page_title: Infanta Isabella, Countess of Girgenti
section_title: Marriage
hierarchical_section_title: Infanta Isabella, Countess of Girgenti / Marriage
caption_attribution_description: English: Infanta Isabella of Bourbon and Bourbon. Português: Infanta Isabel de Bourbon e Bourbon.
context_page_description: Isabella, Princess of Asturias, was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella II and her husband Francis, Duke of Cádiz. She was recognized as the heir presumptive to the Spanish throne twice: from 1851 to 1857 and from 1874 to 1880 and given the title Princess of Asturias, which was reserved for the heir to the Spanish crown. She was married to Prince Gaetan, Count of Girgenti, who committed suicide just three years after their marriage on 13 May 1868.
  Infanta Isabella was a prominent figure at the royal court of Spain during the reign of her brother King Alfonso XII of Spain and during the minority of her nephew King Alfonso XIII. She was the most popular member of the Spanish royal family for most of her life. After the fall of the monarchy of Alfonso XIII, she refused the offer of officials of the Second Spanish Republic to continue to reside in Spain. She died in a matter of days after taking up a new life in exile in France.
context_section_description: With only a brother of delicate health ahead of her in the line of succession to the throne, there was great interest in arranging an early marriage for Infanta Isabella that would provide descendants. Leopoldo O'Donnell, Isabella II's prime minister, conceived the idea to marry her to Prince Amadeo of Savoy whose sister Maria Pia had recently married Luis I of Portugal.  Queen Isabella disliked the proposal, but agreed to an interview between her fourteen-year-old daughter and the twenty-year-old Savoy prince. In September 1865, Amadeo met Infanta Isabella in Zarauz, where the Spanish family was on vacation.  The project failed. 
  For political reasons, Isabella II had to recognize the unification of Italy under the Savoy crown, and in order to compensate her cousins from the Bourbon dynasty of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, who were upset at this recognition, the ultra-conservative party at the Spanish court, headed by King Francis, convinced the queen to arrange the marriage of their eldest daughter with one of the half-siblings of the recently deposed King Francis II of the Two Sicilies, Prince Gaetan, Count of Girgenti (1846–1871), son of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. Prince Gaetan had recently lost his mother and one of his younger brothers, and his family was in financial straits. Gaetan was a first cousin of both Isabella's mother and father.
  In April 1868, Prince Gaetan arrived in Spain, and the wedding was quickly arranged to take place a few weeks later. Neither Infanta Isabella nor Gaetan were enthusiastic about the project. Gaetan was tall and good-hearted, but penniless and plagued by ill health. He was known for his lack of intellect. Infanta Isabella was short, blond, with clear blue eyes and a small up-turned nose. She was dutiful, conservative and headstrong.
caption: Infanta Isabella at age fourteen in 1865
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