Photo in black and white, obverse illustrating a twelve year old King Alfonso XIII, standing to the right of his seated mother and regent, Maria Christina of Austria, in a studio setting, measuring 99 mm (w) x 143 mm (h), mounted to a 106 mm (w) x 165 mm (h) card, designed with rounded corners, studio marked "Valentin CARR. SN.GERONIMO,16. MADRID / Hay ascensor." with the Royal Spanish coat-of-arms below the photo, the reverse with a large studio photographer mark and a short inscription in German and dated "1898", extremely fine.
Footnote: Alfonso XIII (May 17, 1886 - February 28, 1941), also known as El Africano or the African, was King of Spain from 1886 until the proclamation of the Second Republic in 1931. Alfonso was monarch from birth as his father, Alfonso XII, had died the previous year. Alfonso's mother, Maria Christina of Austria, served as regent until he assumed full powers on his sixteenth birthday in 1902. During Alfonso's reign, Spain experienced four major problems that contributed to the end of the liberal monarchy: the lack of real political representation of broad social groups; the poor situation of the popular classes, especially peasants; problems arising from the Rif War; and Catalan nationalism. This political and social turbulence that began with the Spanish-American War prevented the turnaround parties from establishing a true liberal democracy, which led to the establishment of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. With the political failure of the dictatorship, Alfonso impelled a return to the democratic normality with the intention of regenerating the regime. Nevertheless, it was abandoned by all political classes, as they felt betrayed by the king's support of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. He left Spain voluntarily after the municipal elections of April 1931, which were taken as a plebiscite on abolishing the monarchy.