History: The clock was collected by the Chevalier de Longo on behalf of Queen Christine in 1831. According to the repair books it was returned several times for overhaul: on November 1854, on behalf of Her Majesty Queen Christine, by Monsieur Lillo, rue Saint Georges No. 23. On 23 June 1857, on behalf on Her Majesty Queen Christine by Monsieur Galvez, attendant at the Malmaison. On 19 May, by Monsieur Munez (her bodyguard - see biography), 33 rue Billault on the Champs Elysées. Note: As is demonstrated by the clock made for Général Bonaparte in 1796 (Lot 10), Breguet was the inventor of the Pendule de voyage in the form in which it was adopted by the clock-makers of the 19th and 20th centuries. This Empire model is certainly the most characteristic of his work, and the present example is of the most developed type. He made none more complicated, with the exception of one or two which include the equation of time and a perpetual calendar, not forgetting the Borne-style silver clocks, which were m fact to have little influence on his successors.
THE QUEEN OF SPAIN Marie-Christine de Bourbon-Sicile (1806-1879)
Marie Cristine de Bourbon-Sicile, Queen of Spain was born on April 27, 1806 in Naples and died on August 22,1878, Le Havre. She was the daughter of Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies, and was married to terdinand VII of Spain in 1829, becoming his fourth wife. Ferdinand VII had no children from his previous three wives. After the birth of their daughter Isabella on October 10, 1830, Marie Cristine convinced her husband to change the law of succession, persuading him to abolish the Act of 1714 that gave preference to all males of the Spanish Royal family over females. By this act he made possible the accession to the throne of their daughter Isabella, an action which deprived the King's brother, Don Carlos, of the Spanish Throne. Upon Ferdinand's death on September 29, 1833, Marie Cristine became Regent until her daughter Isabella II was able to reign. The northern provinces of Spain, however, revolted in favour of Carlos. This Carlist insurrection (1833-1839) forced Marie Cristine to govern with the Liberals who in turn took anti-clerical measures. However, the Regent, whose sympathies were directed towards the Conservatives, tried to separate herself from the Liberals in 1836, provoking a military rebellion ( mutiny at La Granja, August 13, 1836) which forced her to accept the Liberal Constitution of Cadiz of March 1812. The Convention of Vergara on August 31, 1839 ended the first of the Carlist wars, and Marie Cristine thought she could reaffirm her authority and proceeded with the dissolution of Cortes on October 18th. However, she stumbled upon the opposition of the progressive General Espartero. The conspiracies continued and her flagrant affair with her bodyguard Munoz, by whom she had ten children, antagonised many of her supporters. She was forced to resign the regency in 1840 and left for France. She was called back to Spain m December 1843 and took over the regency of her country despite her daughter having reached her majority. Marie Cristine married Isabella to Don Francisco de Assisi, Duke of Cadiz, and her youngest daughter to a son of Louis Philippe, the Duke of Montpensier. The attempts to participate in political life, the Spanish marriages of convenience, as well as Marie Cristine's constant opposition to constitutional liberty compelled her to go into exile after the revolution of 1854. She retired in Saint-Adresse near Le Havre.