This lady was born
on 17 December 1734 and reigned as queen of Portugal
from 1777 until 1816, when she passed away.
Even though she is remembered for her political accomplishments,
she was the first indisputable Queen Regnant of Portugal
and the first imperial head of state of Brazil.
Yet, her life was filled with a great deal of tragedy.
Despite suffering from mental illness and experiencing truly terrible losses
on a personal level, she persisted in her efforts to be an effective leader.
So did she achieve her goals?
Find out now as we look at the extraordinary life of Maria of Portugal.
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Like Joanna of Castile, Maria has also
unfortunately gone down in history as yet another mad queen.
But unlike Joanna, Maria ruled for 11 good years before her illness began.
Her father was Joseph Emmanuel, the reigning king's son,
who would go on to become Joseph I of Portugal.
Her mother was, Mariana Victoria, daughter of Philip V of Spain.
Maria had three sisters, Ana, Francisca and Benedita;
they had grown up in the city now filled with magnificent buildings,
sculptures and artworks.
All of this is due to her grandfather, John V.
But growing up, Maria saw a change;
she watched him sink into a sad state of affairs.
He turned his government over to incompetent advisers
and ones that would eventually bankrupt the treasury.
John died in 1750; for Maria, this was one step nearer
to becoming ruler and gaining the title princess of Portugal.
A new era was beginning,
Joseph; now, the king had a different view to rule.
His passions were hunting, the theatre and playing cards.
He would sanction all government tasks to the Marquis of Pombal.
This appointment didn't go well along with queen
Marianna; the majority of the people hated this man,
and his actions were described as being close to a dictator.
But things would change and reshape the country in ways only God
could have seen coming.
On 1 November 1755, a terrible earthquake hit Lisbon.
It was all saints day, yet this ground-shaking destruction
was followed by fire and a tidal wave;
over 30,000 people were killed.
For Pombal, the disaster did bring him some respite
and a temporary uplifting in popularity.
he ordered to "bury the dead and relieve the living."
The royal family at the time of the devastation were in Belem,
three main earth shocks had been felt followed by some aftershocks,
but these had proven to be minor compared to destruction elsewhere.
The tragedy deeply hurt the king, and for a time, he refused to enter
any of the surviving palaces preferring to live at that moment in a tent.
Three years after the earthquake, new pressures
mounted on the Braganza family when an assassination was attempted.
One evening, Joseph was returning
from a visit to the marchioness of Tavora, a young lady close to his heart.
When the marchioness's
husband and several in-laws took action to surprise the king,
they were rounded up by Pombal's guard, with several of them put to death.
Pombal immediately set about his old ways, and a new reign of terror would begin.
He had become increasingly oppressive;
any man or woman who now went against him would suffer torture and death.
Pombal even challenged the church that had challenged his reforms.
Maria was shocked, yet there was little
she could do to stop this tyrant.
Lisbon was still in the process of being rebuilt.
Maria, now 26, would marry not a handsome young prince as you might be expecting
but her uncle, the 42-year-old Pedro, in 1760.
The couple would live at the Palace of Queluz.
By 1794 had been completely rebuilt to mimic
a miniature version of Versaille, but in pink!
Maria and Pedro would bring their children up here
but sadly, only 3 out of the seven survived.
Pombal, still being as irritating as ever to Maria, then conjured up more trouble.
He realised that some of his enemies were now taking sides with Maria and Pedro.
Pombal took action, although he did declare that
a female could not inherit the throne and to add to that
he also attempted to introduce Salic law into the country.
But as the rumours spread, Maria sought advice from her
father and, more surprisingly, from Pombal.
Even more surprising, the dictator reacted to this conversation by banishing
one of his proteges, who had been building a case against Maria.
By 1777,
Joseph was now ill, and his wife would take up the regency.
In his will, he had asked his daughter to "govern with peace,
pay his debts, and protect those guilty of crimes
against the state whom she considered worthy of freedom."
In March 1777, Maria became the first queen regnant of Portugal.
However, Pedro was given the courteous title of king, although he would
mainly stay away from official duties, often spending most of his time at mass.
For Maria, her first act was easy, to rid herself
and the government of Pombal.
Maria brought legal proceedings against Pombal, but due to his advanced year's
Maria would spare him death but banished him to one of his estates.
The news brought joy to many; prison doors were opened,
and enemies of Pombal incarcerated were now free.
Maria questioned this as it was against her thoughts to take such drastic action,
but maybe it was a relief, and now she could start with a new clean slate.
Changes were swift; many of
Pombal's trading ventures and monopolies were cut to save on expenditure.
Even royal bull fights were stopped for a while.
Maria won much praise in these early years;
she was setting Portugal out on a route it had not been for many years,
one of growth and wealth but using criteria
that would appeal to the many, not the few.
In 1786 Pedro died,
Maria loved her husband deeply, and his death caused much grieving.
Over the next two years, more deaths would follow, two of her children,
firstly the heir Joseph of smallpox which was quickly
followed by his 20-year-old sister Ana.
It was also the year when Maria lost her chief minister Angeja.
It was now that the heavy burden of bereavements proved too much
for the queen.
More disturbing news was to follow
when word reached her of the revolution in France.
Maria had for so long been strong and decisive, but it seemed
that the effects at home and abroad were starting to affect this lady.
And the long road ahead would become a living nightmare.
Mental illness is so
unforgiving; it can strike at any time, upon anyone.
For Maria, her despair and recurring nightmares didn't help;
her ideas of going to hell would only possess her more.
William Beckford, a young English author, reported at the time,
"Queen Maria, fancying herself damned for all eternity,
she eats barley and oyster stew on Fridays and Saturdays
and indulges in carnal conversations."
Dr Francis Willis, who had treated George
III, was summoned to help, but he could do nothing.
On one February evening, 1792, Maria had a further fit,
and enough was enough, her only surviving son, the 25-year-old John,
took over the regency; in 1799, he was named prince regent.
Queluz had been designed for joy and entertainment,
but the atmosphere was now toxic, the queen screaming
out from her private quarters with demented cries.
Beckford wrote, "The most agonising shrieks
I have ever heard inflicted on me a horror I had never felt before.
The queen not more than two doors away uttered those dreadful
sounds again and again as if in agony."
Beckford could take no more.
He turned his secretive attention to be with John's wife, the young boyish-looking
Carlota, who was the daughter of Charles IV of Spain.
John, now alone, had only his mad mother for company; he remained benevolent
and conscientious throughout, attempting to keep Portugal on a straight
and even keel while all the time the winds of revolution
were spreading across the ocean.
John joined the war against the revolutionaries
who had already killed Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
Still, after Spain had made a separate peace in 1795,
Portugal would now grow stronger links with Britain.
It proved to be a pivotal moment;
despite ties to Spain and the threat of an imminent attack by them,
Britain sent a 6,000-strong force
to quell the threat and keep Spain at bay.
By 1807 Napoleon had demanded
that Portugal join the ongoing blockade against Britain.
They refused, yet Napoleon wouldn't give up,
and although continuing his pursuit of European countries by 1807,
he eventually returned and overran Portugal.
The royal family fled;
Maria was said to be thinking they had only come to murder her.
A fleet of ships escorted by eight British men of war ships
carried them all safely to the sanctuary of Brazil.
The British were left to defend Portugal, Sir Arthur Wellesley
later the duke of Wellington, used the country as the base of his operations,
and they drove the French away.
The voyage lasted 52 days.
Carlota complained about the stinking water and crowded
quarters; it made her highly unpopular, the crew had enough on their hands
with Maria, and another outpouring of moans didn't help.
The ships landed in Bahia and were warmly welcomed.
Still struggling, Maria became terrified of the natives
dancing around her chair; she screamed she was in hell with the devil himself.
But eventually, the royal family settled;
a prosperous planter had offered his estate as a temporary palace,
and they all graciously accepted except for Maria,
who was placed in the quieter surrounds
of an old convent.
Carlota, the complainer continued; nothing was to her satisfaction,
as for the prince regent, he made the best of the situation and continued to work.
When the governor of Bahia requested that Brazilian ports open to world trade,
John agreed, and this also ended Portuguese restrictions and monopolies.
Encouragement was also given to industry
and a free press; immigrants were invited, and a new national bank
was formed alongside military and medical institutes.
In 1815 he designated that the Portuguese dominions
would now be titled the united kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve.
The following year he started to build a new royal palace
on the city's outskirts, and men of science
and culture were invited to join a national institute.
Yet so occupied with all these designs, he had almost forgotten
his mother, maybe even inclined to do so.
Maria died on 20 march;
she had suffered from her illness for over 24 years, yet
she finally laid in peace at the age of 81.
Her body was returned to Lisbon and interred in the Estrella basilica.
Today she is still a greatly admired as a queen both in Portugal and Brazil
and for all her difficulties she is still regarded and held in high esteem.