On This Day in History: Marriage Treaty with Portugal (1661)
Posted by Ella on June 23, 2008
1661 must have been a year of great excitement and incredible trepidation for the English monarchy. Fresh off the execution of King Charles I and the Cromwell-ruled Protectorate, King Charles II had been asked to reclaim his throne only the year before. The recently-crowned king was almost certainly concerned with the question of succession — it would be his responsibility to re-establish the monarchical line that was interrupted with his father’s death.
Charles was not just looking for a wife; he was also looking for a princess to marry through whom he could secure a political alliance. Portugal was an excellent candidate for such a treaty, having just been effectively dumped by the French, and Charles began marriage negotiations with the Queen for her third daughter, Catherine. Marrying Catherine would not only give Charles the political link he’d been looking for but also bring him a city that would have a major effect on British history — Bombay was a part of Catherine’s dowry. (She also introduced tea drinking to England.) The only negative aspect of Catherine as a bride was her Roman Catholicism — the English were deeply suspicious of anything Popish, and Charles I’s Catholic queen was one of the things that helped to turn his people against him.
The marriage contract was signed on June 23, 1661, and in April 1662, the two were married by proxy in Lisbon. Two more marriage ceremonies occurred after Catherine sailed to England — one Anglican, in public, and one Roman Catholic, in secret.
Catherine’s reign as queen was not a happy one. Her Roman Catholicism at first made her unpopular with the people, and because Catholics could not participate in Anglican services, she was never crowned queen. Eventually her kindness won over the people. The more tragic part of her life was her inability to produce an heir to the throne. She had at least two miscarriages, but never gave birth to a child. All the while, Charles was busy fathering at least thirteen children by his various mistresses. Charles was reportedly never unkind to his wife, and sided with her in disputes over his lovers, but the two never managed to fulfill the need for a successor, leaving the throne to Charles’s Catholic brother, James.
Catherine went back to Portugal after Charles died, working with her siblings in the Portuguese government and acting as regent for her brother, King Peter II. She died in Lisbon in 1705.
