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During the Affair of the Spanish Marriages (link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affair_of_the_Spanish_Marriages) France and Britain tried to prick the King Consort for Spain and Isabella II. Ultimately France and their moderado allieswon the day, forcing Isabella II to marry Infante Francis,Duke of Cadiz, who was widely thought to be homosexual, impotent or a combination of the two. And also forcing Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Isabella II's sister and heiress, to marry Prince Antoine d'Orleans Duc de Montpensier, youngest son of King Louis-Philippe. So what if Isabella II didn't marry Cadiz? It seems to me that any other match would have been better than who was selected but who would have been the best pick? The British candidate, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Koháry? Or Isabella's pick, Francis' older brother, Infante Enrique Duke of Seville? Or even the proposed Neapolitan match, of which I can't find a candidate, so I assume there was no specific person elevated to potential King-Consort?

Would a different Consort be enough to help Isabella II keep her throne or was she doomed from the start?
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