Ermesinda
1854.On display elsewhere
Queens Ermesinda and Adosinda (Usenda), respectively the daughter and granddaughter of Don Pelayo, played a crucial role during the Reconquest, recognised since the Middle Ages, as transmitters of dynastic rights in the Christian kingdom of Asturias. Isabella II gave them a place in the Chronological Series as titular or proprietary queens, which they apparently were not, in her efforts to shore up her own legitimacy. Although the Academy of History issued a report advising against this, both queens were kept in the gallery, although it was decided to remove the inscriptions identifying them as titular sovereigns and giving the dates of their reigns, which all the other portraits bore at the bottom of their frames.
