Joanna la Beltraneja

Joanna of Castile, known as la Beltraneja (28 February 1462 – 12 April 1530), was a claimant to the throne of Castile, and Queen of Portugal as the wife of King Afonso V, her uncle. Birth and parentage King Henry IV of Castile married Joan of Portugal, daughter of King Edward of Portugal and the youngest sister of King Afonso V of Portugal, on May 21, 1455. Seven years later, Joanna was born at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. Henry IV had previously been married to Blanche II of Navarre. After thirteen years, that marriage was annulled on the grounds that it had never been consummated. This was attributed to a curse, which only affected Henry's relationship with Blanche; a number of prostitutes from Segovia testified that they had noticed no impairment. Henry had no other children and was rumoured to be impotent. Whether true or not, this rumour was widely circulated by Henry's opponents, who further insinuated that the little infanta (Joanna) was the child of Beltrán de la Cueva, a royal favourite at court, who was created the 1st Duke of Alburquerque in 1464. They called Joanna "la Beltraneja", a mocking reference to her supposed illegitimacy.