A look at the 'might have been' Queen of Queen of the Rio de la Plata (the
viceroyalty which included what is now Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and
Argentina.
From The Mad Monarchist (10 December 2012)
Although a queen consort of Portugal, Carlota Joaquina of Spain is just
as, if not more, well known in Latin America than in Portugal. That,
interestingly enough, is not due so much to what she did but what she
might have done. She was born Carlota Joaquina Teresa Caetana on April
25, 1775 in Aranjuez to the future King Carlos IV (younger brother of
King Carlos III) and Maria Luisa of Parma (a granddaughter of King Louis
XV of France). Raised in the typical fashion for her time and place,
though no one ever thought much of her appearance, it was decided very
early on that she would be married to the future King John VI of
Portugal as part of an all-out marriage campaign to strengthen
Hispano-Portuguese ties. How early an age was it? Well, she was born in
1775 and married in 1785 (May 8, so just after her tenth birthday). Lest
anyone jump to horrid conclusions, rest assured the marriage was not
consummated until January 9, 1790. Still, the little girl faced
considerable opposition in Portugal where many feared that, by the
marriage, Spain was setting up to dominate the country again and force
them into a political union. Portuguese officials spent four days
subjecting the ten-year-old girl to a battery of tests but she was very
bright as well as energetic and passed them all.
Eventually the couple would have nine children but, at the time, it was
not expected that John would ever succeed to the throne as he was the
second son of Queen Maria I of Portugal and her husband (by then
deceased) King Pedro III. However, when Prince Joseph, his older
brother, died in 1788, John moved up in the ranks and was given the
titles of Duke of Braganza and Prince of Brazil. Still, there were
problems. The future King and Queen still did not attract a great deal
of “celebrity” fanfare. Despite their many children, neither was
extremely fond of the other. Few regarded John or Carlota as attractive
people as each found the other deficient in about every way. John
considered his wife to be lacking in intelligence and decorum and
Carlota viewed her husband as boring, pious and overall dull. She was
outspoken from the very beginning and not the sort to sit quietly in the
background. At times, Queen Maria herself had to intervene to try to
bring her exuberant daughter-in-law into line. John himself also faced
considerable opposition at court from the “Enlightened” faction who had
put their hopes in his elder brother but finally had to contend with
John who was more traditional; more religious and committed to absolute
monarchy as it was established.
The difficulties between John and Carlota were so widely whispered
about, and their physical appearance held up to such ridicule, that when
some of their last children were born people judged them too beautiful
to have been fathered by John and assumed Carlota had found someone else
for the job. It was nonsense of course though their marital relations
were pretty much a matter of simple duty and after the birth of their
ninth child they decided they had done enough to secure the succession
for Portugal and lived apart thereafter. Ugly rumors were spread about
her shockingly immoral behavior, which are not worth recounting, that
she was plotting to take over the government, that she was an insatiable
nymphomaniac and so on. Certainly she was no saint but the worst of
such stories have not a shred of evidence to support them and were
almost totally due to the fact that she was unpopular for simply being
Spanish in most cases. There was no end to the rumors that Carlota was
always scheming to do something terrible to the Portuguese Royal Family
to enable Spain to take over the country. She certainly spoke up for the
interests of Spain, which is hardly shocking, but most of the rumors
were simply that and nothing more. In the end, of course, it was not
Spain that proved to be the real threat but France. Under the dynamic
leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, French troops conquered Spain and soon
Portugal as well, forcing the Royal Family to relocate to Brazil in
1807.
The change in location did nothing to change the ambition of Princess
Carlota, who became Queen of Portugal in 1816. With Spain under French
control, the vast Spanish empire in the Americas was left in an
uncertain position, most still holding to their allegiance to the King
Fernando VII rather than Jose Bonaparte but the King was rather missing
in action most of the time. Some, of course, also sought to take
advantage of the chaos in Spain to promote their own ideas for
independence. Carlota thought she could play a part in this and so
“Carlotism” became a new part of the political lexicon. Since the King
was basically under house arrest in France, Carlota decided that she was
the natural representative of “Free Spain” as we might say and tried to
gain control of the Spanish colonies in America. Ultimately, this
turned into an effort to make Carlota Queen of the Rio de la Plata (the
viceroyalty which included what is now Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia and
Argentina).
Portuguese-Brazilian forces did annex some territory in this region and
Carlota had the support of some prominent local leaders such as the
Argentine national hero General Manuel Belgrano, however, the powerful
viceroys opposed such a change and the British were against the idea as
well. It is understandable but also inviting to imagine what might have
happened if so large an area of South America had become an independent
monarchy still tied by blood to the Spanish Royal Family. There were
plans, or at least rumors of plans, for Carlota to assemble an army and
march on Buenos Aires and declare herself “Queen of La Plata” but, as we
know, nothing finally came of the grand scheme due to a lack of support
from the local elites and the opposition of foreign powers. As the
Napoleonic Wars ended Carlota would have to content herself with being
Queen consort of Portugal. When she returned with the King and the rest
of the family in 1821 things in Portugal had changed dramatically and
not for the better. Revolutionary ideas had taken root and were
spreading unrest throughout the country. A liberal uprising resulted in
the proclamation of the first Portuguese constitution which King John VI
promised to support.
Queen Carlota was outraged by this and wanted a return to the
traditional absolute monarchy. The King was not too fond of the changes
himself but felt honor-bound to go through with it. All of the rumors
about plots by the Queen to take power were finally realized when she
joined with her son, Prince Miguel who was commander of the Portuguese
army, to put her husband under house arrest. They hoped he would
abdicate in favor of Miguel who would then return Portugal to the
traditional sort of government. However, it was not to be as King John
VI was aided by the British in regaining power and forcing his wife and
son into exile, though the Queen was soon back. The two lived apart and
more family divisions were to follow as their son Dom Pedro, who had
remained in South America, was proclaimed Emperor of Brazil the next
year in 1822.
The King was not pleased though the British finally persuaded him to
accept the independence of Brazil in 1825. He died the following year,
unattended by his wife as Queen Carlota was becoming increasingly
paranoid and was convinced that the Freemasons had poisoned the King as
part of the effort by the liberal revolutionaries to take power. When
the King died Dom Pedro became King of Portugal but abdicated in favor
of his daughter so as to remain in Brazil as Emperor. Queen Carlota
might have been expected to act as regent for Queen Maria but was not,
probably for fear that she would work to displace her. If that was the
thinking, it did no good for her uncle and intended husband, Prince
Miguel, was declared King of Portugal by the conservative faction before
she arrived back in Europe, setting the stage for a civil war. But
there would be no more political intrigues for Queen Carlota who died at
Queluz Palace on January 7, 1830 at the age of 54 after a very
controversial and colorful life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Francis as the Vicar of Christ (I know he's a material heretic and a Protector of Perverts, and I definitely want him gone yesterday! However, he is Pope, and I pray for him every day.), the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.