John VI of Portugal - Marriage and Crisis of Succession

Marriage and Crisis of Succession

In 1785 a marriage was arranged between John and the Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, daughter of King Charles IV of Spain and Queen Consort Maria Luisa of Parma, like him a junior member of a royal family. Fearing a new Iberian Union, some in the Portuguese court viewed the marriage to a Spanish infanta unfavorably. Despite her being barely ten years old, Carlota was vivacious and well-educated. She endured four days of testing by the Portuguese ambassadors before the marriage pact was confirmed. Because John and Carlota were related, and because of the bride's youth, the marriage required a papal dispensation. After being confirmed, the marriage capitulation was signed in the throne room of the Spanish court, with great pomp and with the participation of both kingdoms, followed immediately by a proxy marriage. John was represented by the bride's own father. That night, a grand banquet was held for more than two thousand guests.

The infanta was received at the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa at the beginning of May 1785, and on 9 June 1785 the couple received a nuptial benediction at the palace chapel. At the same time, John's sister Infanta Mariana Victoria was married to Infante Gabriel, also of the Spanish royal family. An assiduous correspondence between John and Mariana at that time reveals that the absence of his sister weighed upon him and, comparing her to his young wife, he wrote: "She is very smart and has a lot of judgment, whereas you have rather little, and I like her a lot, but for all that I cannot love her equally." John's young bride was little given to docility, requiring at times the intervention of Queen Maria herself. Furthermore the difference in their ages (John being 18 years old) made him uncomfortable and anxious. Because Carlota was so young, the marriage had not been consummated, and John wrote ""Here's to the arrival of the time when I shall play a lot with the Infanta. The way these things go, I think six years from now. Better that she be a bit more grown up than when she came." In fact, the consummation waited until 5 April 1790. In 1793 Carlota gave birth to the first of nine children, Teresa, Princess of Beira.

By that time his hitherto relatively quiet life had been turned upside down by the death on 11 September 1788 of his older brother Dom José. This left John as the heir apparent to the throne with the titles of Prince of Brazil and 15th Duke of Braganza. Great hopes had ridden on Dom José, who was associated with the progressive ideas of the Enlightenment. Criticized by the clergy, he appeared to have been inclined toward the anti-clerical policies of the Marquess of Pombal. John, in contrast, was well known for his religiosity and for favoring absolutism. The crisis of succession was aggravated with the death soon after of Ignacio de São Caetano, Archbishop of Thessalonica, the queen's confessor and a powerful political figure, who had influenced a controversial choice of Maria's ministers that favored John, but not without encountering strong opposition from important fidalgos who had ambitions for those posts. Furthermore, the year after these deaths, John was so ill that his own survival was uncertain. He recovered, but in 1791 he again fell ill "bleeding from the mouth and intestines", according to notes left by the chaplain of the Marquis of Marialva, who added that his spirit was always depressed. This created a tense climate and uncertainty about his future reign.