Maria Isabel of Braganza

Common card · No. 361826

Maria Isabel of Braganza (Maria Isabel Francisca de Assis Antónia Carlota Joana Josefa Xavier de Paula Micaela Rafaela Isabel Gonzaga; 19 May 1797 – 26 December 1818) was a Portuguese infanta who became Queen of Spain as the second wife of King Ferdinand VII. Maria Isabel was the second surviving child and daughter of King John VI of Portugal and Queen Carlota Joaquina. Due to the invasion of Portugal by Napoleon in 1807, the royal family fled to their colony of Brazil in South America. When Queen Maria I, Maria Isabel's paternal grandmother, died in 1816, the family returned to Portugal. That same year, her marriage to her uncle King Ferdinand VII of Spain occurred and Maria Isabel relocated to Spain. She quickly became pregnant and gave birth in 1817; however, the infant died within six months. Her second delivery not long after was difficult; the baby was breech and her second daughter died in the womb. Maria Isabel was presumed dead and bled to death after a fatal caesarean was ordered...

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