Maria Isabel of Portugal

Maria Isabel of Portugal
Queen consort of Spain
Tenure	29 September 1816 – 26 December 1818
Born	19 May 1797 Palace of Queluz, Portugal
Died	26 December 1818 (aged 21) Royal Palace of Madrid, Spain
Burial	El Escorial
Spouse	Ferdinand VII of Spain
Issue Detail	Infanta María Luisa Isabel Infanta María Luisa Isabel
House	House of Braganza
Father	John VI of Portugal
Mother	Carlota Joaquina of Spain
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Maria Isabel of Portugal (Maria Isabel Francisca; 19 May 1797 – 26 December 1818) was an Infanta of Portugal who became the Queen of Spain as the second wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain.

Biography

Isabel depicted in front of Prado, 1829, by Bernardo López y Pique

Maria Isabel was an Infanta of Portugal and daughter of John VI of Portugal and his wife Carlota Joaquina of Spain. She was a sister of Pedro I of Brazil.

She married her maternal uncle King Ferdinand VII of Spain on 29 September 1816, whose first wife, Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, had died childless ten years before.

Maria Isabel was again pregnant soon after the birth of her firstborn, but the birth was 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; when they started cutting her up to extract the dead fetus, she suddenly shouted in pain and collapsed on her bed, bleeding heavily.

She died on 26 December 1818 in the Palace of Aranjuez while giving birth to a large, stillborn daughter and was buried at the Escorial, having failed to provide her husband with an heir to the throne.

Legacy

It is due to Queen Maria Isabel's dedication and affection for the art world that she managed 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

• Infanta María Luisa Isabel of Spain (21 August 1817 – 9 January 1818)
• Infanta María Luisa Isabel of Spain (26 December 1818), stillborn.^[1]

Ancestors

Ancestors of Maria Isabel of Portugal

16. Peter II of Portugal               8. John V of Portugal                       17. Maria Sofia of Neuburg               4. Peter III of Portugal                             18. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor               9. Maria Anna of Austria                       19. Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg               2. John VI of Portugal                                   20. John V of Portugal = 8               10. Joseph I of Portugal                       21. Maria Anna of Austria =9               5. Maria I of Portugal                             22. Philip V of Spain               11. Mariana Victoria of Spain                       23. Elisabeth Farnese               1. Maria Isabel of Portugal                                         24. Philip V of Spain =               12. Charles III of Spain                       25. Elisabeth Farnese               6. Charles IV of Spain                             26. Augustus III of Poland               13. Maria Amalia of Saxony                       27. Maria Josepha of Austria               3. Carlota Joaquina of Spain                                   28. Philip V of Spain               14. Philip, Duke of Parma                       29. Elisabeth Farnese               7. Maria Luisa of Parma                             30. Louis XV of France               15. Princess Louise Élisabeth of France                       31. Marie Leszczyńska

Honours and arms

Coat of arms of Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain.

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

See also

• Descendants of John VI of Portugal

References

1. Geneall.net (retrieved 30 March 2012).

External links