page_title: Infanta Isabella, Countess of Girgenti
section_title: Last years
hierarchical_section_title: Infanta Isabella, Countess of Girgenti / Last years
caption_attribution_description: Español: Isabel de Borbón, por Kaulak.
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: Isabella was reportedly very popular and respected in Spain. In 1885, a cruiser of the Spanish Navy, the Infanta Isabel, was named after her. One of her most significant public activities was her 1910 trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a representative of the Spanish Crown on the occasion of the centennial celebration of the May Revolution that was considered the starting point of the Argentine War of Independence. A street in Buenos Aires, the Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, was named after her.  There is also a similarly named street in Madrid.
  Isabella died on 22 April 1931, at the age of 79, in exile in France. Her death occurred five days after her nephew, King Alfonso XIII, had lost the Spanish throne and the entire Spanish royal family had gone into exile. Following the republican victory in Spain, Isabella was informed by the republican authorities that there was no need for her to go into exile—a testament to her popularity—but she voluntarily chose to exile herself with the rest of her family. She left most of her jewels to her nephew, and her famous Mellerio Shell Tiara subsequently descended to the current Spanish royal family and is frequently worn by Queen Sofía. In 1991, King Juan Carlos ordered the transfer of her remains to Spain from France; her remains were then entombed in the chapel of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso near Segovia, and a salon in the palace was subsequently renamed in her honor.
  There is a monumental sculpture of Isabella at Parque del Oeste, a public park in Madrid. Moreover, in the palace park grounds of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, there is another full-size marble sculpture of Isabella with a bouquet of roses.
caption: Infanta Isabella late in her life
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