“Istarez is very pleased. Cristina is delighted, and from what I hear the weddings will take place very soon. When I see you I will give you more particulars, which I cannot trust to the pen.” The Queen-mother had been inclined to the idea of the Count of Trapani, her brother, who had been educated in a Jesuit college at Naples, as her son-in-law; but, as this idea had not been welcome to the Government, attention had again been turned to one of the sons of the Infante Don Francisco de Paula. Don Francisco, Duke of Cadiz, the eldest, was favoured by France, whilst England gave preference to Don Henry, Duke of Seville. As Miraflores says, it was natural for the Queen-mother to prefer the eldest son of Don Francisco, as he was a quiet Prince and one who had fulfilled his duties with credit as Colonel of a cavalry regiment; whilst Don Henry was of a more turbulent nature, and his antagonistic conduct to the Queen-mother had excited some disturbance in the palace. In the letters he sent from Brussels to Madrid he had manifested a revolutionary spirit, which filled the Moderates with alarm. However, poor Isabel preferred this hot-headed Prince to his more peaceful-minded brother, and long were the arguments the young Queen held with her mother against the project of her union with the elder brother. Fortunately, however, the young Queen seemed somewhat pleased with the appearance of Don Francisco, and at the fêtes given in honour of the engagement she seemed very cheerful. In an interview with Queen Maria Cristina, Bulwer Lytton said: “I can understand your joy as a mother at seeing your eldest daughter destined for a Prince who will make for the happiness of the royal domestic hearth; but as to the marriage of the Infanta----” Here Cristina interrupted him, saying: “It is decided that her union with Montpensier will take place on the same day as that of the Queen.” The Duke of Rianzares had evidently favoured the alliance of the Princess Luisa Fernanda with the Duke of Montpensier, for when the matter was fully arranged Louis Philippe wrote to Queen Maria Cristina: “Please give my kind regards to the Duke of Rianzares, and thank him for the part he has taken in the matter I have so much at heart.” So France and her supporters in Spain gained the day, and the double wedding of the young sisters was fixed for October 10, 1846. It was with all the magnificent state for which the Court of Spain is famed that the reception by Isabel and Fernanda took place at the palace (for the publication of the marriage contracts) in the Salon of the Ambassadors. Alexandre Dumas was among the distinguished Frenchmen accompanying the bridegroom of the Infanta Fernanda, and the great author attended a bull-fight with the noblemen as toreadors, and the fêtes all the week were of surpassing splendour.