Spanish Royal Statute of 1834 in the context of "Isabella II of Spain"

Isabella II (Spanish: Isabel II, María Isabel Luisa de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904) was Queen of Spain from 1833 until her deposition in 1868. She is the only queen regnant in the history of unified Spain.

Isabella was the elder daughter of King Ferdinand VII and Queen Maria Christina. Shortly before Isabella's birth, her father issued the Pragmatic Sanction to revert the Salic Law and ensure the succession of his firstborn daughter, due to his lack of a son. She came to the throne a month before her third birthday, but her succession was disputed by her uncle, Infante Carlos (founder of the Carlist movement), whose refusal to recognize a female sovereign led to the Carlist Wars. Under the regency of her mother, Spain transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy, adopting the Royal Statute of 1834 and Constitution of 1837.

The 1833 territorial division of Spain divided the country into provinces, in turn classified into "historic regions" (Spanish: regiones históricas). This division was followed (helped by the enforcing of the 1834 Royal Statute) by the ensuing creation of provincial deputations, the government institutions for most of the provinces, remaining up to this date. Nearly all of the provinces retain roughly or precisely the 1833 borders. Conversely, many of the historic regions correspond to present-day autonomous communities.

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Maria Cristina Ferdinanda di Borbone, Principessa delle Due Sicilie, Spanish: María Cristina de Borbón, Princesa de las Dos Sicilias; 27 April 1806 – 22 August 1878) was the Queen of Spain from 1829 to 1833 and Queen regent of the kingdom from 1833, when her daughter became queen at age two, to 1840. By virtue of her short marriage to King Ferdinand VII of Spain, she became a central character in Spanish history for nearly 50 years, thanks to introducing a bicameral model of government based on the Bourbon Restoration in France: the Spanish Royal Statute of 1834.