CHANGES IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY MORAL FRAMEWORK AND NOTIONS OF GENDER: THE CASE OF FRANCIS OF ASSISI OF BOURBON

Notions of masculinity are cultural creations resulting from social evolution through processes of change driven by several factors. Among these processes and for its relevance for this article, the moral transition from traditional aristocratic society to bourgeois-Victorian society stands out. In the period of this transition, Francisco de Asis de Borbon underwent different life experiences that formulated his identity and his masculinity. In similar terms, other figures such as Prince Albert and Ludwig II of Bavaria were forced to adapt to the new social conditions. All three interacted with two main changes related to the idea of masculinity: the medicalisation of sexuality and the transition of the legitimation model of the monarchy. Through a comparative analysis which focuses on the biography of the King Consort, a deeper understanding of the tools and difficulties encountered in dealing with normative masculinity by those who did not fit the new canons is conveyed. Among these difficulties, the pre-eminence of the role of their wives as heads of family and heads of state stand out in the case of the two consorts; and individual preferences, including choice of service, artistic tastes, personalities and appearances stand out in the cases of Louis II and Francis. All these characteristics infer scenarios in which the socio-economic, professional, political and, above all, national contexts interfere with the transitional trend that had previously been anticipated, shaping it in different ways and with different consequences. For Francis, these consequences implied changes in his lifestyle and two very marked stages in his biography: marriage and exile, although these consequences were more relevant at the level of the Spanish court, where perhaps the king could have played a different role if the conditions had been adapted differently to his characteristics.