MARIA CRISTINA DE HABSBURGO-LORENA

born July 21, 1858, Gross Seelowitz, Austria died Feb. 6, 1929, Madrid, Spain , in full Mara Cristina Deseada Enriqueta Felicidad Raniera queen consort (187985) of Alfonso XII of Spain whose tact and wisdom as queen regent (18851902) for her son Alfonso XIII were instrumental in giving to Spain a degree of peace and political stability. Mara Cristina began her rule by entrusting the government to the liberal leader Prxedes Mateo Sagasta and by granting freedom of the press and a generous amnesty to political prisoners. Under her regency the exercise of power was rotated between the conservative Antonio Cnovas del Castillo and the liberal Sagasta. She witnessed the end of the Spanish empire with the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines in the disastrous war with the United States (1898). On May 17, 1902, Alfonso XIII was declared of age, and Mara Cristina resigned the regency and devoted the rest of her life to social and charitable work.