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Abstracts and short biographies of the authors. Aldama Nájera, Rocío (Carlos III University): “Isabel Clara Eugenia. The Marriage Policy of the Bride of Europe”. The Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566-1633), eldest daughter of King Philip II of Spain and his third wife Elizabeth of Valois, was an essential figure in the peak years of the Spanish Crown. Sovereign and governor of the Netherlands with her cousin and husband Albert of Austria, she rose up as one of the most politically gifted women of the time, fighting for the interests of the Spanish Monarchy beyond its borders and legitimizing the power of the Habsburg dynasty on the European continent. In spite of the importance of her trajectory as the head of the Flemish territory, the previous years should not be forgotten; they were years marked by a complex and extensive marriage policy, which will ultimately be the focus of this brief paper. During the decades of the 1580’s and 1590’s and due to the delicate health of the children of Philip II and Anne of Austria, Isabel Clara Eugenia, then known as the “Bride of Europe”, moved beyond being Infanta of Spain to becoming the possible heiress of her father´s empire. This complicated the marriage negotiations even more, since the elected husband had to profess Catholicism, respect Isabel's political authority and defend above all the Spanish interests. At that time, the market for single European Kings and Princes, who met these requirements for the royal wedding, was quite unfavorable. The early death of some of the possible candidates, the continuous changes of power in a convulsive Europe and the excessive prudence of King Philip II, did only extend the marriage policy of the Infanta. On the other hand, it is precisely during these years when the greatest rapprochement between Philip II and Isabel Clara Eugenia takes place. It will be next to his father where the Infanta acquires a political disposition of first category, later put into practice as sovereign of the Netherlands in her own right. On November 1598, the marriage limbo in which Isabel Clara Eugenia had been plunged finally came to an end. A few months before, on September 13th, Philip II died without seeing his beloved daughter married. Some contemporaries branded this policy as a political maneuver riddled with errors; Isabel Clara Eugenia, possible heiress of the greatest empire the world had ever seen, married a second-rate man. Where, then, was the ambitious marriage policy of the Habsburgs, first started with the last monarchs of the Trastámara dynasty, Isabella and Ferdinand? What is often forgotten is the complicated political situation of the moment and that a King, so obscured by the Black Leged, above all pursued not only the interests of the Spanish Crown but also the well-being of his favourite daughter. To conclude, the glory harvested by Charles V and Philip II continued for a few more years in the Flanders of Isabel Clara Eugenia. Peace and prosperity filled the stage of maturity and government of an Infanta who truly acted as a Queen and who became the worthy heiress to the most powerful monarch of the time. Rocío Aldama graduated in History and History of Art from the University CEU-San Pablo. She obtained her Master Degree in Cultural Management at Carlos III University and in 2017 she received the Prize for Initiation to Research “San Isidoro de Sevilla” for her work titled “Isabel Clara Eugenia y Magdalena Ruiz: el retrato como imagen de los acuerdos matrimoniales de la Novia de Europa” and she has also collaborated in the project titled “Carlos, Rey y Emperador: el hombre de la Europa Moderna”, linked to the aforementioned CEU-San Pablo University, where she has presented an article titled “Carlos V y la génesis del retrato de aparato europeo”, which will be published in a near future. Aldrich, Robert, and McCreery, Cindy (The University of Sydney): “A Vocation for Spare Royals? 19th and 20th British and French princely exploration and travel”. Royal tours, including those undertaken by monarchs, grew more frequent in the late 1800s and early 1900s because of easier forms of long-distance transport, new styles of personal diplomacy, and the spread of European empires across the globe. Among the royal “tourists” were junior members of both reigning royal families and those who had been deposed. Indeed, this paper argues that travel, in either an official or unofficial capacity, provided an avocation and sometimes a vocation for these heirs-in-waiting to extant or abolished thrones. In moving around Europe and further afield, they prepared for their hoped-for future careers and tried to promote their chances of inheriting crowns or seeing the restoration of dynasties; as well, they attempted to further their countries’ geopolitical and cultural objectives. The first part of the paper considers case studies among four British princes who toured widely in and beyond the British empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844-1900) and his younger brother Arthur (1850-1942) were the second and third sons of Queen Victoria, who travelled both as representatives of the monarch and as rising officers in the Royal Navy and British Army respectively. As “spares”, Alfred and Arthur remained much less well known in Britain than the direct heir Albert Edward (1841-1910, later Edward VII). But in the empire, and in particular Australia, South Africa, India and Canada, as well as in Japan, these two princes played a crucial role as ambassadors of both the monarchy and Britain. A different role was played by their nephews Princes Albert Victor (1864-1892) and his younger brother George (1865-1936, later George V) during their global travels aboard HMS Bacchante (1879-82). As young naval recruits under the guidance of a strict tutor, Albert Victor and George travelled more to learn about the empire than to impress it. Still, Albert Victor and George’s travels were seen to have public as well as private benefits, namely proof that the Queen valued her empire so highly that she was prepared to allow her young grandsons to travel so far from ‘home’. When George became the heir, these voyages were re-imagined as preparation for his reign. In the second part, the paper discusses the travels of several key heirs of deposed French monarchs among the following figures. Two of King Louis- Philippe’s great-grandsons, Prince Henri d’Orléans (1867-1901) and Prince Ferdinand d’Orléans (1884-1924) were great travellers and avid colonialists, and both published colourful accounts of their journeys. Henri’s 1889 travels led to a book entitled From Paris to Tonkin via Unknown Tibet and he later trekked through eastern Africa and Madagascar, and returned to Southeast Asia, where he was credited with ‘discovering’ the source of the Irrawaddy River; he died in Saigon during a third visit to Vietnam. Ferdinand sailed to South America and Africa as an officer in the Spanish navy, then in 1906 went to Indochina, where he pleaded for the conservation of Angkorian ruins. Later trips took him to Morocco and Japan in pursuit of his passions for photography and big-game hunting. Among the heirs of the peripatetic Bonapartist dynasty, Roland Bonaparte (1858-1924) was especially known for his international and colonial interests, though more as armchair traveller and president and benefactor of the Paris Société de Géographie. Roland’s grandson, Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark (1908-1980), who travelled to Asia in the 1940s and 1950s, for his part, became a distinguished ethnographer of Tibet. Doctor Robert Aldrich is Professor at The University of Sydney. He obtained his MA from Brandeis University in 1978 and his BA from Emory University in 1975. He has received several honours for his outstanding work in the field of humanities, like the Ordre des Palmes Académiques and has been fellow both of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and of the Academy of the Social Sciences of Australia. Amongst his numerous publications, we can find his work titled “Banished Potentates: The Deposing and Exiling of Indigenous Monarchs by British and French Colonial Authorities” and he also is the co-editor with Cindy McCreery of the book “Royals on Tour: Politics and Pageantry in Colonies and Metropoles”, both of which will be published in 2017. He is also the co-editor, with the aforementioned Cindy McCreery of the book “Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires” and, with Kirsten McKenzie, of the book “The Routledge History of Western Empires”, amongst many other works. Doctor Cindy McCreery is Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney. She obtained her Ph. D. from the University of Oxford and her BA from Yale University. She has been Lecturer at Mansfield and St. Peter’s Colleges in Oxford, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of New South Wales and of the Paul Mellon Centre for British Research. She has a great number of publications, that has been in the last years mostly focused on the relationship between different territories of western Europe and Asia and Australia, and also on the relationship of different members of the monarchy with its territories overseas. She has co-edited with Robert Aldrich the aforementioned books titled “Royals on Tour: Politics and Pageantry in Colonies and Metropoles” and “Crowns and Colonies: European Monarchies and Overseas Empires”. She has also published in 2004 the book titled “The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in late eighteenth-century England” and has also published numerous book chapters and articles, like her work titled “Two Victorias? Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria and Melbourne, 1867-1868” in 2016 and the book chapter “A British prince and a transnational life: Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh’s visit to Australia, 1867-8” in 2008, amongst many others.