Comtesse de Montijo

A carte-de-visite portrait of the Comtesse de Montijo (1794-1879), the Empress Eugénie's mother.

Born Dona Manuela Kirkpatrick, her mother was French and her father a rich Scottish merchant who had moved to Spain and settled in Malaga. She married Don Cipriano de Montijo on 15 December 1817 at the age of twenty-three. The couple's first child was not born until seven years later; christened Francesca, she was always known as 'Paca’ within the family. The future Empress of the French was born the following year.

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.