King of Portugal
According to Portuguese law, the husband of a queen regnant could only be titled king after the birth of a child from that marriage (that was the reason the Queen's first husband, Auguste, Duke of Leuchtenberg, never earned title of king). After the birth of the future Dom Pedro V of Portugal, Ferdinand was proclaimed King Dom Fernando II.
Although it was Maria II to whom the ruling power belonged, the royal couple formed a good team and together resolved many problems in Maria II's reign. The king played a very important part in Portuguese political history, reigning by himself during his wife's pregnancies.
Eventually, Maria II died as a result of the birth of their eleventh child. Fernando II's reign ended, but assumed the regency of Portugal in the years 1853–1855 during the minority of his son King Pedro V.
Read more about this topic: Fernando II Of Portugal
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