The seventeen years separating these two letters to her father marked Isabel's transition from a nervous young woman to an empress-in-waiting. The diffidence, hesitation and anxiety evident in 1871 had been replaced by conviction, determination and confidence by 1888. Above all, the exercise of power had become intrinsic to Isabel. Isabel began her first regency in 1871 as a political ingénue and ended her third regency in 1888 as an empress-inwaiting. It had been no easy matter for Isabel to reconcile her roles as a woman and as empress-to-be since they existed in constant tension with each other. As a woman Isabel was expected to subordinate herself to her father, her husband and finally her adult sons. As empress she would be the embodiment of the nation, the head of state and the focal point of the political system. Isabel had to learn to manage these contradictory expectations, moving between them, emphasizing one and then the other at different stages of her life. Neither ever completely disappeared at any point, but as her life progressed Isabel increasingly adopted the mantle of empress-to-be. The three times she acted as regent for her father were critical stages in her shift away from her private role to her public one. This process reached its apogee during Isabel's third regency, when she decisively embraced her role as empress-to-be, placing herself at the head of the emancipation movement.