Ena, the 'British' Queen Who Modernized the Spanish Crown

From a modest place in the folds of history to being recognized as a star: the great modernizer of the Spanish crown. This is ... the last journey of María Eugenia de Battenberg (1887-1969), wife of Alfonso XIII, mother of Juan de Borbón, grandmother of Juan Carlos I, and great-grandmother of Felipe VI. The Royal Collections Gallery dedicates a spectacular exhibition to her, coinciding with the premiere of the series Ena - as her family called her - on TVE. She was the last queen to inhabit the Royal Palace of Madrid, from which she left in 1931 with the arrival of the Second Republic, never to return.

The exhibition reviews the complex and extensive profile of this woman, committed and ahead of her time, from her childhood among the Windsors to the assassination attempt on her wedding day that could have taken her life, to her exile, from which she only returned to be the godmother at the baptism of her great-grandson Felipe VI, who has written the foreword for the catalog and inaugurates the exhibition this Tuesday alongside Queen Letizia. It focuses on her transformative work at the court, her official role, her drive for charitable causes, and her intense public activity.

It gathers 350 pieces—nearly 200 restored for the occasion—spread across eight rooms and will be on display until next April 5th. It traverses an intense life with more hardships than joys, highlighting her role as a modernizer of the crown and her many social commitments. However, it avoids issues such as her estrangement from Alfonso XIII, whom she married "deeply in love," and the many infidelities of the monarch.

"Her most authentic legacy is the social content she brought to the role of the queen consort," emphasizes Reyes Utrera, curator of the exhibition alongside Arantxa Domingo. They highlight how she redefined the role of the sovereign, "creating her own space for philanthropy, health, welfare, or the education of women and children."

Mother of seven children, of whom she lost three, a polyglot and philanthropist, she was a staunch fighter against tuberculosis, a disease that wreaked havoc in her time, and she promoted the Red Cross. An avid reader and sportswoman—playing tennis, golf, skating, cycling, and cricket—she was convinced of the importance of physical activity in a comprehensive education, although paradoxically, she was a smoker.

The Fleur-de-Lis Tiara

There are many stellar pieces in the exhibition, but the Fleur-de-Lis tiara stands out, a sumptuous wedding gift from Alfonso XIII, a magnificent creation by the jeweler Ansorena. It is adorned with three fleur-de-lis made of diamonds set in platinum in the central part and both sides. The rest is formed with Louis XIV style motifs encrusted with brilliant and pink diamonds. It is displayed alongside a gallery of portraits, with busts by Benlliure, paintings by Philip Alexius László de Lombos, Sorolla, and other great artists of the era.

Also displayed are the postcards she sent to Alfonso XIII, wedding gifts, bridal trousseau, and porcelain for the five o'clock tea—a custom she introduced at the Spanish court—books, items like a gold and silver typewriter, a gramophone, her ceremonial velvet and ermine cloak that belonged to Isabel II and with which Ena opened the Cortes each year, and a superb bust of the royal couple with Alfonso XIII modeled in bronze and Ena sculpted in snowy marble by Mariano Benlliure.

Not included in the exhibition is the Royal Crown car, the carriage from the assassination attempt on the couple on their wedding day, May 31, 1906. After the ceremony, the kings headed to the Royal Palace of Madrid. The procession was violently interrupted at 88 Mayor Street by a bomb hidden in a bouquet of flowers thrown from a balcony by the anarchist Mateo Morral. The kings emerged unscathed from the regicide attempt, which caused 24 deaths and many injuries.

The carriage from the attack can be visited on the Bourbon floor of the same royal gallery, free from the many damages it suffered. The Mahogany Coach in which the queen traveled from the Ministry of Marine to the Royal Palace before her wedding at the church of San Jerónimo el Real is also on display.

Among the documentation revealed by the investigation is the letter that the Marquis of Villalobar sent to Queen Cristina, mother of Alfonso XIII, in which it is reported that the future queen could transmit hemophilia, a disease that only affects men and which would not be named until 1912.

From Balmoral to the Palacio de Oriente

Granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Ena was the second of the four children of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Ireland. She was born in the Scottish castle of Balmoral on October 24, 1887. She was baptized with the names Victoria, after her maternal grandmother; Eugenia, after her godmother, the Empress of France, Eugenia de Montijo; Julia, after her paternal grandmother, the Polish Countess Julia Hauke. To these names was added Ena, a Gaelic name for Eve, by which she was familiarly known and considered vulgar. "She was surprised to be called Ena, a name used within the family and considered unregal," explain the curators.

She arrived in Madrid at 18, in January 1906, to marry Alfonso XIII months later and left the Palacio de Oriente a day after her husband, on April 15, 1931, following the proclamation of the Second Republic. Between 1934 and 1939, she returned to England and from 1942 she settled in Vieille Fontaine, in Lausanne. She would not return to Spain until 1968, for the baptism of her great-grandson and future king Felipe VI. She died in Lausanne on April 15, 1969. On April 25, 1985, her remains were transferred to the Pantheon of Kings at the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.