Princess Irene and Prince Carlos Hugo's dynastic adventure in Spain: a story that started with great expectations, but ended sadly. "For Love, for the Throne" is the compelling story of the Protestant Dutch princess who broke with her faith and her family to fulfill the dream of her Catholic husband, Carlos Hugo Bourbon-Parma: to become King of Spain. The Carlists had been trying to conquer the Spanish throne for more than a century, fighting the Bourbon family branch that ruled Spain until 1931. When General Franco seized power during the Civil War, he did not abolish the monarchy. After his death there would be another king. But who? Carlos Hugo and Irene snuggled up against dictator Franco, until it turned out that he only gave the couple a supporting role in the battle with the other pretender, Prince Juan Carlos. Partly on the basis of archive material from the Netherlands and Spain that has never before been made available, Daniela Hooghiemstra describes their hope, their love, their ambition and, ultimately, the radical modernization of their ideal. Carlos Hugo's family played a key role in European history for centuries. The author masterfully describes how revolutions and rapid changes in Europe put an end to that power and how they changed from administrators to puppets. Never before have the backgrounds of what has come to be called the "Irene affair" in the Netherlands been described so revealing and enlightening. Paperback, 280 pages with illustrations, in Dutch language only, size 13.5x21.5cm.