House Braganza Mother Maria I of Portugal | Father Peter III of Portugal Name Infanta Ana | |
Born 15 December 1768
Royal Palace of Queluz, Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves ( 1768-12-15 ) Died 2 November 1788(1788-11-02) (aged 19)
Casita del Infante, El Escorial, Kingdom of Spain Spouse Infante Gabriel of Spain Issue
Detail Infante Pedro Carlos of Spain and Portugal | ||
Mariana Victoria of Portugal (or of Braganza; Portuguese: Mariana Vitória; full name: Mariana Vitória Josefa Francisca Xavier de Paula Antonieta Joana Domingas Gabriela de Bragança; [mɐɾiˈɐnɐ] or [mɐˈɾiɐ ˈɐnɐ viˈtɔɾiɐ ʒuˈzɛfɐ]; 15 December 1768 – 2 November 1788) was a Portuguese Infanta (princess), the third child and eldest daughter of Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Peter III of Portugal. By marriage she became an Infanta of Spain.
Contents
Biography
Mariana Victoria was born at the Royal Palace of Queluz, in the town of Queluz near Lisbon. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Mariana Victoria of Spain, Infanta of Spain and eldest daughter of Philip V of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese.
The fifth child of her parents, she was their eldest and only surviving daughter, her younger sisters Maria Clementina and Maria Isabel died in infancy. Her grandmother Mariana went to Spain in 1777 to discuss an alliance with her brother Charles III of Spain. During her stay there, she helped to bring about the marriage of her granddaughter Mariana Victoria and the favourite son of the King of Spain.
She married Infante Gabriel of Spain, her mother's first cousin. They married by proxy on 12 April 1785 at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa. The couple met for the first time at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez on 23 May and had an official ceremony.
The royal couple had three children, of whom two died young. At the birth of her last child, Infante Carlos, she and her husband were in residence at Gabriel's private residence, the Casita del Infante at El Escorial. While there, Gabriel caught Smallpox and died at the Casita aged only 36. His wife also succumbed to the illness and died on 2 November; Infante Carlos himself died a week after his mother.
Upon her early death, her children (effectively the survivor, her son Infante Pedro Carlos of Spain and Portugal) was recognized by their Portuguese grandmother as Infante of Portugal, in addition to that of Spain from their paternal side. The same took place with Pedro Carlos' only son Infante don Sebastian of Portugal and Spain.
Mariana died in at the Casita del Infante at the age of 19. She and her husband were the founders of the House of Bourbon-Braganza which is among the Spanish nobility represented by the Dukes of Marchena, of Durcal, of Hernani and Ansola.
Mariana Victoria was buried at the Royal Monastery of El Escorial with her husband and her two young children.