A bit obsessive (again)

Poor old Isobel II of Spain. I've just watched the Gay Daleks again and their shape reminded me of Isobel's. In the portrait you can see what a brilliant job the artist has made of making the woman look even acceptable. He's reduced her bulk by about two thirds, papered over practically every crack and blemish, and given her a fetching complexion. Compare this with the photo immediately beneath it, which shows the cold light of reality. You wouldn't believe they were the same woman, would you? The bottom photo shows the said lady with her hubby Francisco de Asis de Borbon. Rumour has it that he was not the father of their son Alfonso XII. Well if some poor bastard was forced to climb under her vast petticoats, he deserved a medal. This is what a (un-named) English visitor said about the royal couple:

 The Queen is large in stature, but rather what might be called bulky than stately. There is no dignity either in her face or figure, and the graces of majesty are altogether wanting. The countenance is cold and expressionless, with traces of an unchastened, unrefined, and impulsive character, and the indifference it betrays is not redeemed by any regularity or beauty of feature.

The King Consort is much smaller in figure than his royal two-thirds, and certainly is not a type that could be admired for its manly qualifications; but we have to remember that in Spain aristocratic birth is designated rather by a diminutive stature and sickly complexion than by those attributes of height, muscular power, open expression, and florid hue, which in England constitute the ideal of ‘race.’

Francisco was reputed to be a homosensual, by the way. Ah well, so much for that.