Queen Isabella II was not well regarded. She vacillated politically disappointing all sides. Yet when she was deposed it was her replacements turn to vacillate. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The Queen is gone! Long live the Queen, in Paris exile. So who is this on the stamp. One of the upstart faceless general/ politicians that replaced her. No they don’t inspire confidence and change places so fast there isn’t time to get a stamp designed and printed. So what are Spanish stamp designers to do to show Spain’s best. 19th century European stamp fans can guess. Here we have Espana, the Latin female embodiment of the Spanish nation. The full face gives it away, Royals prefer profile portraits.
Todays stamp is issue A20, a 50 Milesimas stamp issued by Spain on January 1st, 1870. It was a 14 stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $5 used. A mint version would be worth $125, proving praise be that the stamp was actually meant to be mailed.
Queen Isabella II was forced into Paris exile in 1868. A group of dismissed former generals/politicians had landed from exile and most of the Spanish Army had defected to them. A self proclaimed glorious revolution. Unfortunately for the conspirators they were badly divided. They were from the left, so many of the conspirators desired a Spanish Republic. Others wanted a King, not a vacillating Queen. They themselves debated between Isabella’s young son. a German candidate, who seemed most competent but would likely lead to war between France and Prussia, A Portuguese who had served as regent there and Amadeus, the second son of Victor Emanuel I, the King of Italy and head of the house of Savoy.
After a regency that looked more like a military junta, Amadeus was named Amadeo I, King of Spain. Amadeus had previously annoyed his father by marrying a minor Piedmont noble who was rich and therefore made him less reliant on an allowance from his father. Soon after the marriage, she wrote to the King asking him to discipline her husband regarding his infidelities. Victor Emanuel wrote back that he understood her feelings but who was she to dictate how her husband acts and the jealousy was unbecoming in a woman.
Amadeus was not having much luck in Spain. The political party that brought him in relied more on election fraud than popular support. He faced House of Bourbon based uprisings in Basque and Catalonian areas and republican uprisings in the cities. The Army wasn’t much help as the artillery corps went on strike. Amadeus tried to go around the country to bolster his support but then faced an assassination attempt that shot up the Royal Carriage, killing the horses but leaving him unhurt. The political party than instructed Amadeus to discipline the artillery corps. He did that and then immediately abdicated. A Republic was declared and Amadeus made a surprise visit to the legislature declaring that Spain was ungovernable and he was going back to Italy. Any vestige of the glorious revolution ended two years later when the republic failed and Isabella II’s son Alfonso was crowned King. Alfonso had rumors swirling around that his father wasn’t really King consort Francis a homosexual, but one of Isabella’s generals that had conspired against her.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another and toast the beautiful Espana as seen on todays stamp, even though perhaps Amadeus was right and Spain is ungovernable. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting, First published in 2019.