Philippa of Lancaster - Marriage

Marriage

Philippa became Queen consort of Portugal through her marriage to King John I. This marriage was the final step in the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance against the France-Castile axis.

The couple received the blessing of the church in the Cathedral of Oporto on 2 February 1387. Their married life would officially begin on 14 February 1387. The Portuguese court celebrated the union for fifteen days. Philippa married King John I by proxy, and in keeping with a unique Portuguese tradition, the stand-in bridegroom pretended to bed the bride. The stand-in for King John I was João Rodrigues de Sá.

The marriage itself, as was usually the case for the nobility in the Middle Ages, had more to do with political alliances than with physical attraction, and in fact the couple never met until twelve days after they were legally married. In point of fact, Philippa was considered to be rather plain, and in any case King João I (John I) already had a mistress, Inês Peres Esteves, by whom he had three children. In marrying Philippa, John I established a political and personal alliance with John of Gaunt, initially because it was rumored that John of Gaunt would claim the Kingdom of Castile through Catherine of Lancaster, his daughter by his second wife Constance of Castile. As the “de facto King of Castile,” it was feared that John of Gaunt could challenge King John’s claim to the newly-installed dynasty. Instead, at Windsor in 1386, John I of Portugal signed the remarkably long-lasting Portuguese-British Alliance, which continued through the Napoleonic Wars and ensured Portugal's tenuous neutrality in World War II. Philippa, at the age of 27, was thought to be too old to become a bride for the first time, and the court questioned her ability to bear the King children. Their fears were quickly assuaged, as Philippa bore nine children, six of whom survived into adulthood.

The king had three other children by his long-time mistress, Inês Peres Esteves; their son Afonso was ten when Philippa and John married. Philippa allowed Alfonso and his sister Beatrice to be raised in the Portuguese court (the third child, Branca, died in infancy). Their mother left the court at Philippa's command to live in a convent, and under Philippa’s patronage, she became the Prioress.