1. Alfonso XII, known as El Pacificador, was King of Spain from 29 December 1874 to his death in 1885.
15 Facts About Alfonso XII
1. 2.
Alfonso XII's mother abdicated in his favour in 1870, and he returned to Spain as king in 1874 following a military coup against the First Spanish Republic.
3.
Alfonso XII died aged 27 in 1885, leaving his pregnant widow, Maria Christina of Austria, as regent of Spain.
4.
Alfonso XII was born in Madrid as the eldest son of the reigning Queen Isabella II on 28 November 1857.
5.
When Queen Isabella II and her husband were forced to leave Spain by the Revolution of 1868, Alfonso XII accompanied them to Paris.
6.
Alfonso XII assumed the name Alfonso XII, for although no king of united Spain had borne the name "Alfonso", the Spanish monarchy was regarded as continuous with the more ancient monarchy represented by the 11 kings of Asturias, Leon and Castile named Alfonso.
7.
Alfonso XII was well-educated and cultured, especially compared to his mother.
8.
Alfonso XII's tutors took great care to have him educated in good schools and to familiarize him with different cultures, languages and government models throughout Europe.
9.
On 1 December 1874, Alfonso XII issued the Sandhurst Manifesto, where he set the ideological basis of the Bourbon Restoration.
10.
In 1881 Alfonso XII refused to sanction a law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of 18 months.
11.
On 23 January 1878 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso XII married his first cousin, Princess Maria de las Mercedes, but she died, aged only 18, of typhoid fever, their marriage only lasting five months and three days.
12.
On 29 November 1879 at the Basilica of Atocha in Madrid, Alfonso XII married his double third cousin, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria.
13.
Alfonso XII had two sons by Elena Armanda Nicolasa Sanz y Martinez de Arizala :.
14.
In November 1885, Alfonso XII died aged 27 at the Royal Palace of El Pardo near Madrid.
15.
Alfonso XII had been suffering from tuberculosis, but the immediate cause of his death was a recurrence of dysentery.