Hi my name's Jon and welcome to another edition of History Roadshow.
England has had over the centuries many different nationalities when it comes to its Queens.
But only once have we had one from Portugal.
Yet the notion to have and betroth a lady from this part of the world
was actually their idea, yet it was something
they badly needed to happen at the time.
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and with that said, let's begin todays story.
It started years earlier when Catherine of Aragon's parents discovered the new world in 1492.
Since that point, Spain had become powerful and a dominant leader in Europe.
So powerful they had taken Portugal out of the picture altogether.
However, with help from France,
the Portuguese managed to take back its land in a revolt against Spain.
In 1640 the duke of Braganza, Catherine's father, had been crowned as John IV.
It was just the start of the Braganza dynasty, and one
which would continue to rule the country for the next 270 years.
Although thankful to France for its help in defeating its close neighbour, news shook
Portugal that now France had started negotiations with Spain
in a bid to win one of its infantas.
John turned his attention to England, a force that most countries
throughout the world would think twice about before attempting any military action.
Although the initial treaty was with Charles
I, this ended abruptly after the king's downfall.
John IV died in 1658, but his wife Luisa de Guzmán
acted as a regent for her son Alfonso and her daughter, the 24-year-old Catherine.
To top that, she also offered two million gold crowns.
How could Charles II refuse, after the damage of the civil wars and the country
needing much-needed funds, it was agreed, and a treaty of alliance was signed on 13 May 1662.
Catherine of Braganza was now setting off to become the queen of England;
she landed in Portsmouth and married there on 21 May.
Although Portugal's plan was always to get this marriage confirmed, they sent poor Catherine
utterly void of any knowledge about the country or people or even its history.
It would have been a significant dilemma for this young girl and an initial struggle.
Catherine was never looked upon as a glamourous lady, although compared to
some others at court, it's been suggested she was the best of a bad bunch.
After the couple's wedding and time together, Catherine would soon
adapt quickly to her new husband, especially in his ways.
Unlike Charles I, who was considered kind and gentle,
a great family man, this Charles was the complete opposite.
An intelligent man with a swashbuckling, cynical style,
but more worryingly for Catherine, he was a known womaniser.
What had she let herself in for now?
Catherine quickly learned how cruel Charles could be; his current
favourite was Barbara, duchess of Cleveland, who had already had one child to the king.
The lifestyle of being a mistress was completely unknown to Catherine.
Although she was aware they had these ladies back in Portugal,
their actions were kept discreet and hidden in the shadows at court.
When Catherine first encountered the news about Barbara,
she said she would never meet her; however, Charles knowing what had been said,
in his wisdom, decided to introduce the two ladies at a reception.
It's said so shocked was Catherine at the sight
of this woman, that she had a nose bleed and fainted.
Later that night, Catherine was still inconsolable,
Charles never enjoyed feeling guilty, but the more Catherine wept,
the more Charles became stubborn, retaining Barbara within earshot.
The outcome was that Charles sent all Catherine's ladies back to Portugal, leaving the young queen
now alone with an estranged husband and a group of English ladies for company.
Catherine held on to her pain for as long as she could;
even Charles mother would take her side against her son.
It all came to no good, and Catherine would have to step aside
in favour of Barbara even to the point of acknowledgement.
From that day on, Catherine received nothing but contempt.
Catherine had not fulfilled the one thing
she became queen to do, and that was to produce an heir to the throne.
Six years later, she would fall pregnant but unfortunately lost the child.
The following year she became pregnant again but miscarried after only a month.
Although Charles had many illegitimate children, suggested figures say
at least 24 in total, with around half of them living.
One of them was called James Scott, duke of Monmouth, a boy
he had brought into the world at just 19 to one of his first mistresses, Lucy Walters.
however Catherine found herself attracted to James.
There were calls for Charles to divorce Catherine on the grounds of fertility, Charles refused.
However, in 1673 when Charles brother, duke of York, married the Catholic
Mary of Modena, calls again surfaced for the king to remove Catherine.
But Charles refused; he thought about legitimising Monmouth, now 23,
however, his brother James opposed this move, and Charles did nothing.
Yet the pressure mounted on Charles so much it would drive him into the arms of his Queen.
By 1679, one of Catherine's ladies said, "the King has so much passion for her, it's
as though she has become a mistress herself." When the Popish plot happened,
it was led by Titus Oates, the Queen came under scrutiny.
She was accused of high treason due to her doctor and Mary of Modena's secretary
conspiring to poison the king and place James in charge as a new Catholic leader.
Charles was fuming, Catherine was looked upon as a fond and delightful
lady by the populace, and Charles was in no mood to upset those he served.
He came under fire from Catholics, but his mind was elsewhere, and he would hound down
all those that came for his queen, accusing her of involvement.
In the final two years of Charles life, he would surrender entirely to Catherine,
the long-suffering Queen of England
who had literally been to hell and back since her first steps into kingdom.
In 1685 Charles died, it said he had a stroke,
but his wife Catherine was still there even at the end.
She was visibly grief-stricken.
For a man who had so many faults and would deter even the strongest of women, Catherine
played the game; she truly loved her husband despite the outcries of help and dissatisfaction.
But her mourning didn't stop with Charles; her favourite chap at court,
the duke of Monmouth, would also come under the cold axe of execution.
He had attempted to remove the new King James,
suffice to say, not only a wrong move but his final move.
In just three years from James becoming king and inheriting a peaceful kingdom.
He had completely wiped out and alienated so many subjects that in 1688, parliament sent
an invite to the protestant leader William of Orange
to come over the channel and take the country by force.
This happened, and William removed James in a bloodless revolution.
The political and social climate in England had now changed; Protestants
were back in power, and for Catherine, it was maybe one change too many.
She no longer felt comfortable at court; her days of being looked upon as welcoming were gone.
It was time to go home.
In 1692 she returned to Portugal; her homecoming was a spectacular success.
Now again, with her people, people who cared and loved her.
Catherine would continue to live a quiet life now, although she was involved
in Anglo Portuguese trading discussions, resulting in a treaty in 1703.
Catherine was called to more essential responsibilities
when her brother Peter had become what some called unbalanced.
By 1704, Catherine was regent of Portugal;
she had finally come of age and was, without doubt, a very able stateswoman.
She had successfully defeated her old enemy Spain in a number of battles.
But as quickly as her reign began, it would end sadly
just one year later when she suddenly died in December 1705.
The widow of 20 years had finally succumbed to her own life's battles,
yet she can always hold her head high.
Although Catherine never had any political influence in England,
her personal story with Charles was different, and something that
although stuttered initially would undoubtedly affect their remaining years together.
Finally and perhaps ironically, it was not she,
but her dowry that had the most effect.
It had given the English a foothold in India, it was one jewel
that was set to become a part of the crown of the new British Empire.