Category Archives: Current Monarchies

Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret of York was the third wife of Charles I the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Born on May 3, 1446, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, England, Margaret was the sixth of the twelve children and the third of the four daughters of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, both great-grandchildren of King Edward III of England, and the sister of two Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. Margaret’s paternal grandparents were Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and his first wife Anne Mortimer. Her maternal grandparents were Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and his second wife Joan Beaufort.

Margaret had eleven siblings:

Anne of York (1439 – 1476), married (1) Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, had one daughter (2) Sir Thomas St. Leger, Anne died giving birth to a daughter
Henry of York (born and died 1441), died in infancy
Edward IV, King of England (1442 – 1483), married Elizabeth Woodville, had ten children including the ill-fated Edward V, King of England and Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, King of England
Edmund, Earl of Rutland (1443 – 1460), unmarried, killed at the Battle of Wakefield during the Wars of the Roses
Elizabeth of York (1444 – circa 1503), wife of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, had eleven children
William of York (born and died 1447), died in infancy
John of York (born and died 1448), died in infancy
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449 – 1478), married Isabel Neville, had four children, George was executed by his brother King Edward IV
Thomas of York (born and died circa 1450/1451), died in infancy
Richard III, King of England (1452 – 1485), married Anne Neville, had one son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales who predeceased his father, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Ursula of York (born and died 1455), died in infancy

Margaret’s father Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, detail from the frontispiece of the illuminated manuscript Talbot Shrewsbury Book; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret’s father Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was the leader of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses until he died in battle in 1460. In 1399, Henry of Bolingbroke, the eldest son of John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of King Edward III, deposed his first cousin King Richard II and assumed the throne as King Henry IV. Henry IV’s reigning house was the House of Lancaster as his father was Duke of Lancaster and Henry had assumed the title upon his father’s death. Henry IV’s eldest son King Henry V retained the throne but died when his only child King Henry VI was just nine months old. Henry VI’s right to the crown was challenged by Margaret’s father Richard, 3rd Duke of York, who could claim descent from Edward III’s second and fourth surviving sons, Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York.

During the early reign of King Henry VI, Margaret’s father held several important offices and quarreled with the Lancastrians at court. In 1448, he assumed the surname Plantagenet and then assumed the leadership of the Yorkist faction in 1450. The first battle in the long dynastic struggle called the Wars of the Roses was the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455. As soon as Margaret’s brothers Edward, the future King Edward IV, known then as the Earl of March, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland were old enough, they joined their father, fighting for the Yorkist cause. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was killed on December 30, 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield along with his son Edmund who was only 17 years old.

Margaret’s brother King Edward IV of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret’s brother Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV) was now the leader of the Yorkist faction. On February 3, 1461, Edward defeated the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Edward then took a bold step and declared himself King of England on March 4, 1461. His decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461, cemented his status as King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 28, 1461. However, the former king, Henry VI, still lived and fled to Scotland.

Margaret’s husband Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

In February 1468, arrangements were made for Margaret to marry Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy after the death of his second wife Isabella of Bourbon. Margaret and Charles were half-second cousins. They were both great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of King Edward III but from different wives of John. The Burgundian State consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. On June 23, 1468, Margaret left England to sail across the English Channel to the County of Flanders, part of the Burgundian State, now part of Belgium

Margaret arrived in Flanders on June 25, 1468. The following day, Margaret met Charles’s mother Isabella of Portugal and Charles’s only child 11-year-old Mary of Burgundy, the daughter of his second wife Isabella of Bourbon. Their meeting was a resounding success, and the three of them would remain close for the rest of their lives. On June 27, 1468, Margaret met Charles for the first time. They were married privately on July 3, 1468, at the home of a wealthy merchant in Damme, Flanders.

Margaret’s stepdaughter Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret and Charles had no children but Margaret was the stepmother to Charles’s daughter Mary, Duchess of Burgundy:

Mary, Duchess of Burgundy (1457 – 1482), married Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, had three children

Mary married Maximilian, Archduke of Austria in 1477. After Mary’s death, he became Holy Roman Emperor. Mary and Maximilian had three children including Philip of Habsburg who inherited his mother’s domains following her death but predeceased his father. Philip married Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, becoming King-Consort of Castile upon her accession in 1504, and they were the parents of the Holy Roman Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand I, and the grandparents of Felipe II, King of Spain.

Meanwhile, in England, Henry VI returned from Scotland in 1464 and participated in an ineffective uprising. In 1465, Henry VI was captured and taken to the Tower of London. King Edward IV had a falling out with his major supporters, his brother George, Duke of Clarence and his first cousin Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker. Henry VI’s wife Margaret of Anjou, Clarence, and Warwick formed an alliance at the urging of King Louis XI of France. Edward IV was forced into exile, and Henry VI was restored to the throne on October 30, 1470. Edward and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) fled to Burgundy where they knew they would be welcomed by their sister Margaret and her husband Charles the Bold. Charles provided funds and troops to Edward to enable him to launch an invasion of England in 1471. Edward returned to England in early 1471 and defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Barnet. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Henry VI’s child Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from Edward IV. Edward IV remained King of England until he died in 1483, a few weeks before his 41st birthday.

The Burgundian State during the reign of Charles the Bold; Credit – By Marco Zanoli, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3977827

Charles the Bold’s main objective was to become a king by acquiring territories bordering and in between the territories of the Burgundian State. This caused the Burgundian Wars (1474 – 1477). The war ended when Charles was killed at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. He was interred at the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in Flanders, now in Belgium.

Tomb of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

The Duchy of Burgundy and several other Burgundian lands then became part of France, and the Burgundian Netherlands and Franche-Comté were inherited by Charles’s daughter Mary, who was now the reigning Duchess of Burgundy. Mary’s lands eventually passed to the House of Habsburg upon her death because of her marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. After Charles the Bold died, Margaret proved to be invaluable to Burgundy. Regarded as skillful and intelligent, Margaret provided guidance and advice to her stepdaughter Mary, using her own experiences in the court of her brother King Edward IV of England.

Tomb of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

In 1482, five years after the death of her husband in battle, Margaret was dealt another devastating blow. Despite being pregnant, Mary participated in a hunt in the woods near Wijnendale Castle in Flanders. She was an experienced rider and held her falcon in one hand and the reins in the other hand. However, Mary’s horse stumbled over a tree stump while jumping over a newly dug canal. The saddle belt under the horse’s belly broke causing Mary to fall out of the saddle and into the canal with the horse on top of her. Mary was seriously injured and was transported to Prinsenhof, her palace in Bruges, where she died, aged twenty-five, several weeks later from internal injuries. Mary was buried next to her father in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in Flanders, now in Belgium.

Mary’s brother King Richard III of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Margaret suffered more personal tragedies. Her brother George, Duke of Clarence was found guilty of plotting against his brother King Edward IV, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and privately executed on February 18, 1478. Edward IV died on April 9, 1483, a few weeks before his 41st birthday. His cause of death is not known for certain. King Edward IV was very briefly succeeded by his 12-year-old son as King Edward V until he and his brother Richard, Duke of York (Unofficial Royalty article coming soon) were declared illegitimate by an Act of Parliament and their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester crowned King Richard III. Margaret’s nephews Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York were the Princes in the Tower, whose fate remains unknown. Margaret’s brother King Richard III lost his life and his crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. On that day, Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian faction leader, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, King Henry VII. Margaret’s niece Elizabeth of York, Edward IV’s daughter, married King Henry VII in 1486, and they were the parents of King Henry VIII.

Margaret was a strong supporter of anyone willing to challenge King Henry VII. She backed both Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be first Richard, Duke of York, (son of Margaret’s brother King Edward IV, one of the Princes in the Tower), and then Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick (son of Margaret’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, executed for treason in 1499) and Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York. King Henry VII found Margaret problematic but there was little he could do since she was protected by her step-son-in-law Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Lambert Simnel became the figurehead of a Yorkist uprising that was crushed in 1487. He was pardoned because of his young age and was thereafter employed by the royal household. Margaret acknowledged Perkin Warbeck as her nephew and offered financial backing to support Warbeck’s attempt to take the throne, hiring mercenaries to accompany him on an expedition to England in 1495. Warbeck made several landings in England but met strong resistance and surrendered in 1497. After his capture, Warbeck was imprisoned in the Tower of London and executed in 1499.

Margaret remained an influential matriarch in the family and devoted the last years of her life to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of her husband Charles the Bold. In 1500, she became the godmother of Charles V, the future Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy, and the grandson of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Mechelen Palace where Margaret spent much of her widowhood, and died; Credit – By Ad Meskens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12476932

Margaret survived her husband Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy by twenty-six years, dying on November 23, 1503, at the age of 57, at her main residence during her widowhood, Mechelen Palace, in Mechelen, then in the County of Flanders, part of the Burgundian State, now in Belgium. In her will, Margaret asked to be buried in the Church of the Cordeliers, the church of the Franciscan or Grey Friars in Mechelen. Part of this church survives as part of the Mechelen Cultural Centre but Margaret’s tomb was destroyed at the end of the 16th century.

Margaret is the major character in the 2008 novel A Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith, where this writer was first introduced to her. The book begins in 1460 with fourteen-year-old Margaret mourning the death at the Battle of Wakefield of her father and brother, Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and continues through her marriage and the aftermath of her husband’s death.

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Works Cited

De Win, Paul, 2005. Danse Macabre Around the Tomb and Bones of Margaret of York. [online] The Ricardian. Available at: <http://www.thericardian.online/> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles the Bold – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Bold> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Margaret of York – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_York> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/cecily-neville-duchess-of-york/> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Edward IV of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-edward-iv-of-england/> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/richard-plantagenet-3rd-duke-of-york/> [Accessed 28 August 2022].
Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
Weir, Alison, 1995. The Wars of the Roses. New York: Ballantine Books.
Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León was born on April 22, 1451, at the Royal Palace (later the Monastery of Our Lady of Grace) in the town of Madrigal de las Altas Torres, then in the Kingdom of Castile and León, now in the Kingdom of Spain. Isabella (Isabel in Spanish) was the elder of the two children of Juan II, King of Castile and León and his second wife, Isabel of Portugal. Isabella’s paternal grandparents were Enrique III, King of Castile and Catherine of Lancaster. Catherine of Lancaster was the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, a son of King Edward III of England. Isabella had golden-red hair from her father’s descent from the English House of Plantagenet. Isabella’s maternal grandparents were Infante Juan of Portugal and Isabel de Barcelos of the House of Braganza.

The marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and León (reigned 1474 – 1504) and King Ferdinand II (Fernando in Spanish) of Aragon (reigned 1479 – 1516) led to the political unification of the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Castile and León into the Kingdom of Spain under their grandson King Charles I (Carlos in Spanish), King of Spain who later also became Charles V, Holy Roman Empire. Isabella and Ferdinand will be used in this article because that is how they are generally known, especially in the United States.

Isabella had one brother who died when he was fourteen years old:

Alfonso of Castile, Prince of Asturias (1453 – 1468)

Isabella had four half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to his first cousin Maria of Aragon:

Catalina of Castile, Princess of Asturias (1422 – 1424), died in childhood, heiress presumptive from her birth until her death
Leonor of Castile, Princess of Asturias (1423 – 1425), died in childhood, heiress presumptive from the death of Catalina until the birth of her brother Enrique
King Enrique IV of Castile and León (1425 – 1474), married (1) Blanche of Navarre, no children, marriage annulled (2) Joana of Portugal, had one daughter whose paternity is in doubt, divorced
Infanta Maria of Castile (1428 – 1429), died in infancy

Isabella’s half-brother Enrique IV, King of Castile and León; Credit – Wikipedia

At the time of her birth, Isabella was second in line to the throne of Castile and León after her 26-year-old half-brother Enrique. Enrique’s first marriage was childless. Two years after her birth, Isabella’s brother Alfonso was born, but he died when he was fourteen. Isabella and her half-brother Enrique were the only children of their father Juan II, King of Castile and León to survive childhood. Enrique’s second wife Joana of Portugal did give birth to a daughter, but her paternity is in doubt. Enrique had no other children and was rumored to be impotent. His wife’s daughter was popularly called Joanna la Beltraneja, referring to Beltrán de la Cueva, 1st Duke of Alburquerque, who was suspected to be her father.

When Juan II, King of Castile and León died in 1454, his son succeeded him as Enrique IV, King of Castile and León. Isabella was only three years old when her father died. Although her father arranged for Isabella, her brother Alfonso, and their mother to be financially secure, Enrique IV did not always follow his father’s wishes. Initially, after her father’s death, Isabella, her brother, and their mother lived at the Castle of Arévalo, where Isabella, under the guidance of her mother, developed a deep reverence for the Catholic religion. In 1462, eleven-year-old Isabella and her brother Alfonso were summoned to court at the Alcázar of Segovia under the direct supervision of their half-brother Enrique IV. Alfonso was placed in the care of a tutor while Isabella became part of the Queen’s household and received a well-rounded education.

A tapestry showing the wedding of Isabella and Ferdinand; Credit – Wikipedia

Enrique IV made several unsuccessful attempts to marry Isabella to grooms of his choice, but she was resistant, and a few of the intended grooms died. When Isabella reached the age of eighteen, she decided she wanted to choose her own husband. She chose Ferdinand of Aragon, the heir apparent of Juan II, King of Aragon and his second wife Juana Enriquez, 5th Lady of Casarrubios del Monte. Without her half-brother’s knowledge, Isabella contacted Ferdinand through Abraham Seneor, who would become her longtime advisor, and marriage arrangements were made.

Ferdinand II, King of Aragon; Credit – Wikipedia

Fearing that Enrique IV would disrupt the marriage plans, Isabella made the excuse of wanting to visit the burial place of her brother Alfonso in Ávila. She then traveled to Valladolid. Ferdinand disguised himself as a muleteer for some merchants and secretly traveled with a few companions to Valladolid. On October 19, 1469, Isabella and Ferdinand were married at the Palacio de los Vivero in Valladolid.

Ferdinand and Isabella with their successor, their daughter Juana; Credit – Wikipedia

Through the marriages of their five children, Isabella and Ferdinand’s grandchildren were the monarchs or consorts of Bohemia and Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Portugal, and Spain.

Isabella and Ferdinand had five children:

Isabella of Aragon, Princess of Asturias from 1497–1498 (1470 – 1498), married (1) Prince Afonso of Portugal, no children (2) Prince Manuel, the future King Manuel I of Portugal, had one son Miguel da Paz, Crown Prince of both Portugal and Spain who died before his second birthday; Isabella died giving birth to Miguel
Juan of Aragon, Prince of Asturias (1478 – 1497), married Margaret of Austria, no children
Juana I, Queen of Castile, Queen of Aragon (1479 – 1555), married Philip of Austria (the Handsome), son of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; had six children, all of whom were kings or queens consorts: Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Portugal and Queen of France; Holy Roman Emperor Charles V/King Carlos I of Spain; Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; Mary, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia; Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal
Maria of Aragon (1482 – 1517), married King Manuel I of Portugal, the widower of her elder sister Isabella; had ten children, including King João III of Portugal and Cardinal-King Henrique I of Portugal
Catalina (Catherine) of Aragon (1485 – 1536), married (1) Arthur, Prince of Wales, no children (2) King Henry VIII of England (Arthur’s younger brother), had one surviving child, Queen Mary I of England

When Enrique IV, King of Castile and León died in 1474, his half-sister succeeded him as Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León. Joanna la Beltraneja, the daughter of Enrique IV’s second wife, claimed the throne of Castile and León and was supported by some of the Castilian nobility and by Portugal, her mother’s birthplace. However, the Battle of Toro during the War of the Castilian Succession secured the throne of Castile and León for Isabella. According to the prenuptial agreement signed at the time of Isabella’s marriage to the future Ferdinand II, King of Aragon, the couple would share their power. Ferdinand became jure uxoris (by the right of his wife) King of Castile when Isabella succeeded her brother. When Ferdinand succeeded his father as King of Aragon in 1479, the Crown of Castile and the various territories of the Crown of Aragon were united in a personal union.

Isabella and Ferdinand’s successor, their daughter Juana, and her husband Philip with their Spanish subjects; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand created the de facto unification of Spain. They carefully considered the marriages of their children. Their only son and heir Juan, Prince of Asturias married a Habsburg princess, Margaret of Austria, establishing the connection to the Habsburgs. Their eldest child Isabella married King Manuel I of Portugal. Another daughter Juana married a Habsburg prince, Philip of Austria (the Handsome), brother of Margaret of Austria. However, Isabella and Ferdinand’s plans for their two eldest children did not work out. Their only son Juan, Prince of Asturias, died shortly after his marriage. Their daughter Isabella died during the birth of her only child Miguel da Paz, who then died shortly before his second birthday. Isabella and Ferdinand’s crowns ultimately passed to their third child Juana and their son-in-law, Philip of Austria from the House of Habsburg. Juana and Philip’s son Carlos (also known as Charles) became the first King of a united Spain, and was also Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, and Lord of the Netherlands.

Isabella and Ferdinand’s daughter Catherine, who married both sons of King Henry VII of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella and Ferdinand made successful dynastic matches for their two youngest daughters. The death of their eldest child Isabella necessitated her husband, King Manuel I of Portugal to remarry, and Ferdinand and Isabella’s third daughter Maria became the second of his three wives. Maria gave birth to ten children, including two Kings of Portugal. Ferdinand and Isabella’s youngest child Catherine (Catalina in Spanish) of Aragon, married Arthur, Prince of Wales, the eldest son and heir of King Henry VII of England. Arthur’s early death resulted in Catherine becoming the first of the six wives of his younger brother, King Henry VIII of England. Although King Henry VIII was dissatisfied that his marriage to Catherine had produced no surviving sons, their only surviving child Mary, was a reigning Queen of England.

Return of Christopher Columbus; his audience before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella and Ferdinand’s support of Christopher Columbus in his search for the West Indies would result in the conquest of the discovered lands and the creation of the Spanish Empire. In 1478, Isabella and Ferdinand established the Spanish Inquisition to maintain the Roman Catholic religion in their kingdoms. The Spanish Inquisition was originally intended to identify heretics among those who had converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. In 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand conquered the Islamic Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, in today’s southern Spain, and issued the Alhambra Decree, which ordered the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain. Because they defended the Roman Catholic Church in Castile and León and Aragon, Isabella and Ferdinand were given the Latin title Rex Catholicissimus (Most Catholic King or Most Catholic Majesty) by Pope Alexander VI in 1494. Thereafter, they used the Spanish title Los Reyes Católicos, generally translated as “The Catholics Monarchs”. It is still a title maintained by the Spanish monarchy, but neither King Juan Carlos I (reigned 1975 – 2014, abdicated in favor of his son) nor his son Felipe VI, the current King of Spain, have made use of the title, but they have not renounced it either.

Isabella’s health had been in decline since the death of her only son Juan, Prince of Asturias in 1497. In the fall of 1504, she became quite ill and officially withdrew from government affairs. On November 26, 1504, Isabella died at the age of 53 at the Royal Palace in Medina del Campo, Valladolid, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain.

In her will, Isabella requested a simple burial at the Monastery of San Francisco in the Alhambra royal complex in Granada. She also further stated that she “wanted and commanded” that if Ferdinand “chooses to buried in any church or monastery of any other part or place of my kingdoms, that my body be moved there and buried together.” In accordance with her wishes, Isabella was first buried at the Monastery of San Francisco in the Alhambra royal complex in Granada. Her remains were later transferred to the Royal Chapel of Granada, which was built after her death.

The coffins of Ferdinand and Isabella resting together in the crypt at the Royal Chapel of Granada; Credit – Wikipedia by Immasureda – Own work

Two years after Isabella’s death, Ferdinand married Germaine of Foix, the granddaughter of his half-sister Queen Eleanor of Navarre and the niece of King Louis XII of France. Ferdinand and Germaine had one son, Juan, Prince of Girona, who died shortly after his birth. Had he survived, the crown of Aragon would have been separated from the crown of Castile. Ferdinand survived Isabella by twelve years, dying at the age of 63 on January 23, 1516, and was buried next to his first wife Isabella at the Royal Chapel of Granada as Isabella requested.

Tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella at the Royal Chapel of Granada; Credit – Wikipedia by Javi Guerra Hernando – Own work

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Ferdinand II of Aragon – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon>
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Henry IV of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_Castile>
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabella I of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile>
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. John II of Castile – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_II_of_Castile>
Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Fernando II de Aragón – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_II_de_Arag%C3%B3n>.
Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabel I de Castilla – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_I_de_Castilla>

Richard of Normandy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Portrait of Richard of Normandy in a 14th-century family tree of the Kings of England: Credit – Wikipedia

Like his younger brother King William II Rufus of England and his nephew Richard, the illegitimate son of his brother Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, Richard of Normandy was killed in a hunting accident in the New Forest near Winchester Castle in England. Richard was the second of the four sons of William I (the Conqueror), King of England and Matilda of Flanders. He was born circa 1054 in the Duchy of Normandy, now in France. Richard’s paternal grandparents were Robert I the Magnificent, Duke of Normandy and his mistress Herleva of Falaise. His maternal grandparents were Baldwin V, Count of Flanders and Adèle of France, daughter of King Robert II of France.

Richard’s elder brother Robert Curthose; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard had at least nine siblings. The birth order of the boys is clear, but that of the girls is not. The list below is not in birth order. It lists Richard’s brothers first in their birth order and then his sisters in their probable birth order.

Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy (1051-1054 – 1134), married Sybil of Conversano, had one son
William II Rufus, King of England (1056-1060 – 1100), unmarried, killed in the New Forest
Henry I, King of England (1068 – 1135), married (1) Edith of Scotland, had one son and one daughter (2) Adeliza of Louvain, no children
Agatha of Normandy died before 1074, unmarried
Adeliza of Normandy (circa 1055 – before 1113), probably a nun at the Abbey of St Léger in Préaux, Duchy of Normandy
Cecilia of Normandy (circa 1056 – 1127), Abbess of Holy Trinity in Caen
Matilda of Normandy (circa 1061 – c. 1086)
Constance of Normandy (1057-1061 – 1090, married Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, no issue
Adela of Normandy (circa 1067 – 1137), married Stephen II, Count of Blois, had ten children including King Stephen of England

In 1066, Richard’s father, William III, Duke of Normandy, invaded England and defeated the last Anglo-Saxon King, Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. The Duke of Normandy was now also King William I of England. Richard’s elder brother Robert Curthose had been designated as their father’s successor in 1063. In their chronicles, both William of Malmesbury and Matthew Paris indicated that Richard had a promising future.

The New Forest; Credit – By Jim Champion, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13444789

Sometime between 1069 and 1075, Richard died suddenly during a hunt in the New Forest, close to Winchester Castle. Chroniclers of the time offered several causes of his death including divine retribution and contracting an illness caused by infected air. The most plausible cause, written in the chronicles of Matthew Paris, William of Jumièges, and Orderic Vital, is that Richard received fatal injuries while he was chasing prey and was crushed between a low-hanging solid tree branch and the pommel of his saddle. Richard was buried at Winchester Cathedral in England.

Richard’s brother Willliam Rufus; Credit – Wikipedia

After the sudden death of his second son, the political projects of William I, King of England, who was also the Duke of Normandy, were disrupted. William I had likely intended to give his deceased second son Richard either the Duchy of Normandy or the Kingdom of England. It appears that William I’s third son William Rufus had been destined for a career in the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, William Rufus, who had moved to be the second surviving son, was called to his father’s court to prepare him for a different future.

Ironically, Richard’s father King William I died in 1087 after his horse stumbled and he was violently flung against his saddle pommel. He received serious internal injuries, most likely a ruptured bladder. As he knew he was dying, William I composed a letter to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury stating that the Duchy of Normandy should go to his eldest son Robert Curthose, the Kingdom of England should go to his second son William Rufus, and his youngest son Henry should receive money. The youngest son later became King Henry I of England and would have his own succession issues.

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Richard (son of William the Conqueror) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard,_son_of_William_the_Conqueror> [Accessed 2 July 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King William I of England (the Conqueror). [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-william-i-of-england-the-conqueror/> [Accessed 2 July 2022].
Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Richard de Normandie (fils de Guillaume le Conquérant) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Normandie_(fils_de_Guillaume_le_Conqu%C3%A9rant)> [Accessed 2 July 2022].
Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Ричард Нормандский — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4_%D0%9D%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9> [Accessed 2 July 2022].
Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Cecily Neville, Detail from the 15th century Neville Book of Hours; Credit – Wikipedia

A great-granddaughter of King Edward III of England, Cecily Neville was the wife of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, also a great-grandchild of King Edward III, who was a claimant to the English throne and the leader of the Yorkist faction during the Wars of the Roses. She was also the mother of King Edward IV of England and King Richard III of England, the grandmother of the ill-fated King Edward V of England, and the great-grandmother of King Henry VIII of England. Cecily outlived all but two of her twelve children. She was alive when her granddaughter Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV, married Henry Tudor who had defeated her son King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and then succeeded to the English throne by right of conquest as King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. Cecily was alive when her granddaughter Elizabeth of York gave birth to her first three children, Cecily’s great-grandchildren Arthur, Prince of Wales, Margaret Tudor, and King Henry VIII. Through Margaret Tudor, who married James IV, King of Scots, Cecily is an ancestor of the British royal family and many other European royal families.

Born May 3, 1415, at Raby Castle in Durham, England, Cecily was the youngest of the fourteen children and the youngest of the five daughters of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and his second wife Joan Beaufort. Cecily’s paternal grandparents were John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, and Maud Percy, daughter of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy. Her maternal grandparents were John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his third wife and former mistress Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III of England, and so Cecily was the great-granddaughter of King Edward III.

Cecily’s mother Joan Beaufort and her daughters from her second marriage, from the Neville Book of Hours, circa 1427-1432; Credit – Wikipedia

Cecily had thirteen elder siblings:

Katherine Neville (circa 1397 – 1483), married (1) John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, had one son (2) Sir Thomas Strangways, had two daughters (3) John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont, no children (4) Sir John Woodville, no children
Eleanor Neville (circa 1398 – 1472), married (1) Richard le Despencer, 4th Baron Burghersh, no children (2) Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, had ten children
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400 – 1460), married Alice Montacute, 5th Countess of Salisbury, had twelve children including Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (1428–1471), “The Kingmaker”
Henry Neville (born and died circa 1402)
Robert Neville, Bishop of Salisbury and Bishop of Durham (1404 – 1457)
William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (circa 1405 – 1463), married Joan de Fauconberg, 6th Baroness Fauconberg, had five children
John Neville (born and died circa 1406).
George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer (circa 1407 – 1469), married Elizabeth Beauchamp, had four children
Anne Neville (c. 1408–1480), married (1) Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, had twelve children (2) Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, no children
Thomas Neville (born and died circa 1410)
Cuthbert Neville (born and died circa 1411).
Joan Neville (circa 1412 – 1453), a nun
Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny (circa 1414 – 1476), married (1) Elizabeth Beauchamp (not the same Elizabeth Beauchamp as his brother George’s wife), had four children (2) Katherine Howard, had three daughters

Cecily had eight half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Margaret Stafford (circa 1364 – 1396):

Maud Neville (? – 1438), married Piers Mauley, 5th Baron Mauley
Alice Neville (circa 1384 – circa 1434) married (1) Sir Thomas Grey, beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot, had eight children (2) Sir Gilbert Lancaster, no children
Philippa Neville 1386 – circa 1453), married Thomas Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre of Gilsland, had nine children
Sir John Neville (circa 1387 – circa 1420), married Elizabeth Holland, had four children
Elizabeth Neville, a nun.
Anne Neville (? – circa1421), married Sir Gilbert Umfraville, no children
Sir Ralph Neville (circa 1392 – 1458), married his step-sister Mary Ferrers, had five children
Margaret Neville (circa 1396 – circa 1463), married (1) Richard Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton, had three children (2) William Cressener, had three children

Cecily had two half-sisters from her mother’s first marriage to Robert Ferrers of Wem (circa 1373 – 1396):

Elizabeth Ferrers (1393 – 1474), married John Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke, had twelve children
Mary Ferrers (1394 – 1458), married her stepbrother Sir Ralph Neville, had five children

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, detail from the frontispiece of the illuminated manuscript Talbot Shrewsbury Book; Credit – Wikipedia

Cecily’s future husband Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (1411 – 1460) had a unique place in the succession to the English throne, and this would affect their marriage and their family. Richard was the only surviving son of Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and his first wife Anne Mortimer. Both Richard’s parents were descendants of King Edward III of England. The House of York, a cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet, descended from two sons of King Edward III: in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, and from a female line of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Edward III’s second surviving son. These two lines came together when Richard’s mother Anne Mortimer, a great-granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence married Richard’s father Richard of Conisbrough, a son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. (A House of York family tree can be seen at Wikipedia: House of York.)

In 1415, Richard of Conisbrough was one of the three plotters of the Southhampton Plot executed for plotting to depose King Henry V of England (from the House of Lancaster) and place Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, the brother of Richard of Conisbrough’s deceased wife Anne Mortimer on the English throne. Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March had not been aware of the plot and when he found out about it, he told King Henry V. With the execution of his father, four-year-old Richard was an orphan. The title of Richard’s father was not attainted – after being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason), an act of attainder deprived nobles of their titles and lands. The descendants of the attainted noble could no longer inherit his lands or income. Because his father was not attainted, four-year-old Richard inherited his father’s Earl of Cambridge title. Three months later, little Richard’s paternal uncle (his father’s elder brother) Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York was killed at the Battle of Agincourt, and Richard inherited his paternal uncle’s titles and estates. In 1425, when Richard’s maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March died, Richard inherited the lesser title of Earl of March but the greater estates of the Mortimer family along with their claim to the English throne. Richard of York already held a strong claim to the English throne as a male-line great-grandson of King Edward III.

After the death of his father in 1415, the orphaned Richard became a royal ward and was placed in the household of Sir Robert Waterton, loyal to King Henry V and King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster. In 1423, Richard became the royal ward of Cecily’s father Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland. As was his right Neville betrothed his youngest child, nine-year-old daughter Cecily Neville to thirteen-year-old Richard in 1424. Richard and Cecily were married by October 1429.

Richard and Cecily had twelve children including two Kings of England:

Anne of York (1439 – 1476), married (1) Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, had one daughter (2) Sir Thomas St. Leger, Anne died giving birth to a daughter
Henry of York (born and died 1441), died in infancy
Edward IV, King of England (1442 – 1483), married Elizabeth Woodville, had ten children including the ill-fated Edward V, King of England and Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, King of England
Edmund, Earl of Rutland (1443 – 1460), unmarried, killed at the Battle of Wakefield during the Wars of the Roses
Elizabeth of York (1444 – circa 1503), wife of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, had eleven children
Margaret of York (1446 – 1503), married Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy, no children
William of York (born and died 1447), died in infancy
John of York (born and died 1448), died in infancy
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449 – 1478), married Isabel Neville, had four children, George was executed by his brother King Edward IV
Thomas of York (born and died circa 1450/1451), died in infancy
Richard III, King of England (1452 – 1485), married Anne Neville, had one son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales who predeceased his father, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Ursula of York (born and died 1455), died in infancy

Shortly before his son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was born in 1453, King Henry VI had some kind of mental breakdown. He was unable to recognize or respond to people for over a year. Edward was the heir to the throne, followed by Richard, 3rd Duke of York. During Henry VI’s incapacity, Richard, 3rd Duke of York governed as Lord Protector, and he often quarreled with the Lancastrians at court. In 1448, Richard assumed the surname Plantagenet and then assumed the leadership of the Yorkist faction in 1450. Eventually, things came to a head between Henry VI’s House of Lancaster and Richard’s House of York, and war broke out.

The First Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses in England. It was a decisive Yorkist victory. Afterward, there was a peace of sorts, but hostilities started again four years later. At times, Richard was forced to flee to Ireland and continental Europe, but Cecily remained at the family estate Ludlow Castle, caring for her children. She also championed the cause of the House of York. When the Parliament was to decide the fate of her husband, Cecily she traveled to London, where she asked for a pardon if Richard appeared before Parliament within eight days. When this did not happen, his lands were confiscated by the Crown. However, Cecily managed to get an annual allowance of 1000 marks to support herself and the children

On July 10, 1460, King Henry VI was captured at the Battle of Northampton and forced to recognize Richard, 3rd Duke of York as his heir instead of his own son. However, at the Battle of Wakefield on December 30, 1460, the Lancastrians won a decisive victory. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, his second son 17-year-old Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Cecily’s brother Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, were all killed.

Cecily’s eldest son King Edward IV of England; Credit – Wikipedia

After the death of her husband, Cecily moved to Baynard’s Castle in London, which became the London headquarters of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses. Cecily’s eldest son Edward was now the leader of the Yorkist faction. On February 3, 1461, Edward defeated the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Edward then took a bold step and declared himself King Edward IV of England on March 4, 1461. His decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461, cemented his status as King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 28, 1461. However, the former king, Henry VI, still lived and fled to Scotland.

Cecily was honored as the mother of the king. She regularly appeared beside her son King Edward IV and had much influence. While Edward was in the north of England fighting the remaining forces of the House of Lancaster, Cecily acted as his representative in London. Edward granted his mother a generous allowance of 5000 marks per year. In 1464, when Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville, he built new queen’s quarters for his wife and allowed his mother remain in the queen’s quarters, where she had been living.

Henry VI returned from Scotland in 1464 and took part in an ineffective uprising. In 1465, Henry was captured and taken to the Tower of London. His wife Margaret of Anjou, exiled in France, wanted to restore the throne to her husband. Coincidentally, King Edward IV had a falling out with his major supporters, his brother George, Duke of Clarence, and his first cousin Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker. Margaret of Anjou, Clarence, and Warwick formed an alliance at the urging of King Louis XI of France. Edward IV was forced into exile, and Henry VI was restored to the throne on October 30, 1470.

Edward IV and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) fled to Burgundy where they knew they would be welcomed by their sister Margaret, the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. The Duke of Burgundy provided funds and troops to Edward to enable him to launch an invasion of England in 1471. Edward returned to England in early 1471 and defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Barnet. where his cousin Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick was killed. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Henry VI’s son Edward, Prince of Wales was killed.

Cecily’s son Edward became King of England once again. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from King Edward IV. Edward IV’s brother George, Duke of Clarence was eventually found guilty of plotting against him, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and privately executed on February 18, 1478.

Cecily’s youngest son King Richard III; Credit – Wikipedia

Had Cecily’s son King Edward IV lived longer, perhaps he would have become one of England’s most powerful kings. He died on April 9, 1483, a few weeks before his 41st birthday. His cause of death is not known for certain. His 12-year-old son very briefly succeeded King Edward IV as King Edward V until he and his brother Richard, Duke of York were declared illegitimate by an Act of Parliament and their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester crowned King Richard III. Cecily’s grandsons Edward V and his brother Richard were the Princes in the Tower, whose fate is unknown. Cecily’s son King Richard III lost his life and his crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. On that day, Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian faction leader, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor, King Henry VII.

Cecily’s granddaughter Elizabeth of York, the wife of King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch; Credit – Wikipedia

By 1485, Cecily’s husband and ten of her twelve children had died. Only her daughters Elizabeth of York (1444 – 1503), who married John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, and Margaret of York (1446 – 1503), who married Charles I, Duke of Burgundy survived. On January 18, 1486, Cecily’s granddaughter Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of King Edward IV, married King Henry VII and became Queen of England. Cecily’s great-grandson Arthur, Prince of Wales was born that same year, her great-granddaughter Margaret Tudor was born in 1489, and her great-grandson, the future King Henry VIII in 1491, all before she died. During the reign of King Henry VII, Cecily devoted herself primarily to her religious interests. Henry VII granted her the right to export wool free of duty and an income based on the income from the estates granted to her by her son King Edward IV in 1461.

The tomb of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and his wife Cecily Neville, to the left of the altar; Credit – Visit to Fotheringhay – Part 3, Exploring the Church of St Mary and All Saints

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York died on May 31, 1495, aged 80, at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire, England. She had survived her husband Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York by thirty-five years, and was buried with him and their son Edmund, Earl of Rutland at the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints in Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, England.

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Cecily Neville – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecily_Neville> [Accessed 20 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Cecily Neville, Duchess of York – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecily_Neville,_Duchess_of_York> [Accessed 20 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_of_York,_3rd_Duke_of_York> [Accessed 20 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/richard-plantagenet-3rd-duke-of-york/> [Accessed 20 August 2022].
De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Cecily Neville – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecily_Neville> [Accessed 20 August 2022].
Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
Weir, Alison, 1995. The Wars of the Roses. New York: Ballantine Books.
Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen of Portugal

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlota Joaquina of Spain was the wife of João VI, King of Portugal. She was detested by members of the Portuguese royal court who called her Megera de Queluz – the Shrew of Queluz. She conspired against her husband several times and was eventually placed under house arrest at the Palace of Queluz.

Carlota Joaquina Theresa Marcos Cayetana Coleta Francisca de Sales Rafaela Vizenta Ferrer Juana Nepomucena Fernanda Josepha Luisa Sinforosa Antonia Francisca Bibiana Maria Casilda Rita Genara y Pasquala was born at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Spain on April 25, 1775. She was the second of the fourteen children and the eldest of the six daughters of Carlos IV, King of Spain and his first cousin Maria Luisa of Parma. Her paternal grandparents were Carlos III, King of Spain and Maria Amalia of Saxony. Carlota Joaquina’s maternal grandparents were Augustus III, King of Poland, Elector of Saxony and Maria Josepha of Austria.

The Family of Carlos IV by Francisco de Goya, 1800; L to R: Infante Carlos, Count of Molina; the artist Francisco de Goya at the easel; the future King Fernando VII, Infanta Maria Josepha (sister of Carlos IV); a young woman whose face cannot be seen who is representing the future wife of King Fernando VII; Infanta Maria Isabel; Maria Luisa of Parma, Queen of Portugal; Infante Francisco de Paula; King Carlos IV; Infante Antonio Pascual (brother of Carlos IV); Carlota Joaquina or her sister Infanta Maria Amalia; Carlo Ludovico of Parma (husband of Maria Luisa); Infanta Maria Luisa; child in the arms of Maria Luisa, her son, the future Carlo II Ludovico, Duke of Parma

Carlota Joaquina had thirteen siblings:

Carlos Clemente, Infante of Spain (1771 – 1774), died in infancy
Maria Luisa, Infanta of Spain (1777 – 1782), died in childhood
Maria Amalia, Infanta of Spain (1779 – 1798), married her paternal uncle Infante Antonio Pascual of Spain, died after giving birth to a stillborn son
Carlos Domingo, Infante of Spain (1780 – 1783), died in childhood
Maria Luisa, Infanta of Spain, Duchess of Lucca (1782 – 1824), married Carlo Ludovico of Parma, King of Etruria, had two children
Carlos Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1783 – 1784), twin of Felipe Francisco de Paula, died in infancy
Felipe Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1783 – 1784), twin of Carlos Francisco de Paula, died in infancy
Fernando VII, King of Spain (1784 – 1833), married (1) Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, no children (2) his niece, Carlota Joaquina’s daughter Maria Isabel of Portugal, had one daughter who died in infancy and one stillborn daughter, died in childbirth (3) Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, no children (4) Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, had two daughters including Queen Isabella II of Spain
Carlos, Infante of Spain, Count of Molina (1788 – 1855, married (1) Maria Francisca, Infanta of Portugal, had three sons (2) Maria Teresa, Infanta of Portugal (sister of his first wife), no children
Maria Isabel, Infanta of Spain (1789 – 1848), married (2nd wife) Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, had twelve children
Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain (1791 – 1794), died in childhood from smallpox
Felipe Maria, Infante of Spain (1792 – 1794), died in childhood
Francisco de Paula, Infante of Spain (1794 – 1865), married (1) his niece Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily, had eleven children (2) Teresa de Arredondo y Ramirez de Arellano (morganatic marriage), had one son

Carlota Joaquina was brought up in the strict and austere Spanish court that imposed rigid norms of behavior and etiquette on the royal family and the entire court. She had a very strict Catholic upbringing and studied religion, geography, painting, and horseback riding which she loved.

Carlota Joaquina of Spain in 1785, the year of their marriage; Credit – Wikipedia

Before Carlota Joaquina was ten-years-old, her marriage was arranged by her paternal grandfather Carlos III, King of Spain and his sister Mariana Victoria, Dowager Queen of Portugal to improve relations between the two countries. Her groom was to be João, Infante of Portugal, the 18-year-old grandson of Mariana Victoria, Dowager Queen of Portugal. João was the second surviving son of Maria I, Queen of Portugal and her husband and paternal uncle Pedro III, King of Portugal. Pedro was Maria I’s co-ruler but he was only a nominal king because the actual regal authority was vested solely in Maria I. However, before the marriage arrangements could be finalized, Carlota Joaquina had to undergo a series of public examinations in front of the Spanish court and Portuguese ambassadors sent on behalf of Queen Maria I of Portugal. She passed the examinations with flying colors.

João VI, King of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Because Carlota Joaquina and João were related and because the bride was only ten years old, the marriage required a papal dispensation. A proxy marriage was held in Spain on May 8, 1785, and three days later, Carlota Joaquina left for Lisbon, Portugal. The in-person wedding took place in the chapel of the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa on June 9, 1785. Due to the bride’s young age, the consummation of the marriage was delayed for five years.

Carlota Joaquina and João had nine children:

Maria Teresa of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1793 – 1874), married (1) her first cousin Infante Pedro Carlos of Spain and Portugal, had one son (2) her maternal uncle Infante Carlos of Spain, Count of Molina, widower of her sister Maria Francisca, no children
Francisco António of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal, Prince of Beira (1795 – 1801), died in childhood
Maria Isabel of Braganza, Infante of Portugal (1797 – 1818), married her paternal uncle (2nd wife) Ferdinand VII, King of Spain, had one daughter who died in infancy and one stillborn daughter, Maria Isabel died due to childbirth complications
Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil/Pedro IV, King of Portugal (1798 – 1834), married (1) Maria Leopoldina of Austria, had seven children, Maria Leopoldina died due to complications of a miscarriage (2) Amélie of Leuchtenberg, had one daughter
Maria Francisca of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1800 – 1834), her maternal uncle Infante Carlos of Spain, Count of Molina, had three children
Isabel Maria of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1801 – 1876), unmarried, Regent of Portugal (1826 to 1828)
Miguel I, King of Portugal (1802 – 1866), King of Portugal (1828 – 1834), forced to abdicate, married Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, had seven children
Maria da Assunção of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1805 – 1834), died unmarried
Ana de Jesus Maria of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1806 – 1857), married Nuno José Severo de Mendonça Rolim de Moura Barreto, Marquis of Loulé and Count of Vale de Reis, had five children

In 1788, João’s elder brother José died from smallpox at the age of twenty-seven. As José’s marriage had produced no children, 21-year-old João became the heir to the throne of Portugal and received the titles Prince of Brazil and Duke of Braganza, and Carlota Joaquina received the female counterparts of the titles. João would soon have to take a leadership role due to his mother’s mental instability which was first noticed in 1786 when she had to be carried back to her apartments in a state of delirium. Queen Maria I’s mental instability continued to worsen. The deaths of her husband Pedro III in 1786, her eldest son and heir José in 1788, and her confessor Inácio de São Caetano, Archbishop of Salonica in 1788 may have caused major depressive disorder. Another potential causal factor of her mental instability may have been inbreeding, as Maria I’s two unmarried sisters Maria Ana Francisca and Maria Doroteia had similar conditions. In 1792, João took over the government on his mother’s behalf but he did not assume the title of Prince Regent until 1799.

João and Carlota Joaquina; Credit – Wikipedia

When João became Prince Regent, Carlota Joaquina often interfered in matters of state, trying to influence her husband’s decisions. Her attempts at meddling in politics displeased the Portuguese nobility and the Portuguese people. Because she was excluded from government decisions, Carlota Joaquina plotted to remove João from his position as Prince Regent by arresting him and declaring that like his mother, he was incapable of ruling. The plot was discovered in 1805 and an investigation and the arrest of those involved were proposed. João wanted to avoid a public scandal. Instead of an investigation and arrests, he confined Carlota Joaquina to the Palace of Queluz, and he moved to the Palace of Mafra, effectively causing a marital separation.

The Royal Family of Portugal and their entourage leaving for Brazil; Credit – Wikipedia

In late 1807, Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened Portugal, causing Prince Regent João, in the name of his mother Queen Maria I, to move the royal court from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. While in Brazil, Carlota Joaquina concocted another scheme. After Napoleon invaded Spain, King Fernando VII of Spain, Carlota Joaquina’s younger brother, was forced to abdicate and give the Spanish throne to Napoleon’s brother Joseph Bonaparte. Napoleon kept Fernando under guard in France for six years at the Château de Valençay until the Treaty of Valençay on December 11, 1813, provided for the restoration of Fernando as King of Spain. Between 1808 and 1812, Carlota Joaquina intended to replace her brother Fernando VII as Regent of Spain for the duration of his confinement and Joseph Bonaparte’s usurpation of the Spanish throne. She planned to send an army to occupy Buenos Aires on the Río de la Plata, in the Spanish colony of Argentina, and style herself “Queen of La Plata”. The plan failed as the Portuguese-Brazilian forces only managed to annex the eastern banks of the Rio de la Plata which remained part of the Empire of Brazil until the disputed land seceded in 1828 as the Republic of Uruguay.

On March 20, 1816, 81-year-old Maria I, Queen of Portugal died at the Carmo Convent in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Carlota Joaquina’s husband succeeded her as João VI, King of Portugal. In 1821, after a series of revolutions and army mutinies in Portugal, João VI, under pressure from the Portuguese parliament, departed Brazil for Portugal, leaving behind his eldest son Pedro as Regent of Brazil. Upon his return to Portugal, João VI, under pressure, called a constitutional Cortes Gerais, consisting of all three estates – the nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie – to draft a constitution that made Portugal a constitutional monarchy. João VI made vows to uphold the new constitution. However, João’s wife Carlota Joaquina had other ideas.

Carlota Joaquina’s youngest son Miguel; Credit – Wikipedia

Carlota Joaquina allied with her youngest son Miguel, who shared his mother’s conservative views. In 1824, using Miguel’s position as army commander, they took power and held João VI as a virtual prisoner in the palace. Carlota Joaquina tried to make João VI abdicate in favor of his son Miguel. João VI received help from a British naval fleet in the port. From aboard a Royal Navy warship, João VI reprimanded his son Miguel, deposed him from command of the army, and exiled him. João VI then returned to Bemposta Palace, reorganized the council of ministers, and showed generosity to those who rebelled. Later in the year, another rebellion organized by João VI’s wife Carlota Joaquina was discovered and she was placed under house arrest in the Palace of Queluz.

On March 4, 1826, after returning from a visit to the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon, João VI suddenly fell ill with symptoms that included vomiting and convulsions, and died on March 10, 1826, aged 58. Doctors could not definitively determine a cause of death but it was suspected that João VI had been poisoned. In 2000, a team of researchers exhumed the ceramic pot that contained João VI’s heart. An analysis of his heart detected enough arsenic to kill two people, confirming suspicions that João VI had been murdered.

Carlota Joaquina, circa 1825; Credit – Wikipedia

For the rest of her life, Carlota Joaquina remained confined in the Palace of Queluz, where she died alone and abandoned by her children on January 7, 1830, at the age of 56. She was interred in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal.

Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora Credit – Wikipedia Commons

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Carlota Joaquina of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlota_Joaquina_of_Spain> [Accessed 21 June 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles IV of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_of_Spain> [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Carlota Joaquina de Borbón – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlota_Joaquina_de_Borb%C3%B3n> [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2022. João VI, King of Portugal. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/joao-vi-king-of-portugal/> [Accessed 22 June 2022].
Louda, Jiri and Maclagan, Michael, 2002. Lines of Succession. London: Little, Brown.
Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. Carlota Joaquina de Bourbon – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlota_Joaquina_de_Bourbon> [Accessed 21 June 2022].

Princess Rajwa Al Hussein, wife of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Rajwa Al Saif and Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan; Credit – Queen Rania of Jordan Facebook page

Born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on April 28, 1994, Rajwa Khaled bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al Saif is the youngest of the four children of Khalid Al Saif and his wife Azza Al Sudairi. Rajwa’s father is the CEO of the Al Saif Group, a privately-owned company with a diverse portfolio of healthcare, construction, and security services businesses. Rajwa is a member of the Al Saif family which dates back to the Subai tribe in the town of Al-Attar in Sudair, Najd, Saudi Arabia, where her ancestors were the sheikhs of the town.

After completing her primary and secondary education in Saudi Arabia, Rajwa attended the School of Architecture at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, in the United States, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture. In addition, Rajwa also holds a degree in Visual Communications from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, California, in the United States. Rajwa was employed by an architecture firm in Los Angeles, California, and at the time of her engagement, she was employed by Designlab Experience, a design studio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On August 17, 2022, the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan announced the engagement of the heir apparent of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan, the elder son of King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, and Rajwa Al Saif. The couple was married on June 1, 2023, at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan. About thirty minutes after the wedding ceremony, the Royal Household issued a decree elevating Rajwa to a Princess of Jordan with the style and title Her Royal Highness Princess Rajwa Al Hussein. The title Crown Princess is not typically used in Jordan.

Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Rajwa Al Saif

As the wife of the Crown Prince, Princess Rajwa will represent King Abdullah II on official engagements in Jordan and in foreign countries and will attend activities related to social and charitable projects.

Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa have one daughter who is not eligible to be ruler of Jordan. The constitution of Jordan states that only legitimate, male, mentally sound, Muslim, male-line descendants of King Abdullah I are eligible to be King.

Princess Iman bint Al Hussein of Jordan (born August 3, 2024)

YouTube: Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II recites the call to prayer in the ear of his newborn daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Iman bint Al Hussein

Works Cited

Harpers Bazaar. 2022. Who is Rajwa Al Saif, Crown Prince Hussein’s Fiancée? The Couple Announce Their Engagement. [online] Available at: <https://www.harpersbazaararabia.com/culture/royal-watch/who-is-rajwa-al-saif> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
Linning, Stephanie, 2022. Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan is engaged. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11123053/Crown-Prince-Hussein-Jordan-engaged-Saudi-businessmans-daughter-Rajwa-Al-Seif.html> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. Rajwa Khaled bin Musaed bin Saif bin Abdulaziz Al Saif – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajwa_Khaled_bin_Musaed_bin_Saif_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saif> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
Rhc.jo. 2022. Crown Prince engaged to Rajwa Al Saif. [online] Available at: <https://rhc.jo/en/media/news/crown-prince-engaged-rajwa-al-saif> [Accessed 18 August 2022].
The National. 2022. Who is Rajwa Al Saif, the Saudi fiancee of Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein?. [online] Available at: <https://www.thenationalnews.com/lifestyle/2022/08/18/who-is-rajwa-al-saif-fiance-of-jordans-crown-prince-hussein/> [Accessed 18 August 2022].

Mariana Victoria of Spain, Queen of Portugal

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Mariana Victoria of Spain, Queen of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Mariana Victoria of Spain was the wife of José I, King of Portugal. She was born at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in Spain on March 31, 1718, the second of the six children and the eldest of the three daughters of Felipe V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. Mariana Victoria’s father was born into the French royal family as Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and was a grandson of Louis XIV, King of France. In 1700, when the last Spanish king of the House of Habsburg, Carlos II, King of Spain, died childless with no immediate Habsburg heir, he named 16-year-old Philippe of Anjou, Duke of Anjou as his successor. Today’s Spanish royal family is still members of the House of Bourbon and are descendants of Mariana Victoria’s father Felipe V, King of Spain.

Mariana Victoria’s paternal grandparents were Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, the eldest son of Louis XIV, King of France and the heir apparent to the throne of France, and Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria. Louis, Le Grand Dauphin never became King of France. He died of smallpox at the age of 49, predeceasing his father King Louis XIV. Mariana Victoria’s maternal grandparents were Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma and Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg.

The family of Felipe V, King of Spain in 1743: (L-R) Mariana Victoria, Princess of Brazil; Barbara, Princess of Asturias; Fernando, Prince of Asturias; King Felipe V; Luis, Count of Chinchón; Elisabeth Farnese; Infante Felipe; Louise Élisabeth of France; Infanta Maria Teresa; Infanta Maria Antonia; Maria Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Naples and Sicily; Carlo, King of Naples and Sicily. The two children in the foreground are Princess Maria Isabella Anne of Naples and Sicily and Infanta Isabella of Spain, daughter of Infante Felipe; Credit – Wikipedia

Mariana Victoria had five siblings:

Carlos III, King of Spain (1716 – 1788), married Maria Amalia of Saxony, had thirteen children
Infante Felipe of Spain, Duke of Parma (1720 – 1765), founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma, married Louise Élisabeth of France, had three children
Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (1726 – 1746), married (first wife) Louis, Dauphin of France (the only surviving son of Louis XV, King of France), had one daughter who died at age two, died due to childbirth complications
Infante Luis of Spain, Count of Chinchón (1727 – 1785), formerly Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, and Cardinal, renounced his ecclesiastical titles, married morganatically María Teresa de Vallabriga, had three children
Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain (1729 – 1785) married Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, had twelve children

Mariana Victoria had four half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy who died from tuberculosis at age 25:

Luis I, King of Spain (1707 – 1724), married Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans, no children, reigned for seven months after the abdication of his father, died from smallpox at age 17, his father Felipe V resumed the throne after Luis’ death
Infante Felipe of Spain (born and died 1709), died in infancy
Infante Felipe of Spain (1712 – 1719), died at age 7
Fernando VI, King of Spain (1713 – 1759), married Barbara of Portugal, no children

After the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718 – 1720), which pitted Spain against Great Britain, France, Austria, Savoy, and the Dutch Republic, France and Spain decided to reconcile with a marriage arrangement between two-year-old Mariana Victoria of Spain and her first cousin, ten-year-old Louis XV, King of Spain. Mariana Victoria was to be raised in France, and the couple would not be married until Mariana Victoria reached a mature age. The nearly four-year-old Mariana Victoria arrived in Paris, France on March 2, 1722, and took up residence at the Palais du Louvre. Marie Anne de Bourbon, an illegitimate daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress Louise de La Vallière, was responsible for Mariana Victoria’s education, and Charlotte de La Motte Houdancourt, Duchess of Ventadour, who had been the governess of King Louis XV, Mariana Victoria’s intended groom, was appointed her governess.

King Louis XV of France and Mariana Victoria in 1723; Credit – Wikipedia

However, in 1725, when Mariana Victoria was seven-years-old, influenced by Prime Minister Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, it was decided to send Mariana Victoria back to Spain. The Duke of Bourbon wanted his sister to be King Louis XV’s bride so he would have more influence. This situation was made worse by what was occurring in Spain. In 1724, Mariana Victoria’s 17-year-old brother Luis I, King of Spain died from smallpox. He was married to Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans, daughter of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (son of Louis XIV of France’s only sibling Philippe I, Duke of Orléans) and Françoise Marie de Bourbon (daughter of Louis XIV and his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan). Because the marriage of Luis I, King of Spain, and Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans had not been consummated, Louise Élisabeth was sent back to France. Mariana Victoria left Versailles on April 5, 1725, and traveled to the Spanish border, where she and Louise Élisabeth were exchanged. Five months later, 15-year-old Louis XV, King of France married 22-year-old Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of Stanislaus I, the deposed King of Poland.

Mariana Victoria’s husband José, Prince of Brazil (the future José I, King of Portugal); Credit – Wikipedia

To strengthen an alliance with Portugal, a double marriage between Spain and Portugal was arranged between Mariana Victoria and José, Prince of Brazil (the future José, I. King of Portugal) the son and heir of João V, King of Portugal, and between Mariana Victoria’s half-brother, her father’s heir Fernando, Prince of Asturias, later Fernando VI, King of Spain, and Barbara of Portugal, daughter of João V, King of Portugal. In a complex and protocol-filled arrangement called the Exchange of the Princesses, on January 19, 1729, the two sets of princes and princesses were escorted to the Portugal-Spain border by the two royal courts, and the princesses were exchanged in a richly decorated wooden pavilion built on a bridge over the Caia River that linked the towns of Elvas, Portugal and Badajoz, Spain. Then, both couples were married in richly decorated pavilions on the same day on the grooms’ sides of the Caia River.

A contemporary engraving depicting the Exchange of the Princesses over the Caia River on the Portugal-Spain border; Credit – Wikipedia

Mariana Victoria and José developed a close relationship. They both enjoyed hunting and music. Mariana Victoria was an accomplished singer, and they patronized Italian opera singers and the theater. They were both passionately religious, but despite this, José had several mistresses much to his wife’s dislike.

Mariana Victoria and José had four daughters, but there were also four stillbirths, including one stillborn son. Two daughters remained unmarried. Maria Ana Francisca was a proposed bride for Louis, Dauphin of France, the son of Louis XV, King of France who predeceased his father, but Mariana Victoria rejected the marriage. When another daughter, Doroteia, was proposed as a wife for Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Mariana Victoria again refused the match. After the death of her husband, Mariana Victoria negotiated the marriage of the youngest daughter Benedita to José, Prince of Brazil, Mariana Victoria’s grandson.

Mariana Victoria and José’s four daughters:

Maria I, Queen of Portugal (1734 – 1816), married her paternal uncle Pedro of Portugal, who was her co-ruler as Pedro III, King of Portugal, had six children
Maria Ana Francisca of Portugal (1736 – 1813), unmarried
Maria Doroteia of Portugal (1739 – 1771), unmarried
Maria Benedita of Portugal (1746 – 1829) married her nephew José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza (the eldest child and heir of Maria I, Queen of Portugal until his death from smallpox), no children

José I, King of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

Mariana Victoria’s husband José did not become King of Portugal until twenty-one years after his marriage, when his father died in 1750. José named Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal as his chief minister. Pombal was the de facto ruler of the Portuguese Empire from 1750 until José I’s death in 1777. Mariana Victoria and her eldest daughter Maria disliked Pombal’s influence over José. In 1759, after a failed assassination attempt on José I, King of Portugal, Pombal held the powerful Távora family completely responsible, resulting in the scandal, the Távora Affair. Pombal later ordered the execution of all members of the Távora family. It was only because of the intervention of Mariana Victoria and her eldest daughter Maria that some women and children were spared. The guilt or innocence of the Távoras family is still debated today by Portuguese historians. Some historians believe it was an attempt by Pombal to contain the growing powers of the old aristocratic families.

Mariana Victoria, Queen of Portugal, circa 1773; Credit – Wikipedia

After José suffered a series of strokes, Mariana Victoria was created Regent of Portugal on November 29, 1776, and remained Regent until José’s death. José I, King of Portugal died at Sintra Palace in Sintra, Portugal on February 24, 1777, at the age of 62, and his eldest daughter became the first queen regnant of Portugal, reigning as Maria I.

Maria I, Queen of Portugal, Mariana Victoria’s daughter; Credit – Wikipedia

Mariana Victoria had a significant influence on her daughter Maria I, Queen of Portugal, who often asked for her mother’s advice on matters of state. Maria I hated her father’s chief minister Sebastião de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, and she removed him from his positions. She then issued a restraining order, commanding that Pombal not be closer than twenty miles to her presence. If she were to travel near his estates, he was compelled to remove himself from his house to fulfill the royal decree.

Portugal and Spain were in conflict over territorial possessions in the Americas. Maria Victoria tried to improve relations with Spain, ruled by her brother Carlos III, King of Spain. She left Portugal and traveled to Spain, where she stayed for just over a year, residing at the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. With Mariana Victoria’s influence, the Treaty of El Pardo, which resolved many longtime disputes between Portugal and Spain, was signed on October 1, 1778.

Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

While in Spain, Mariana Victoria had an attack of rheumatism and was confined to a wheelchair for some time. She returned to Portugal in November 1778, and it soon became apparent that she was also suffering from heart disease. She died on January 15, 1781, aged 62, at the Barraca Real of Ajuda in Ajuda, Portugal, where the Palace of Ajuda is now located. Mariana Victoria was first buried in the Church of São Francisco de Paula in Lisbon, Portugal, which she had restored. Her remains were later transferred to the Pantheon of the Royal House of Braganza in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal.

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Joseph I of Portugal – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_I_of_Portugal> [Accessed 8 June 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Mariana Victoria of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Victoria_of_Spain> [Accessed 8 June 2022].
Flantzer, S., 2019. Felipe V, King of Spain. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/felipe-v-first-bourbon-king-of-spain/> [Accessed 8 June 2022].
Louda, Jiri and Maclagan, Michael, 2002. Lines of Succession. London: Little, Brown.
Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. José I de Portugal – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_I_de_Portugal> [Accessed 8 June 2022].
Pt.wikipedia.org. 2022. Mariana Vitória de Bourbon – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Vit%C3%B3ria_de_Bourbon> [Accessed 8 June 2022].

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, detail from the frontispiece of the illuminated manuscript Talbot Shrewsbury Book; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was a claimant to the English throne, the leader of the Yorkist faction during the Wars of the Roses, the father of King Edward IV of England and King Richard III of England, and the great-grandfather of King Henry VIII of England and his sister Margaret Tudor. Through Margaret Tudor, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York is an ancestor of the British royal family and many other European royal families.

Born on September 21, 1411, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was the youngest of the three children and the only surviving son of Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge and his first wife Anne Mortimer. Both Richard’s parents were descendants of King Edward III of England. Richard’s paternal grandparents were Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (son of King Edward III), and Isabella of Castile (daughter of King Pedro of Castile and León). His maternal grandparents were Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (a great-grandson of King Edward III) and Eleanor Holland (a great-great-granddaughter of King Edward I of England).

The White Rose of the House of York; Credit – Wikipedia

The House of York, a cadet branch of the House of Plantagenet, descended from two sons of King Edward III: in the male line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III and a female line of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, Edward III’s second surviving son. These two lines came together when Richard’s mother Anne Mortimer, a great-granddaughter of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence married Richard’s father Richard of Conisbrough, a son of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. (A House of York family tree can be seen at Wikipedia: House of York.)

Richard had two elder siblings:

Isabel of Cambridge (1409 – 1484), married (1) Sir Thomas Grey, had one son (2) Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex, had eleven children
Henry of Cambridge, died in infancy

Richard’s mother Anne Mortimer died shortly after his birth, due to childbirth complications. His father Richard of Conisbrough made a second marriage to Maud Clifford, the divorced wife of John Neville, 6th Baron Latimer, and daughter of Thomas de Clifford, 6th Baron de Clifford, but the couple did not have any children.

In 1414, Richard’s father Richard of Conisbrough was created 3rd Earl of Cambridge but the title came without the usual grants of land. As a result, Richard of Conisbrough lacked the resources to properly equip himself for King Henry V’s invasion of France. Perhaps partly for this reason, Richard of Conisbrough conspired with Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey to depose King Henry V and place Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, the brother of Richard of Conisbrough’s deceased wife Anne Mortimer on the English throne. Edmund Mortimer was the great-grandson of Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, the second surviving son of King Edward III, and his claim to the throne was superior to the claim of King Henry V and his father King Henry IV (both descended from King Edward III’s third surviving son John of Gaunt,1st Duke of Lancaster) who had deposed his first cousin King Richard II. However, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March had not been aware of the plot and when he found out about it, he told King Henry V. The three plotters, including Richard of Conisbrough, were arrested, tried, and beheaded in August 1415.

Richard, 3rd Duke of York, stained glass window from St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow, Shropshire, England; Credit – http://www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk/

With the execution of his father, four-year-old Richard was an orphan. The title of Richard’s father was not attainted – after being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason), an act of attainder deprived nobles of their titles and lands. The descendants of the attainted noble could no longer inherit his lands or income. Because his father was not attainted, four-year-old Richard inherited his father’s Earl of Cambridge title. Three months later, little Richard’s paternal uncle (his father’s elder brother) Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York was killed at the Battle of Agincourt, and Richard inherited his paternal uncle’s titles and estates. In 1425, when Richard’s maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March died, Richard inherited the lesser title of Earl of March but the greater estates of the Mortimer family along with their claim to the English throne. Richard of York already held a strong claim to the English throne as a male-line great-grandson of King Edward III.

Richard’s wife Cecily Neville, Detail from the 15th century Neville Book of Hours. The rest of the image shows her mother, Joan Beaufort, along with her daughters; Credit – Wikipedia

After his father died in 1415, the orphaned Richard became a royal ward and was placed in the household of Sir Robert Waterton, loyal to King Henry V and King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster. In 1423, Richard became the royal ward of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland who married (his second wife) Joan Beaufort, daughter of King Edward III’s fourth son John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he later married in 1396. Ralph Neville had eight children with his first wife and fourteen children with his second wife and had many daughters needing husbands. As was his right, Neville betrothed his youngest child, nine-year-old daughter Cecily Neville to thirteen-year-old Richard in 1424. Richard and Cecily were married by October 1429.

Richard and Cecily had twelve children including two Kings of England:

Anne of York (1439 – 1476), married (1) Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, had one daughter (2) Sir Thomas St. Leger, Anne died giving birth to a daughter
Henry of York (born and died 1441), died in infancy
Edward IV, King of England (1442 – 1483), married Elizabeth Woodville, had ten children including the ill-fated Edward V, King of England and Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, King of England
Edmund, Earl of Rutland (1443 – 1460), unmarried killed at the Battle of Wakefield, during the Wars of the Roses
Elizabeth of York (1444 – circa 1503), wife of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk, had eleven children
Margaret of York (1446 – 1503), married Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy, no children
William of York (born and died 1447), died in infancy
John of York (born and died 1448), died in infancy
George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449 – 1478), married Isabel Neville, had four children, George was executed by his brother King Edward IV
Thomas of York (born and died circa 1450/1451), died in infancy
Richard III, King of England (1452 – 1485), married Anne Neville, had one son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales who predeceased his father, Richard III was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Ursula of York (born and died 1455), died in infancy

In 1422, 35-year-old King Henry V succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, leaving his nine-month-old son to inherit his throne as King Henry VI. Over the next decade, Richard was a member of the close circle around the young king, in recognition of his place in the line of succession to the English throne. Richard was third in the line of succession after John, 1st Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, 1st Duke of Gloucester, both brothers of King Henry V and paternal uncles of the young King Henry VI. Richard was knighted by John, 1st Duke of Bedford in 1426. He was present for King Henry VI’s coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1429. Richard came of age in 1432 and was granted full control of his estates. In 1433, he was created a Knight of the Garter.

After the deaths of John, 1st Duke of Bedford in 1435 and Humphrey, 1st Duke of Gloucester in 1447, who were both childless, Richard, 3rd Duke of York was the heir to the English throne. In 1436, Richard was appointed to succeed John, 1st Duke of Bedford as commander of the English forces in France during the Hundred Years’ War. In 1445, King Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou, the niece of King Charles VII of France. Henry VI and Margaret had one child, born eight years after their marriage, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. Edward was the heir to the throne, followed by Richard, 3rd Duke of York.

King Henry VI of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Shortly before his son was born, King Henry VI had some sort of mental breakdown. He was unable to recognize or respond to people for over a year. These attacks may have been hereditary. Henry’s maternal grandfather King Charles VI of France suffered from similar attacks, even thinking he was made of glass. Sometimes Henry VI also had hallucinations which makes some modern medical experts think he may have had a form of schizophrenia. Porphyria, which may have afflicted King George III, has also been suggested as a possible cause. During Henry’s incapacity, Richard, 3rd Duke of York and the next in line to the throne after Henry’s son, governed as Lord Protector. Richard often quarreled with the Lancastrians at court. In 1448, he assumed the surname Plantagenet and then assumed the leadership of the Yorkist faction in 1450.

King Henry VI sitting while Richard, 3rd Duke of York (left) & Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (center) argue. From a 19th-century book A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 – A.D. 1485; Credit – Wikipedia

Even before the birth of Henry VI’s son, factions were forming and the seeds of the Wars of the Roses were being planted. There were differing opinions over how England should conduct the Hundred Years’ War with France. By the early 1450s, the most important rivalry was between Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Richard argued for a more vigorous approach to the war to recover territories lost to the French. The Duke of Somerset was among those who believed there should be attempts to secure peace by making concessions.

Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset also came from two rival cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet. In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, the eldest legitimate son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (the third surviving son of King Edward III), deposed his first cousin King Richard II, the son of King Edward III’s eldest son Edward (Prince of Wales) the Black Prince. Henry Bolingbroke became King Henry IV, the first of three kings (along with Henry V and Henry VI) from the House of Lancaster. This bypassed the descendants of King Edward III’s second son Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, with Richard, 3rd Duke of York of the House of York being the current heir of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset was a member of the House of Lancaster. He was the grandson of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford, who John of Gaunt eventually married. Originally illegitimate, the Beauforts had been made legitimate by an Act of Parliament but were supposedly barred from the line of succession to the throne. However, there was always the possibility that this could be circumvented. See a family tree, Wikipedia: Family connections and the Wars of the Roses.)

King Henry VI was more interested in religion and learning than military matters. His wife Margaret of Anjou, an intelligent, energetic woman, realized that she would have to take on most of her husband’s duties. Margaret took over the military reins and aligned herself with Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset. Margaret believed her husband was threatened with being deposed by Richard, 3rd Duke of York who thought he had a better claim to the throne and would be a better king than Henry VI. After Henry VI’s recovery in 1455, Richard was dismissed from his position of Lord Protector, and Margaret and Edward Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset became all-powerful. Eventually, things came to a head between Henry VI’s House of Lancaster and Richard’s House of York, and war broke out.

At the First Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset was killed. Afterward, there was a peace, but hostilities started again four years later. On July 10, 1460, King Henry VI was captured at the Battle of Northampton and forced to recognize Richard, 3rd Duke of York as his heir instead of his own son.

The remains of Sandal Castle; Credit – By Abcdef123456 at English Wikipedia – Photo taken by Abcdef123456; Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons.; description page is/was here., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4380982

In December 1460, Richard, 3rd Duke of York rode to his fortress of Sandal Castle near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. He planned to spend a comfortable Christmas among his own people. Richard settled down to wait for his eldest son Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV) to arrive from Shrewsbury with reinforcements before engaging with the Lancastrians. Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, leading the Lancastrian army would have liked to besiege Richard at Sandal Castle but lacked the resources to conduct a siege. They decided that Richard must somehow be lured out of the castle and made to fight before his son Edward arrived with reinforcements. The Lancastrian army available consisted of 20,000 men while the Yorkist army had only 12,000 men.

John Neville, Baron Neville, who had grown up with Richard as he was the eldest son of Richard’s guardian Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, arrived at Sandal Castle with 8,000 men but he deserted to the Lancastrians. Even after this, Richard seriously underestimated the size of the Lancastrian army. As December drew to a close, the discipline of the York army was lax. Many York men were allowed to leave the castle precincts to forage for food, signaling to the Lancastrians that there were supply issues. The York scouts were incompetent as they failed to discover the Lancastrians’ plans.

Around Christmas Day, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset met with Richard and they agreed that there should be a truce until after the Epiphany (January 6) but the Lancastrians did not intend to keep the truce. For three days, a Lancastrian herald was sent to Richard with orders to provoke him with insults into attacking. On December 29, 1460, the Lancastrians disguised 400 men as Yorkist reinforcements and sent them to join the army at Sandal Castle.

On December 30, 1460, Richard left Sandal Castle. It is not sure why Richard left the safety of the castle. Perhaps a combination of thinking the disguised Lancastrians were Yorkists or planned Richard to lead his men on a foraging expedition. The Yorkists marched towards the Lancastrians located to the north of the castle. As the Yorkists engaged the Lancastrians to their front, others attacked them from the flank and rear, cutting them off from the castle. Richard had no idea that the Lancastrian army was so near or that his army was so outnumbered.

Monument to Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York on the place of his death; Credit – By SMJ, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13540643

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was pulled down from his horse and killed. Richard’s second son, 17-year-old Edmund, Earl of Rutland had been fighting with him. Edmund attempted to escape over Wakefield Bridge but was overtaken and killed, possibly by the Lancastrian John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford to avenge his father’s death at the First Battle of St Albans. After the battle ended some Lancasterian soldiers retrieved Richard’s body, propped it up, and crowned it with a garland of reeds. They then pretended to bow and said, “Hail king without a kingdom!” Lord Clifford ordered the corpses of Richard and his son Edmund to be decapitated and ordered a paper crown to be placed on Richard’s head. The heads of Richard and Edmund were then displayed on pikes over Micklegate Bar, the main entrance of the city of York. The bodies of Richard and Edmund were quietly buried at Pontefract Castle in Pontefract, Yorkshire, England.

Richard’s eldest son King Edward IV of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Richard’s eldest son Edward was now the leader of the Yorkist faction. On February 3, 1461, Edward defeated the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Edward then took a bold step and declared himself king on March 4, 1461. His decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton on March 29, 1461, cemented his status as King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 29, 1461. However, the former king, Henry VI, still lived and fled to Scotland. There were back and forth reigns of King Edward IV and King Henry VI. Edward IV reigned from 1461 – 1470 and Henry VI reigned from 1470 -1471. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Henry VI’s son Edward, Prince of Wales was killed. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from Edward IV. Edward IV reigned until he died in 1483.

Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay; Credit – By Theroadislong – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37346663

On July 30, 1476, during the reign of Richard’s son King Edward IV, the remains of Richard and Edmund were reinterred at the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints in Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, England in a grand ceremony attended by Richard’s sons King Edward IV, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future King Richard III) and many noblemen. Thomas Whiting, Chester Herald of Arms in Ordinary, has left a detailed account of the events.

At the entrance to the churchyard, King Edward waited, together with the Duke of Clarence, the Marquis of Dorset, Earl Rivers, Lord Hastings and other noblemen. Upon its arrival the King ‘made obeisance to the body right humbly and put his hand on the body and kissed it, crying all the time.’ The procession moved into the church where two hearses were waiting, one in the choir for the body of the Duke and one in the Lady Chapel for that of the Earl of Rutland, and after the King had retired to his ‘closet’ and the princes and officers of arms had stationed themselves around the hearses, masses were sung and the King’s chamberlain offered for him seven pieces of cloth of gold ‘which were laid in a cross on the body.’ The next day three masses were sung, the Bishop of Lincoln preached a ‘very noble sermon’ and offerings were made by the Duke of Gloucester and other lords, of ‘The Duke of York’s coat of arms, of his shield, his sword, his helmet and his coursers on which rode Lord Ferrers in full armour, holding in his hand an axe reversed.’

When Richard’s wife Cecily Neville, Duchess of York died in 1495, she was interred next to her husband as her will directed. After the choir of the Church of Saint Mary and All Saints was destroyed during the Reformation, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the removal of the smashed York tombs and then created the present York tombs. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and his wife Cecily were the great-great-great-grandparents of Queen Elizabeth I.

The tomb of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and his wife Cecily Neville, to the left of the altar; Credit – Visit to Fotheringhay – Part 3, Exploring the Church of St Mary and All Saints

The Beaufort line eventually did produce a King of England. On August 22, 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty, King Richard III of England, the youngest son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, lost his life and his crown. The battle was a decisive victory for the House of Lancaster, whose leader 28-year-old Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor as King Henry VII. Henry VII was a great-great-great-grandson of Edward III, King of England through the line of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, the eldest child of John of Gaunt (son of King Edward III) and his mistress Katherine Swynford who he later married.

The bloodline of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York remains alive among European royalty. His granddaughter Elizabeth of York, the daughter of his son Edward IV, King of England, married King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. Through their daughter Margaret Tudor, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York is an ancestor of the British royal family and many other European royal families.

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary_and_All_Saints,_Fotheringhay> [Accessed 1 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_of_Conisburgh,_3rd_Earl_of_Cambridge> [Accessed 1 August 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_of_York,_3rd_Duke_of_York> [Accessed 1 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Edward IV of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-edward-iv-of-england/> [Accessed 1 August 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2015. King Henry VI of England. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-henry-vi-of-england/> [Accessed 1 August 2022].
Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
Weir, Alison, 1995. The Wars of the Roses. New York: Ballantine Books.
Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Count Pierre de Polignac, Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois

Count Pierre de Polignac; Credit – Wikipedia

Count Pierre de Polignac, after his marriage, Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois, was the husband of Princess Charlotte of Monaco, daughter of Louis II, Prince of Monaco. Pierre and Charlotte were the parents of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and the paternal grandparents of Albert II, the current Prince of Monaco. Count Pierre Marie Xavier Raphaël Antoine Melchior de Polignac was born on October 24, 1895, at the Château de Kerscamp in Hennebont, in the Britanny region of northwest France. He was the seventh of the eight children and the fourth of the five sons of Count Maxence de Polignac (1857 – 1936), from an old French noble family, and his Mexican-born wife Susana de la Torre y Mier (1858 – 1913). Pierre’s great-great-grandparents were Jules de Polignac, 1st Duke of Polignac and his wife Yolande de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac (1749 – 1793), a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and the Governess to the Children of France from 1782 – 1789.

Pierre had seven siblings:

Countess Joséphine de Polignac (1882 – 1976), married Amaury de Jacquelot, Count du Boisrouvray, had two children
Countess Marie-Louise de Polignac (1884 – 1944), married Eon Charles Aimé Le Gouvello Du Timat, had seven children
Count Xavier de Polignac (1886 – 1941), married María de la Torre y Formento, had one child
Countess Anne de Polignac (1889 – 1970), became a nun, Sister Marie de St. Louis Bertrand
Count Bertrand de Polignac (1893 – 1910), died in his teens
Count Maxence de Polignac (1894 – 1963), married Laura de la Torre y Formento, had two children
Count Raymonde de Polignac (1900 – ?)

Meanwhile, in Monaco, there was a succession issue. Albert I, Prince of Monaco had only one child, a son, Louis, Hereditary Prince of Monaco (the future Louis II, Prince of Monaco). However, as Louis was unmarried and without an heir, the Monegasque throne was likely to pass to his first cousin once removed Prince Wilhelm of Urach, Count of Württemberg, 2nd Duke of Urach, a German nobleman who was the son of his father’s aunt Princess Florestine of Monaco. However, Louis had an illegitimate daughter. While serving in Algeria for ten years with the French Foreign Legion, Louis met Marie Juliette Louvet, a cabaret singer. The couple was deeply in love, but Louis’ father would not grant permission to marry. A daughter, Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet, was born in 1898.

To avoid having Prince Wilhelm of Urach become the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, Louis’ father, Albert I, Prince of Monaco arranged to have a law passed recognizing Charlotte as Louis’ heir and a member of the Princely Family of Monaco. However, this law was later ruled invalid under earlier statutes. In October 1918, another law was passed allowing for the adoption of an heir with succession rights. On May 16, 1919, Louis legally adopted his illegitimate daughter Charlotte, giving her the Grimaldi surname. Her grandfather Albert I, Prince of Monaco created her Her Serene Highness Princess Charlotte of Monaco and Duchess of Valentinois. Upon the death of her grandfather and the accession of her father to the throne of Monaco, Charlotte would become the Hereditary Princess of Monaco.

Princess Charlotte of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Charlotte’s grandfather Albert I, Prince of Monaco made a list of eligible young Frenchmen who could be prospective husbands for his granddaughter. One of the most promising was Count Pierre de Polignac, from one of the oldest French aristocratic families. Pierre was a frequent visitor to Monaco as the houseguest of the many rich and titled people who had homes in the principality. Charlotte had met Pierre and thought him handsome. However, according to the treaty with France and Monaco’s Bill of Accession, a female Grimaldi could inherit the throne only if her husband was also a Grimaldi. A prenuptial agreement was drawn up specifying Pierre’s name change, limiting his power if Charlotte became Sovereign Princess of Monaco, and guaranteeing him a large personal income for life.

Pierre and Charlotte on their wedding day; Credit – Mad for Monaco

On March 18, 1920, Pierre became Pierre Grimaldi, Count of Polignac. The next day Pierre and Charlotte were married at the Cathedral of Monaco and Pierre became His Serene Highness Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois, taking the male version of Charlotte’s title Duchess of Valentinois. Nine months later, on December 28, 1920, in Paris, France, Charlotte gave birth to Princess Antoinette of Monaco. Pierre and Charlotte had fulfilled their duty. Monaco had an heir even if Charlotte and Pierre never had a son. On June 26, 1922, Charlotte’s grandfather Prince Louis II died, her father succeeded to the throne as Louis II, Prince of Monaco, and Charlotte became the Hereditary Princess of Monaco. The next year, on May 31, 1923, Charlotte gave birth to the future Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.

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Prince Pierre, Prince Rainier, Princess Charlotte, Princess Antoinette, and Louis II, Prince of Monaco on January 1, 1924

Pierre and Charlotte’s children:

Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy (1920 – 2011), married (1) Alexandre-Athenase Noghès, had three children who were born before marriage but were later legitimized, divorced (2) Dr. Jean-Charles Rey, no children, divorced (2) John Gilpin who died six weeks after the marriage
Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1923 – 2005), married Grace Kelly, had one son and two daughters

Once Pierre had produced a male heir, he was no longer necessary. His father-in-law Prince Louis II disliked him and Charlotte became unhappy shortly after the marriage. In the mid-1920s, the couple unofficially separated. Pierre and Charlotte were legally separated by a French court on March 20, 1930. On February 18, 1933, they were divorced by the ordinance of Prince Louis II, and the divorce was confirmed by a French tribunal in December 1933. Pierre received an annual annuity of 500,000 francs. After the divorce, Pierre was styled His Serene Highness Prince Pierre of Monaco, losing the right to use the male counterpart of Charlotte’s title Duchess of Valentinois. The marriage was legally over but there was never an annulment from the Roman Catholic Church. Being born illegitimate, and now divorced, Charlotte knew that she would never be fully accepted by the very Catholic Monaco. She renounced her succession rights to the Monegasque throne in May 1944 in favor of her son Rainier. Five years later, Charlotte’s father died, and Rainier became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

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Prince Pierre, circa 1960

During the reign of his son Prince Rainier III, Pierre lived in a villa near the Prince’s Palace in Monaco. In 1951, Pierre founded the Le Prix littéraire Prince Pierre de Monaco, an award to honor French-language writers with an exemplary body of work, and served as its president from 1951 until he died in 1964. In 1966, Pierre’s son Prince Rainier III expanded the original organization into The Prince Pierre Foundation in memory of his father, a great patron of the arts. The foundation awards annual prizes in literature, music, and contemporary art. Pierre’s granddaughter The Princess of Hanover (Princess Caroline of Monaco) serves as the President. In 1957, Prince Pierre became President of the Monaco National Commission of UNESCO and the Monaco Olympic Committee. The Princess Caroline Ludothèque, a library, still in existence, offering children direct access to books, toys, and games, was founded by Prince Pierre in 1960, and named after his granddaughter Princess Caroline.

Chapelle de la Paix (Chapel of Peace) in Monaco. photo: www.structurae.info

On November 10, 1964, Prince Pierre, aged 69, died of cancer at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris, France. He was buried at the Chapelle de la Paix in Monaco where his former wife Princess Charlotte, his daughter Princess Antoinette and her deceased children have also been buried.

Works Cited

Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Pierre,_Duke_of_Valentinois> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
Fondationprincepierre.mc. 2022. Prince Pierre | Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco. [online] Available at: <https://www.fondationprincepierre.mc/en/prince-pierre-40> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Pierre de Polignac — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Polignac> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
Mehl, Scott, 2013. Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/september-30-1898-birth-of-princess-charlotte-of-monaco-duchess-of-valentinois/> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1964. Prince Pierre, 69, of Monaco Is Dead. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1964/11/11/97432520.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0> [Accessed 7 May 2022].

Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland

Joan Beaufort; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Joan Beaufort was the only daughter and the youngest of the four children of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his mistress Katherine Swynford, whom he later married in 1396. Joan was born circa 1379, possibly at Kettlethorpe Hall in Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, England, a property that had belonged to the first husband of Joan’s mother, Sir Hugh Swynford who had died in 1371.

Joan’s mother Katherine Swynford; Credit – http://kettlethorpechurch.co.uk/katherine-swynford/

Joan Beaufort’s paternal grandparents were King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England. Her maternal grandmother is unknown but her maternal grandfather was Paon de Roet, a knight from the County of Hainault (now part of Belgium and France) who first came to England in 1328 when Philippa of Hainault married King Edward III of England.

Joan’s father John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster; Credit – Wikipedia

All British monarchs since King Henry IV are descended from John of Gaunt. In fact, most European monarchies are descended from John. The Houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor were all descended from John of Gaunt’s children:

King Henry IV (Lancaster: father of King Henry V, grandfather of King Henry VI)
Joan Beaufort (York: grandmother of King Edward IV and King Richard III)
John Beaufort (Tudor: great-grandfather of King Henry VII)

During the Wars of the Roses, the battle for the English throne pitted the House of Lancaster and the House of York against each other. Note in the lists of descendants below, the several family members who were killed in battle or executed during the Wars of the Roses.

Joan had three elder brothers:

John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (circa 1373 – 1410), married Margaret Holland, had at least six children
Henry, Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester (circa 1375 – 1447), unmarried
Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter (circa 1377–1426), married Margaret Neville of Horneby, one son who died young

Joan had three half-siblings from her mother’s first marriage to Sir Hugh Swynford (circa 1340 – 1371), a knight in service to John of Gaunt:

Blanche Swynford (1367 – circa 1374), died in childhood
Sir Thomas Swynford (1368 – 1432), married (1) Jane Crophill, had three children (2) Margaret Grey, no children
Margaret Swynford (born c. 1369), became a nun at Barking Abbey in 1377 with help from her future stepfather John of Gaunt, where she lived the religious life with her cousin Elizabeth Chaucer, daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Katherine’s sister Philippa de Roet

King Henry IV of England, Joan’s half-brother from her father’s first marriage to Blanche of Lancaster; Credit – Wikipedia

Joan had seven half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to the wealthy heiress Blanche of Lancaster:

Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of Portugal (1360 – 1415), married King João I of Portugal, had nine children
John of Lancaster (c.1362/1364), died in infancy
Elizabeth of Lancaster (1364 – 1426), married (1) John Hastings, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (2) John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, had six children (3) John Cornwall, 1st Baron Fanhope, had two children
Edward of Lancaster (born and died 1365)
John (born and died 1366), died in early infancy
King Henry IV of England (1367 – 1413), married (1) Mary de Bohun, had six children including King Henry V of England (2) Joanna of Navarre, no children
Isabella of Lancaster (born 1368), died young

The effigy of Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile, Joan’s half-sister from her father’s second marriage to Constance of Castile; Credit – Wikipedia

Joan had two half-siblings from her father’s second marriage to Infanta Constance of Castile:

Catherine of Lancaster, Queen of Castile (1372 – 1418), married King Enrique III of Castile and León, had three children. Through their son Juan II of Castile, Catherine and Enrique III are the grandparents of Isabella I, Queen of Castile and great-grandparents of Catherine of Aragon (daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the first wife of King Henry VIII of England.
John of Lancaster (1374 – 1375), died in infancy

Joan and her siblings likely spent their early years at Kettlethorpe Hall in Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, England, a property that had belonged to the first husband of John’s mother, Sir Hugh Swynford who had died in 1371. Kettlethorpe was a small, quiet village, close to the city of Lincoln but 150 miles from London. It would have been a perfect place for John of Gaunt to carry on a discreet affair and have his illegitimate children raised as he had made a second marriage in 1371 and Katherine was a recent widow.

Two years after the death of his second wife Constance of Castile, John of Gaunt married his mistress Katherine Swynford, Joan Beaufort’s mother, on January 13, 1396, at Lincoln Cathedral in England. After the marriage of Katherine and John, their four children were legitimized by both John of Gaunt’s nephew King Richard II of England and Pope Boniface IX. After Henry Bolingbroke, John of Gaunt’s eldest son by his first wife Blanche of Lancaster, deposed his first cousin King Richard II in 1399, and became King Henry IV, he inserted the Latin phrase excepta regali dignitate (except royal status) in the documents that had legitimized his Beaufort half-siblings and supposedly that phrase barred them from the throne. However, many disputed and still dispute the authority of a monarch to alter an existing parliamentary statute on his or her own authority, without the further approval of Parliament.

John of Gaunt treated his Beaufort children as cherished members of the family but he was careful that the provisions he made for them would not interfere with the Lancaster inheritance reserved for his legitimate children. Instead, he found other forms of income for them through marriages and for his second son Henry, through the church. Because of John of Gaunt’s cautions, his Beaufort children were held in great affection by their half-siblings.

When Joan was seven-years-old, she was betrothed to 13-year-old Robert Ferrers of Wem (circa 1373 – 1396), the heir of his mother Elizabeth Boteler, 4th Baroness Boteler of Wem. Joan and Robert were married in 1391 or 1392, and the couple remained in the household of John of Gaunt. Robert predeceased his mother, dying sometime between May 1395 and November 1396.

Joan and Robert had two daughters:

Elizabeth Ferrers (1393 – 1474), married John de Greystoke, 4th Baron Greystoke, had twelve children
Mary Ferrers (1394 – 1458), married her stepbrother Sir Ralph Neville, had two children

Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland with twelve of his twenty-two children, from the Neville Book of Hours, circa 1427-1432; Credit – Wikipedia

In November 1396, Joan married the recently widowed Ralph Neville, then 4th Baron Neville de Raby, after 1397, 1st Earl of Westmorland. Ralph was the son of John Neville, 3th Baron Neville de Raby and Maud Percy, daughter of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy of Alnwick. The seventeen-year-old Joan immediately became the stepmother to Neville’s eight children by his first wife Margaret Stafford who died on June 9, 1396. Joan and Ralph lived primarily at Raby Castle near Staindrop in County Durham, England.

Joan’s eight stepchildren, the children of her second husband Ralph Neville:

Maud Neville (circa 1383 – 1438), married Peter Mauley, 5th Baron Mauley, had two daughters
Alice Neville (circa 1384 – circa 1434), married (1) Sir Thomas Grey, had nine children, beheaded for his part in the Southampton Plot (2) Sir Gilbert Lancaster, had one son
Philippa Neville (1386 – circa 1453) married Thomas Dacre, 6th Baron Dacre of Gilsland, had nin children
Sir John Neville (circa 1387 – circa 1420), Elizabeth Holland, had three sons and a daughter
Elizabeth Neville, a nun
Anne Neville (circa 1384 – 1421), married Sir Gilbert Umfraville (died at the Battle of Baugé in Anjou during the Hundred Years’ War), no children
Sir Ralph Neville (circa 1392 – 1458), married his step-sister Mary Ferrers, daughter of Robert Ferrers of Wem and Joan Beaufort, had five children
Margaret Neville (circa 1396 – circa 1463), married (1) Richard Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Bolton, had three children (2) William Cressener, had three sons

Joan Beaufort and her six daughters from her second marriage, from the Neville Book of Hours, circa 1427-1432; Credit – Wikipedia

Joan and Ralph had fourteen children:

Lady Katherine Neville (circa 1397 – circa 1483), married (1) John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, had one son (2) Sir Thomas Strangways, had two daughters (3) John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont, killed in the Battle of Northampton during the Wars of the Roses, no children (4) Sir John Woodville, brother of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of the Yorkist King Edward IV. The marriage was considered a grab for money and power as Katherine was 65 and John was 19. After the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Edgecote during the Wars of the Roses in 1469, John and his father were taken prisoners, given a quick trial, and beheaded.
Lady Eleanor Neville (circa 1398 – 1472), married (1) Richard le Despenser, 4th Baron Burghersh, no children (2) Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, killed during the First Battle of St Albans during the Wars of the Roses, had ten children including four sons who died in battle during the Wars of the Roses
Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury (1400 – 1460), married Alice Montagu, 5th Countess of Salisbury in her own right, had twelve children including Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, The Kingmaker, an important figure during the Wars of the Roses. After the defeat of the Yorkists at the Battle of Wakefield during the Wars of the Roses, Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury escaped the battlefield but was captured, taken to the Lancastrian camp, and beheaded.
Henry Neville (born and died circa 1402), died in infancy
Robert Neville, Bishop of Durham (1404 – 1457)
William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent (circa 1405 – 1463), married Joan de Fauconberg, 6th Baroness Fauconberg in her own right, had five children
John Neville (born and died circa 1406), died in infancy
George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer (circa 1407 – 1469), married Lady Elizabeth de Beauchamp, had four children
Lady Anne Neville (circa 1408 – 1480), married (1) Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, killed at the Battle of Northampton during the Wars of the Roses, had twelve children (2) Walter Blount, 1st Baron Mountjoy, no children
Thomas Neville (born circa 1410), died in childhood
Cuthbert Neville (born and died circa 1411), died in infancy
Joan Neville (circa 1412 – 1453), became a nun of the Order of St. Clare
Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny (circa 1414 – 1476), married (1) Elizabeth de Beauchamp, had four children (2) Katherine Howard, had three children
Lady Cecily Neville (1415 – 1495) married Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the Yorkist claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses who was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, had twelve children including King Edward IV and King Richard III

Ralph Neville was initially loyal to Joan’s first cousin King Richard II and secured the English northern border with Scotland for him. As a reward, Ralph was created Earl of Westmorland in 1397. However, after Richard II was deposed in 1399 by his first cousin Henry Bolingbroke, Ralph gave his loyalty to the new King Henry IV, Joan’s half-brother. For his support of the new king, Ralph was rewarded with a lifetime appointment as Earl Marshal in 1399, although he resigned the office in 1412.

In 1403, Ralph was created a Knight of the Garter. He was important to his wife’s half-brother King Henry IV and then to Henry IV’s son King Henry V as a reliable ally in the troubled north of England. Because of Joan’s royal connections and dynastic importance, Ralph decided in 1404 to disinherit his children from his first marriage in favor of his children from his second marriage. This created a long dispute called the Neville–Neville Feud that took years to settle.

In 1423, Ralph and Joan took Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the orphaned heir of the House of York, into their household as a royal ward. Richard’s mother Anne de Mortimer had died due to childbirth complications shortly after Richard’s birth. It was through his mother, a descendant of Edward III’s second surviving son Lionel of Antwerp that Richard inherited his strongest claim to the throne. Richard’s father Richard of Conisbrough, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, a grandson of King Edward III, died in 1415. Within a few months of his father’s death, Richard’s childless uncle, Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and so Richard inherited his uncle’s title and lands, becoming the 3rd Duke of York. From 1415 – 1423, Richard had been the royal ward of Robert Waterton.

Eventually, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York married Ralph and Joan’s youngest child Cecily, and they were the parents of the Yorkist Kings of England, Edward IV and Richard III. Richard, 3rd Duke of York was the Yorkist claimant to the English throne during the Wars of the Roses until he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. Richard and Cecily’s eldest son Edward, Earl of March, the future King Edward IV, then became the leader of the Yorkist faction.

The Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Staindrop that Ralph built; Credit – By George Ford, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9172971

After the early death of thirty-five-year-old King Henry V in 1422, and the accession of his nine-month-old only child as King Henry VI, Ralph served on the regency council of the young king. In addition to his political activities, Ralph built several churches including the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Staindrop, County Durham, England where his primary home Raby Castle was located. He was buried at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary after his death on October 21, 1425, at the age of about 61. Ralph’s tomb contains effigies of himself and his two wives but neither wife is buried there.

Tomb of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland with the effigy of his second wife Joan Beaufort. The effigy of Ralph’s first wife Margaret Stafford lies on his right side. Neither wife is buried with him. Credit – www.findagrave.com

Joan survived her husband Ralph by fifteen years, dying on November 13, 1440, aged 60-61, in Howden, Yorkshire, England. Although Joan had built a chantry in 1437 for her second husband Ralph and herself at the Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Staindrop, she decided that she wanted to be buried near her mother Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster at Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, England.

Tombs of Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland on the left and her mother Katherine Swyford, Duchess of Lancaster on the right (behind the chairs); Credit – www.findagrave.com

Works Cited

En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Beaufort,_Countess_of_Westmorland> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Neville,_1st_Earl_of_Westmorland> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2017. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/john-of-gaunt-1st-duke-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/katherine-swynford-duchess-of-lancaster/> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
geni_family_tree. 2022. Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, 4th Baron Neville de Raby. [online] Available at: <https://www.geni.com/people/Ralph-Neville-1st-Earl-of-Westmorland-4th-Baron-Neville-de-Raby/6000000001069437500> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
Jones, Dan, 2012. The Plantagenets. New York: Viking.
Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Бофорт, Джоан — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%91%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82,_%D0%94%D0%B6%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BD> [Accessed 1 July 2022].
Weir, Alison, 2009. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. New York: Ballantine Books.
Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

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