The Portuguese Infanta, Catherine of Braganza, married King Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, shortly after he was restored to his throne.
By then, he had already fathered five illegitimate children with four different women. None of these children were eligible to inherit his throne, and so it was imperative that he marry and father legitimate children.
Catherine arrived in Portsmouth on 14 May 1662, but King Charles was nowhere to be seen. The Earl of Sandwich, who escorted her to her lodgings, wrote, “She is a prince of extraordinary goodness of disposition, very discreet and pious, and there are the most hopes that there ever was of her making the king and us happy.”1 Charles was absent as he was meeting with his pregnant mistress, and he and Catherine did not meet until 20 May. Catherine was sick and in bed when they met but Charles later wrote to the Earl of Clarendon, “I think myself very happy, for I am confident our two humours will agree very well together.”2
Charles and Catherine were married the following day. A secret Catholic ceremony took place in the morning, followed by an Anglican service in public later. As Catherine was still ill, the consummation of the marriage did not take place that night. They finally left Portsmouth on 27 May and arrived at Hampton Court Palace on 29 May. Catherine’s life as Queen could now truly begin, and for these first few weeks, Charles was an attentive husband. Then, she learned that the King’s mistress, the Countess of Castlemaine, had given birth to Charles’s son on 18 June. A short while later, Charles added the Countess’s name to a list of possible ladies for Catherine. She furiously scratched the name out, and the following row ended the honeymoon period abruptly. It would be a while but the slighted Catherine slowly came to accept the King’s mistresses and his illegitimate children and kept her head held high.
While Catherine’s bed remained empty, Charles’s eldest illegitimate son, James Crofts, was created Duke of Monmouth on 14 February 1663. Catherine had grown fond of James, but she did not like that he was being ennobled. She was advised to go to Tunbridge Wells, where the waters were said to aid fertility. She then moved on to Bath, where she also took the waters. Charles had been more attentive to her, but it was the Countess of Castlemaine who gave birth to a second son in September 1663.
In October, Catherine became so very ill that she was given last rites. She may have been pregnant, and she miscarried.3 Charles was seriously distraught and spent every waking moment by her bedside. During her fever dreams, she talked about children. She was afraid that she had given birth to an ugly son, so Charles reassured her that he was pretty. She then spoke of having three children and a daughter who looked like her. She asked how their children were doing. Against all the odds, Catherine recovered.4 In 1664, the Countess of Castlemaine gave birth to a daughter.
In 1665, Catherine and the Countess of Castlemaine were pregnant at the same time. However, while the Countess gave birth to yet another healthy son, Catherine’s pregnancy ended in a miscarriage on 4 February 1666. She continued to be unwell throughout March and April but put up a brave face to join the court just two weeks after the miscarriage.5 As time went on and no heir appeared, calls for a divorce became louder. Another miscarriage occurred in 1668.
In May 1669, a hopeful Charles wrote to his sister in France, “My wife has been a little indisposed some few days, and there is hope it will prove a disease not displeasing to me.” Just one month later, he wrote, “My wife, after all our hopes, has miscarried again, without any visible accident. The physicians are divided whether it was a false conception or a good one.” She had miscarried on 7 June 1669.6 This was her last known pregnancy.
Catherine and Charles’s nursery remained empty, but Charles had four more illegitimate children with three women. The throne eventually passed to Charles’s Catholic brother, King James VII/II, who was deposed in favour of his protestant daughter and son-in-law, King William III and Queen Mary II. The Stuart reign came to an end with the death of James’s daughter Anne, who lost all of her children, and the House of Hannover came to power.
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