Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal

Template:Short description Template:Infobox royalty Infanta Maria Francisca of Braganza (; Template:Langx); full name: Maria Francisca de Assis da Maternidade Xavier de Paula e de Alcântara Antónia Joaquina Gonzaga Carlota Mónica Senhorinha Sotera e Caia de Bourbon e Bragança; 22 April 1800 – 4 September 1834) was a Portuguese princess (Template:Langx), daughter of King John VI of Portugal and Carlota Joaquina of Spain.

Biography

Maria was born in Queluz, Portugal, on 22 April 1800 as the daughter of King John VI of Portugal. On 22 September 1816 in Madrid, she married her uncle Infante Carlos Maria Isidro of Spain, "Count of Molina". They had three sons:

• Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolin (31 January 1818 – 13 January 1861)
• Juan, Count of Montizón (15 May 1822 – 18 November 1887)
• Infante Fernando (19 October 1824 – 2 January 1861)

In 1833, Maria Francisca, her husband and sons were exiled from Spain because they refused to recognize Isabella II as heiress to the Spanish throne. They first went to Portugal and then to Alverstoke in Hampshire, England. While in Hampshire, Maria became ill and died on 4 September 1834.

A crowd of several thousand was known to have visited the village to pay their respects as her body lay at the rectory of St Mary's Gosport, where her funeral was held and a marble stone honours her memory. Although initially interred in St Mary's Catholic Church Gosport, Maria Francisca's remains were later transferred to Trieste Cathedral in Italy, where the Carlist pretenders and their wives are buried.

Four years after her death, Carlos married Maria Francisca's sister, Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira.