palace Salón del Trono witnessed the abdication of King Charles IV in favor of his son Ferdinand VII, who himself abdicated in May. In September 1808, in a formal ceremony held in the Chapel of the Royal Palace of Aranjuez before Monsignor Don Juan de la Vera, the Archbishop of Laodicea, the Supreme, central Napoleonic Junta was officially constituted. After the Bourbon Restoration, Alfonso XII designated the Royal Palace of Aranjuez to be the residence of the noble household of the Dukes of Montpensier. His bride to be was the daughter of that family, Mercedes of Orléans. In 1878 the bride and her entourage arrived for the ceremony from Madrid at an imposing but temporary railway station constructed near the grand Plaza de Armas (western) entrance to the Palace of Aranjuez. This was the last grand event to be held in Aranjuez, as Maria Christina of Austria the monarch's second wife, his son Alfonso XIII and his wife Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg all preferred the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso for their royal holidays. Design The palace is the centerpiece set of a royal estate. To the north are former potager gardens, now agricultural land intersected by geometric tree-lined "royal rides" which are now open to the public and mostly pedestrian walkways. To the east are a trident of paved roads (Reina, Principe & Infantas) along which the nobility erected family residences. To the west are a matching trident of rural tracks, one of which was the royal access road lined by barracks (now ruined). Furthest from the palace is an open area, the Raso de Estrella, the site of the original hunting lodge and now a festival ground. The original railway station was also here, before it was relocated further west of the current site. Some of the former railway sidings - now a car park for commuters - are also still discernible. Directly in front of the palace is the oval lawn surrounded by monumental stone benches. The tourist mini-train stop is near there. To the south is the Plaza de Parejas, an open sandy area surrounded by various palace dependencies described below. Plaza de Parejas The south of the palace is a large open square known as Plaza de las Parejas in reference to equestrian events formerly held there. (The nobility competed or paraded in pairs or parejas). It is defined on the east