Infanta Isabella of Spain

A carte-de-visite portrait of Infanta Isabella of Spain (1848-1919).

Born in Seville on 21 September 1848, Marie-Isabelle d’Orléans y de Borbón, Infanta of Spain, was the eldest child of Prince Antoine d’Orléans, duc de Montpensier, and his wife, Infanta Maria Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Her paternal grandfather was Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and her maternal grandfather was King Ferdinand VII of Spain. Her mother’s sister was Queen Isabel II of Spain.

Her parents married on 10 October 1846. Her father was created an Infante of Spain of 10 October 1859, and all the children of the union became Infante / Infanta. However, because the marriage was in breach of the terms of the reciprocal renunciation of rights of succession to the Spanish Crown by Philippe, duc d’Orleans in 1712/13, none of Prince Antoine’s sons obtained French titles and on his death the title duc de Montpensier reverted to the House of Orléans.

In 1864, at Kingston-on-Thames, she married her first cousin Philippe d’Orléans, comte de Paris. The couple had eight children.

Princesse Marie Isabelle d’Orléans died on 23 April 1919 at Villamanrique de la Condesa, Seville. She was originally buried at Weybridge in Surrey [England] but in 1958 her remains were translated to Dreux [France].

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 10 August 1861.