First Marriage
In need of support from Portugal against their mutual enemy Spain, the king of France, Louis XIV, arranged a marriage between Marie Françoise, an important member of the French nobility as a cousin of the king, and the new Portuguese king, Afonso VI, an ill young man who was paralysed on his left side and mentally unstable.
She departed from La Rochelle aboard the Vendôme. Upon her arrival in Portugal, she became known as Maria Francisca Isabel de Sabóia. She was deeply disappointed with her new life at the court of Portugal. Nonetheless, the wedding with King Afonso took place on 2 August 1666. She soon saw fit to participate in a palace coup that ended the government of Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor, in cooperation with her brother-in-law, the Infante Peter.
As the Portuguese Restoration War continued, the incapable King Afonso VI became dominated by ambitious members of the nobility. Queen Maria Francisca and the king's brother Peter sponsored a revolt that forced the king to abdicate his powers and consent to an exile in Terceira in the Azores. She was revolted at her impotent and fat husband King Afonso, and after sixteen months of an unconsummated marriage, she had it annulled.
Read more about this topic: Maria Francisca Of Savoy
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