Charlotte of Spain
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Charlotte Joaquina Teresa of Spain (Portuguese: Carlota Joaquina de Bourbon e Bourbon; in Spanish: Carlota Joaquina de Borbón y Borbón) (25 April 1775 - 7 January 1830) was a Queen consort of Portugal.
She was the eldest daughter of King Carlos IV of Spain (1748-1819) and his wife Maria Louisa of Parma (1751-1819).
She was born in Aranjuez. On 8 May 1785 she was officially married (consummated on 9 January 1790 in Lisbon) to the future João VI, King of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, the second son of Queen Maria I of Portugal and the late King Consort Pedro III of Portugal.
In 1788, when his eldest brother Joseph, Prince of Brazil, died, João became the first in line to his mother's throne. Soon he received the titles Prince of Brazil and 17th Duke of Braganza. Between 1788 and 1816, Charlotte was known as Princess of Brazil.
The children of João and Carlota Joaquina were:
- Maria Teresa, princess of Beira (1793-1874), m. Pedro Carlos of Spain and Portugal (they had one child, Sebastian of Spain). m2. Infante Carlos of Spain, pretender of Spain, widower of her younger sister
- António (Francisco António) (1795-1801), 4th prince of Beira
- Maria Isabel (1797-1818), m. Ferdinand VII of Spain, her uncle
- Pedro IV (1798-1834), prince of Beira, then Duke of Braganza and Prince of Brazil himself, later Emperor of Brazil
- Maria Francisca (1800-1834), m. Infante Carlos of Spain, future pretender to the Spanish throne, her uncle
- Isabel Maria (1801-1876), Regent of Portugal in 1826
- Miguel I (1802-1866)
- Maria de Assunção (1805-1834)
- Ana de Jesus (1806-1857), m. 1827 Joseph Barreto, Duke of Loulé
Carlota Joaquina is said to have been ambitious and violent. Her features were reportedly ugly and she was short in stature, though apparently not clearly a dwarf.
While in Brazil, Carlota Joaquina made attempts to obtain the administration of the Spanish dominions in Latin America. Spain itself was under Napoleon and its kings, her father and brother, were held by Napoleon in France. She regarded herself as the heiress of her captured family. Allegedly among her plans was to send armies to occupy Buenos Aires and northern Argentina to style herself as Queen of La Plata. The Portuguese-Brazilian forces, however, only managed to annex the eastern banks of the river as Cisplatina, which were kept in the Empire after 1822 and seceded in 1828 as the Republic of Uruguay.
When the Portuguese Royal Family returned to Portugal in 1821 after an absence of 14 years, Carlota Joaquina met a country that had changed much since their departure. In 1807, Portugal had lived stably under absolutism. Napoleonic troops had brought revolutionary ideas. In 1820, a liberal revolution commenced from Oporto. Constitutional Cortes had been promulgating, and in 1821 they gave Portugal its first constitution. In her native Spain, there had been similar developments in 1812. The queen had arch-conservative positions and wanted a reactionary development in Portugal. Her husband did not want to renege his vows to uphold the constitution. Carlota Joaquina made an alliance 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 the king a virtual prisoner in the palace, where the queen tried to make him to abdicate in favor of Miguel. However, the king received British help and regained power, finally compelling his son to leave the country. The queen had also to go briefly into exile.
Shortly before King João's death, he nominated their daughter Infanta Isabel Maria as regent, a position usually occupied by the queen dowager.
Carlota Joaquina died in Queluz Palace.
[edit] Brazilian films and TV shows about her life
- Carlota Joaquina - Princesa do Brazil (1994) - Directed by Carla Camurati. Cast: Marco Nanini, Marieta Severo, Vera Holtz, Ney Latorraca and Marcos Palmeira. Tells a summarized tale, mixing history with legend, of the Princess's life, from her childhood until her (mythical) suicide.
- O Quinto dos Infernos (2003) - Directed by Wolf Maya. Cast: André Mattos, Betty Lago, Eva Wilma, Marcos Pasquim and Humberto Martins. A television miniseries produced by Globo TV which tells the tale of the Portuguese Royal Family during their stay in Brazil.
[edit] Ancestry
| Preceded by Peter III of Portugal |
Queen consort of Portugal 20 March 1816 - 26 March 1826 |
Succeeded by Maria Leopoldina of Austria |
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