| Mariana Victoria of Spain | |
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| Mariana Victoria as Queen of Portugal | |
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| Tenure | 31 July 1750 – 24 February 1777 |
| Spouse | Joseph I of Portugal |
| Issue | |
| Maria I, Queen of Portugal Infanta Mariana Francisca Infanta Doroteia Benedita, Princess of Brazil |
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| House | House of Braganza House of Bourbon |
| Father | Philip V of Spain |
| Mother | Elisabeth Farnese |
| Born | 31 March 1718 Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain |
| Died | 15 January 1781 (aged 62) Barraca Real of Ajuda, Portugal |
| Burial | 17 January 1781 Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty |
Mariana Victoria of Spain (31 March 1718 – 15 January 1781) was an Infanta of Spain and Queen consort of Portugal as wife of King Joseph I. The mother of Queen Maria I of Portugal, she also acted as Regent of Portugal during the last months of her husband's life and advisor to her daughter during her reign.
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Mariana Victoria was born at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid and was given the same forenames as her paternal grandmother Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, wife of Louis, "le Grand Dauphin", the only surviving son of King Louis XIV of France. She was an Infanta of Spain by birth as the eldest daughter of King Philip V of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese.[1] Her father was a grandson of Louis XIV and had inherited the Spanish throne in 1700. At the time of her birth, Mariana Victoria was fifth in line to the throne of Spain behind her half-brothers Louis, Ferdinand, and Peter, as well as her full brother Charles.
After the War of the Quadruple Alliance, France and Spain decided to reconcile by engaging the Infanta Mariana Victoria to her first cousin, the young King Louis XV of France. Organised by Philippe d'Orléans, Regent of France for the ten-year-old Louis XV,[2] the match was part of a wider set of marital engagements which included a plan to marry Philip V's eldest son Louis, Prince of Asturias, to Élisabeth d'Orléans, "Mademoiselle de Montpensier", and another plan to marry Philippine Élisabeth d'Orléans, "Mademoiselle de Beaujolais", to the young Infante Charles, the future King Charles III of Spain.[3]
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, the French ambassador, requested Mariana Victoria's hand on behalf of the French king on 25 November 1721. The exchange of the young Infanta and "Mademoiselle de Montpensier" took place on the Pheasant Island on the border between France and Spain that was the site where their common ancestors, Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Austria, had met in 1660. Mariana Victoria arrived in Paris on 2 March 1721 amidst much celebration and took up residence at the Palais du Louvre. The young Infanta was nicknamed the l'infante Reine ("Queen-Infanta"),[3] as the couple was not to be married until Mariana Victoria reached a more mature age. Mariana Victoria was in awe of Louis XV and was popular with the court apart from the king himself, who avoided her.[4]
According to Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, mother of the Regent of France, Mariana Victoria was the "sweetest and prettiest little thing" and had considerable wit for her age. Her education was placed in the care of Marie Anne de Bourbon, an illegitimate daughter of Louis XIV and Louise de La Vallière. In February 1723, Louis XV reached his majority and began to govern France on his own accord.[5]
But Mariana Victoria's establishment in France was not to be. Under the influence of the Prime Minister Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, and his mistress Madame de Prie, the decision was made to send the seven-year-old Infanta back to Spain on 11 March 1725. Bourbon had wanted to maintain influence over the young Louis XV and offered his sister Henriette Louise de Bourbon as a potential wife. She, unlike Mariana Victoria, was old enough to conceive. The situation was not helped by the Spanish rejection of Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, whose husband died after ruling as Louis I of Spain for only seven months.[3] As their marriage had not been consummated, the Spanish refused to support her and ordered her to return to France with her sister Philippine Élisabeth. Mariana Victoria left Versailles on 5 April 1725 and travelled to the frontier, where she and the two Orléans daughters were then exchanged. Louis XV subsequently married Marie Leszczyńska in September 1725 and Mariana Victoria's sister the Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela married Louis XV's son in 1745 to reassure the insulted Spanish court.
Mariana Victoria's return to Spain was taken as a great affront and caused a diplomatic rift between Spain and France. The offended Spanish soon after concluded a treaty with Austria in the form of the 1725 Treaty of Vienna, while England sought support from France. Having remained unmarried, Mariana Victoria was still eligible to inherit the throne, but was displaced in the line of succession by her younger brother Philip, who was born in 1720. Discussions with the Kingdom of Portugal began in 1727, and a marriage was negotiated by the Portuguese ambassador, the Marquis of Abrantes. She had earlier been a rumoured bride for the Emperor Peter II of Russia, grandson of Peter the Great.[6] With the court of Portugal, another double marriage was planned. Mariana Victoria would marry the Infante José, Prince of Brazil, son and heir of King John V. Mariana Victoria's older half-brother Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, would marry José's sister the Infanta Bárbara.[7] Mariana Victoria married the Prince of Brazil (the traditional title for the Portuguese heir to the throne) on 19 January 1729 at Elvas in Portugal.[1] The Prince of Asturias (traditional title for the Spanish heir to the throne) married the Infanta Bárbara the next day at Badajoz in Spain.
Mariana Victoria and her husband would soon enjoy a close relationship. The couple liked hunting as well as music. Mariana Victoria was an accomplished singer who patronised Italian opera singers and the theatre, but both and her husband were passionately religious. Despite this, her husband maintained various mistresses, much to the dislike of his strong-willed wife. During her marriage, Mariana Victoria gave birth to eight children, four of which survived infancy.[1] Her first child Maria was given the style "Princess of Beira" as the heiress presumptive to her father. Two of Mariana Victoria's daughters remained unmarried. Her daughter Mariana Francisca was a proposed bride for the Dauphin of France (the eldest son of Louis XV), but Mariana Victoria herself rejected the plan. When her other daughter Doroteia was proposed as a wife for the future Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (known as "Philippe Égalité"), Mariana Victoria again refused to the match. Her youngest daughter Benedita married José, Prince of Brazil, Mariana Victoria's grandson. The latter marriage was organised by Mariana Victoria herself after the death of her husband.[8]
At the death of her father-in-law, King John V in 1750, Mariana Victoria husband became the ruler of the Portuguese Empire, which had significant territories in South America. Her husbands reign was dominated by the influence of the Marquis of Pombal, who had been a favourite of the Queen mother Maria Anna of Austria. Joseph I soon left the governing of his state to Pombal, who used his power to remove the influence of the church at the court as well as that of his enemies. Mariana Victoria and her daughter disliked the influence that Pombal exercised over Joseph I. Her husband's reign was marred by the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755 which killed 100,000 people. The earthquake caused Joseph I to develop a severe case of claustrophobia, and he was never again comfortable living within a walled building. Consequently, he moved the royal court to an extensive complex of tents in the hills of Ajuda. It was Pombal who organised the reconstruction of Lisbon in the aftermath of the earthquake.
In 1759, the "Távora Affair" emerged after an assassination attempt on Mariana Victoria's husband failed. Pombal held the powerful Távora family completely responsible for the attack. Pombal later ordered the execution of all members of the noble family, and it was only with the intervention of Mariana Victoria and her daughter Maria that some women and children were spared. As Pombal was de facto ruler of the state, Mariana Victoria and her husband took a less prominent role in politics.
Her husband, having suffered a series of strokes, decided to allow his wife to take his place as head of government.[9] As such, Mariana Victoria was created Regent of Portugal in her husband's name. Created Regent on 29 November 1776, she remained so until her husband's death on 24 February 1777.[9] Her eldest daughter then became the first queen regnant of Portugal as Maria I. Throughout her daughter's reign, Mariana Victoria exerted much influence on her daughter, who would often ask her mother's advice on most matters of state. In the early days of Maria I's reign, Pombal was exiled to the country.[9]
When her daughter assumed the reins of government, Mariana Victoria took it upon herself to improve relations with her native Spain, which was ruled by her older brother Carlos III. The two countries had been in conflict regarding territorial possessions in the Americas. Leaving Portugal on 28 October 1777, Mariana Victoria travelled to Spain, where she stayed for just over a year, residing both in Madrid and at Aranjuez.[10] Mariana Victoria helped bring about a treaty between the two nations which was to be cemented by a double marriage between her grandchildren. These unions were between Charles III's son Gabriel and Mariana Victoria's granddaughter Mariana Vitória. The second marriage was between the Infanta Carlota, eldest granddaughter of Carlos III, and the future King John VI of Portugal. While in Spain, Mariana Victoria had had an attack of rheumatism and used a wheelchair for some time in August 1778. She returned to Portugal in November 1778. Her illness worsened when it became clear that she was suffering from heart disease as well.[11] The elderly Mariana Victoria died at the Real Barraca de Ajuda, a building once on the site of the present Ajuda National Palace. She was buried at the Monastery of São Vicente in Lisbon.
Mariana Victoria was the godmother of Marie Antoinette, who was born on the same day that the 1755 Lisbon earthquake devastated Lisbon. Mariana Victoria has descendants ranging from the present King of Spain, King of Belgium, and Grand Duke of Luxembourg to the pretending Duke of Parma and the French Count of Paris. In 1822, her great-grandson Pedro I of Brazil became the first emperor of Brazil.
Arms of the House of Bourbon and House of Braganza
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Mariana_Victoria_of_Spain Mariana Victoria of Spain] at Wikimedia Commons
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Mariana Victoria of Spain
Born: 31 March 1718 Died: 15 January 1781) |
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| Portuguese royalty | ||
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| Preceded by Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria |
Queen consort of Portugal and the Algarves 31 July 1750 – 24 February 1777 |
Succeeded by Vacant Infanta Charlotte Joaquina of Spain |
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