ave de Clement X_ (Paris, 1906); _Drottning Kristinas
sista dagar_ (Stockholm, 1897); and J.A. Taylor, _Christina of Sweden_
(1909). (R. N. B.)

CHRISTINA [MARIA CHRISTINA HENRIETTA DESIREE FELICITE RENIERE], for some
years queen-regent of Spain (1858- ), widow of Alphonso XII. and mother
of Alphonso XIII., was born at Gross Seelowitz, in Austria, on the 21st
of July 1858, being the daughter of the archduke Charles Ferdinand and
the archduchess Elizabeth of Austria. She was brought up by her mother
as a rigid Catholic, and great care was taken with her education. At
eighteen she was appointed by the emperor Francis Joseph, abbess of the
House of Noble Ladies of Saint Theresa in Prague, where she made herself
very popular and distinguished herself by her intellectual parts. It is
said that at the court of Vienna the archduchess saw the young prince
Alphonso of Spain when he was only a pretender in exile, before the
restoration of the Bourbons. A few years later, when Alphonso XII. had
lost his first wife and cousin, Queen Mercedes, daughter of the duc de
Montpensier, his ministers, especially Senor Canovas, urged him to marry
again. He told them that if he did so it would only be with the young
Austrian archduchess Maria Christina. After some negotiations between
the two courts and governments it was agreed that the archduchess
Elizabeth and her daughter should meet Alphonso XII. at Arcachon, in the
south of France, where a few days' personal acquaintance was sufficient
to make both come to a decision. The duke of Bailen went officially to
Vienna to get the emperor of Austria's authorization, and on the 14th of
November 1879, in the throne-room of the Imperial palace, the
archduchess solemnly abdicated all her rights of succession in Austria,
in accordance with the law obliging all princesses of the imperial house
to do so when they wed a foreign prince. On the 17th of November the
archduchess and her mother, with a numerous suite, started for Spain,
arriving at the royal castle of El Pardo, near Madrid, on the 24th of
November. The wedding took place in the Atocha cathedral, on the 29th of
November, in great state, and was followed by splendid festivities.
Queen Christina bore her husband two daughters before he died in
1885--Dona Mercedes, born on the 11th of September 1880, and Dona Maria
Theresa, born on the 12th of November 1882. During her husband's
lifetime the young queen kept studiously apart from