Her husband died in November 1885 and left her pregnant. The situation the Spanish constitution produced was extraordinary: if the child she was carrying was a boy, he would be king from birth. If it was another girl, her eldest daughter would become queen instead. Maria Christina of Austria governed as regent during the months of uncertainty, gave birth to a son in May 1886, and then governed as regent for another sixteen years. It was the longest regency in Spanish history, and she spent it trying to hold a country together that was determined to fall apart. She had been an archduchess of Austria, well educated in languages, politics, and economics, selected for the Spanish king specifically for her intelligence and stability. She needed both. Her regency presided over the loss of Spain's last colonies following the Spanish-American War of 1898, a military that was badly trained, a treasury that was depleted, and political parties rotated in and out of power in arrangements kept stable by systematic electoral manipulation. She managed the chaos with enough skill that Britannica credits her with giving Spain a degree of peace and political stability it might otherwise not have had. The Spanish people called her Lady Virtue. She died in the early hours of 6 February 1929 of a heart attack in the Royal Palace of Madrid. When her maid asked if she should wake her son the king, Maria Christina said no. She died without disturbing him. Born on this day in 1858, Maria Christina of Austria, Queen Regent of Spain. She governed a kingdom for seventeen years, held it together through disaster, and spent her last minutes making sure nobody was inconvenienced. Follow History Roadshow for a new untold story every day.