo Affair, Amadeo was
required by the radical government to sign a decree of dissolution of the
artillery corps; after which he then immediately abdicated from the Spanish
throne on February 11, 1873. At ten o’clock that same night, Spain was
proclaimed a Republic, at which time Amadeo made an
appearance before the Cortes, proclaiming the Spanish people ungovernable.
The First Spanish Republic lasted less than two years, and on December 29,
1874 Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II, was proclaimed king.
Completely disgusted, the ex-monarch left Spain and
returned to Italy, where he resumed the title of Duke of Aosta.
Amadeo remained in Turin, Italy, until his death on
January 18, 1890.
|