Las Austrias

The Habsburgs, originally from the current Swiss canton of Argovia, the ruling house in Spain for almost two centuries, from 1517 to 1700, always attached great importance to the marriage of the women of their family, the Hapsburgs, as a form of extension or consolidation of their domains. . From Margarita, wife of the ill-fated Prince Don Juan, son of the Catholic Monarchs, to Mariana, staunch defender of the prerogatives of her son, Carlos II the Bewitched, in the face of usurpation attempts by her husband's bastard son, Philip IV; from Catalina, whose confinement throughout her childhood with her mother Juana la Loca did not prevent her from becoming a prudent queen of Portugal, to Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela, favorite daughters of Felipe II, who would end up carrying out an intelligent work as sovereign of the Netherlands and Duchess of Savoy respectively. And, finally, María Cristina, the long-suffering wife of Alfonso XII and faithful regent to the Constitution. These princesses, like all the Spanish Austrians, knew how to fulfill their obligation for the sake of a high dynastic mission. In most cases, the price paid was that of their personal happiness.