, 1851 Antoine de Montpensier lived in Spain from 1848 when he and his family had to leave France after the Revolution of 1848. During the
Spanish revolution of 1868, he supported the insurgents under
Juan Prim against Queen
Isabella II, his own sister-in-law. In 1870 he fought a duel against
Infante Enrique, Duke of Seville, the brother of King
Francisco, and killed him. Antoine was convicted and sentenced to one month in prison. On 16 November 1870 the Cortes voted for the next king and chose
Amadeo of Savoy with 191 votes. Antoine only received 27 votes, and left Spain, only to return in 1874. His ambitions were fulfilled by his daughter
Mercedes, who became Queen of Spain after her marriage to
Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II. However, she died at the age of 18 without issue. Despite never reaching the throne, however, through cognates, he is an ancestor of all Spanish monarchs since
Juan Carlos I. His great granddaughter
Mercedes, Countess of Barcelona, was the mother of Juan Carlos, who assumed the throne in 1975 and later abdicated in favor of his son,
Felipe VI in 2014. ==Early collector of photography==