Maria Isabel of Braganza (Maria Isabel Francisca de Assis Antónia Carlota Joana Josefa Xavier de Paula Micaela Rafaela Isabel Gonzaga; 19 May 1797 – 26 December 1818) was an

Infanta ''Infante'' (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to th ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

who became

Queen of Spain , coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg , coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain , image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg , incumbent = Felipe VI , incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...

as the second wife of

Ferdinand VII of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_p ...

Early years

Maria Isabel, born ''Maria Isabel Francisca de Assis Antónia Carlota Joana Josefa Xavier de Paula Micaela Rafaela Isabel Gonzaga'', was born to John VI of Portugal and

Carlota Joaquina of Spain Doña Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana of Spain (25 April 1775 – 7 January 1830) was Queen of Portugal and Brazil as the wife of King Dom John VI. She was the daughter of King Don Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. ...

on 19 May 1797. She was born as their third child and second daughter. The marriage between her father and mother was unhappy, Carlota Joaquina attempting to have King John VI deemed insane. In 1807

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

invaded Portugal, and the royal family unwillingly fled to Brazil. Maria Isabel’s mother Carlota sent her eldest surviving son,

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, mean ...

, to join his father and grandmother onboard the ship Principe Real whilst Carlota and the rest of her children would board the Affonso d’Albuquerque. Upon their arrival, Carlota and her children were forced to shave their heads and wear white

muslin Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured. Muslin of uncommonly delicate hands ...

hats.

Upbringing

Maria Isabel and her siblings were carefully educated by her mother liberally. Maria Isabel was noted to be kind, balanced and shy, and was much like her father within her personality.

Marriage

On 20 March 1816, Queen

Maria I of Portugal Dom (title), Dona Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Por ...

perished. Due to this, Maria Isabel’s father

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

became the King of Portugal and Brazil. On 22 February 1816 marriage contracts between

and Maria Isabel were officially signed; they would soon marry 29 September 1816. Ferdinand was 32 years old and Maria Isabel was 19. Towards the end 1816 Maria Isabel and Ferdinand were married, and then settled in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. There, Maria Isabel was then quickly pregnant. Maria Isabel gave birth to a daughter, who they named María Luisa Isabel, on 21 August 1817. María Luisa Isabel died four-five months later.

Death

Maria Isabel was pregnant soon after the birth of María Luisa Isabel, but the birth was indeed a difficult one: the baby was in breech and the physicians soon found that the child had died. Maria Isabel stopped breathing soon thereafter and the doctors thought she was dead. Maria Isabel’s sister protested against the doctors' thoughts on presuming her dead. The king, however, ordered a fatal caesarean. When they started cutting her stomach to extract the dead fetus, she suddenly shouted in pain and collapsed on her bed, bleeding heavily. She died soon afterwards on 26 December 1818 in the

Palace of Aranjuez The Royal Palace of Aranjuez ( es, Palacio Real de Aranjuez) is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family. It is located in the town of Aranjuez (Madrid), Spain. Established in the 16th century as a royal hunting lodge, the pala ...

, and was buried at the

Escorial El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, up ...

— the royal site of

San Lorenzo de El Escorial San Lorenzo de El Escorial, also known as El Escorial de Arriba, is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located to the northwest of the region in the southeastern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, at the foot of Moun ...

Legacy

Queen Maria Isabel's dedication and affection for art led her to gather many treasures from the past and create a royal museum, which would end up being the beginnings of Museo del Prado. It opened on 19 November 1819, a year after the queen's death.

Issue

Ancestors

Honours and arms

* Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa * Dame of the Order of Saint Isabel

References

, -

External links

Maria Isabel of Braganza
— The British Museum
Queen María Isabel of Braganza as founder of the Museo del Prado
— Museo Nacional Del Prado {{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Isabel Of Braganza Spanish royal consorts Portuguese infantas House of Braganza House of Bourbon (Spain) 1797 births Deaths in childbirth 1818 deaths Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel Burials in the Pantheon of Infantes at El Escorial People from Lisbon 18th-century Portuguese people 19th-century Portuguese people 18th-century Portuguese women 19th-century Portuguese women Daughters of kings