Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal
Infanta Maria Francisca of Braganza (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐˈɾiɐ fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃkɐ]; English: Mary Frances); full name: Maria Francisca de Assis da Maternidade Xavier de Paula e de Alcântara Antónia Joaquina Gonzaga Carlota Mónica Senhorinha Sotera e Caia de Bourbon e Bragança; 22 April 1800 – 4 September 1834) was a Portuguese infanta (princess) daughter of King John VI of Portugal and his spouse Carlota Joaquina of Spain.
Infanta Maria Francisca | |||||
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Countess of Molina | |||||
Portrait by Vicente López y Portaña | |||||
Born | Queluz Palace, Kingdom of Portugal | 22 April 1800||||
Died | 4 September 1834 34) Alverstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom | (aged||||
Spouse | Infante Carlos, Count of Molina | ||||
Issue | Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin Infante Juan, Count of Montizón Infante Fernando | ||||
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House | House of Braganza | ||||
Father | John VI of Portugal and Brazil | ||||
Mother | Carlota Joaquina of Spain | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Biography
Maria was born in Queluz, Portugal. On 22 September 1816 in Madrid, she married her uncle Infante Carlos Maria Isidro of Spain, "Count of Molina". The couple had three children:
- Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin (1818–1861)
- Juan, Count of Montizón (1822–1887)
- Infante Fernando (1824–1861)
In 1833, Maria Francisca, her husband and children were exiled from Spain because they refused to recognize Isabella II as heiress to the Spanish throne. They went first to Portugal and then to Alverstoke, Hampshire, UK. While in Hampshire, Maria became ill and died on 4 September 1834.
A crowd of several thousand were known to have visited the village to pay their respects as her body lay at the rectory of St Mary's Gosport, where her funeral was held and a marble stone honours her memory. [1] Although initially interred in St Mary's Catholic Church Gosport, Maria Francisca's remains were later transferred to Trieste Cathedral in Italy, where the Carlist pretenders and their wives are buried.
Four years after her death, Carlos remarried, to Maria Francisca's own sister Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira.
Ancestry
References
- "Carlist Queen Maria Francisca of Spain". St Mary's Catholic Parish.
- Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 15.
- Genealogie ascendate, p. 9
- de los Ángeles Pérez Samper, María. "Carlota Joaquina de Borbón". Diccionario biográfico España (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia.
- Genealogie ascendate, p. 96
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