Carlota Joaquina of Spain - Marriage

Marriage

On 8 May 1785 Carlota Joaquina was officially married to the future John VI, King of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, the second son of Queen Maria I of Portugal and the late King Peter III of Portugal. The marriage was not consummated until 9 January 1790.

In 1788, when his eldest brother Joseph, Prince of Brazil, died, John became the first in line to his mother's throne. Soon he received the titles Prince of Brazil and 15th Duke of Braganza. Between 1788 and 1816, Carlota Joaquina was known as Princess of Brazil. John, her husband, was good-natured, indolent, corpulent and almost as ugly as she was. His religious observances bored her, and they were quite incompatible. Nevertheless they produced nine children and, because they were all handsome, it was rumoured that especially the younger ones had a different father. After the birth of the ninth child they began to live separate lives, he at Mafra Palace and she at Queluz Palace or Ramalhão Palace. Here it was rumoured that she had bought a retreat where she indulged in sexual orgies.

In 1807, the Portuguese royal family left Portugal for Brazil because of the Napoleonic invasion.

Read more about this topic:  Carlota Joaquina Of Spain

Famous quotes containing the word marriage:

    The reason why women effect so little and are so shallow is because their aims are low, marriage is the prize for which they strive; if foiled in that they rarely rise above disappointment ... [ellipsis in source]
    Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)

    What is any respectable girl brought up to do but to catch some rich man’s fancy and get the benefit of his money by marrying him?—as if a marriage ceremony could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)