Infanta Maria Cristina of Spain and Portugal (5 June 1833 – 19 January 1902) was the daughter of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies. She became an Infanta of Portugal by her marriage to Infante Sebastião of Spain and Portugal.
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Family
Maria Cristina was the tenth of eleven children born to Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and Princess Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies in Madrid. Her father was in turn a younger son of Charles IV of Spain. Her mother was a daughter of Francis I of the Two Sicilies.
Maria Cristina was a sister of Francisco de Asís, the king-consort of Isabella II of Spain, and of Amalia, Princess Adalbert of Bavaria.
Marriage and children
On 19 November 1860, Maria Cristina became the second wife of the much older Infante Sebastian of Portugal and Spain, who was a paternal great grandson of Charles III of Spain and a maternal grandson of John VI of Portugal. Sebastian and his immediate family had been in conflict with the Queen Regent Maria Christina, losing all of his titles and claims to the Spanish throne in 1837. He was restored to his Spanish titles upon his second marriage to Maria Cristina, who was both a cousin and a sister-in-law of Queen Isabella II.