Carlota Joaquina of Spain

Doña Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana of Spain (25 April 1775 – 7 January 1830) was Queen of Portugal and Brazil as the wife of King Dom John VI. She was the daughter of King Don Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. Detested by the Portuguese court — where she was called "the Shrew of Queluz" — Carlota Joaquina gradually won the antipathy of the people, who accused her of promiscuity and influencing her husband in favor of the interests of the Spanish crown. After the escape of the Portuguese court to Brazil, she began conspiring against her husband, claiming that he had no mental capacity to govern Portugal and its possessions, thus wanting to establish a regency. She also planned to usurp the Spanish crown that was in the hands of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte. After the marriage in 1817 of her son Pedro with the Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria and the later return of the royal family to Portugal in 1821, Carlota Joaquina was confined in the Royal Palace of Queluz, where she died alone and abandoned by her children on 7 January, 1830. Life Childhood Born in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez on 25 April 1775 as the second (but eldest surviving) child of Charles, Prince of Asturias, and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma, she was baptized with the names of Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana, but she was called only by her first name, Carlota, a name that honored both her father and paternal grandfather, King Charles III of Spain—Carlota was his favorite granddaughter. Despite the rigidity of her education and court etiquette, the Infanta was described as mischievous and playful.