Isabella of Portugal

Although she threw Charles a big reception, Isabella lived a very simple life. She was clearly a very loving wife.

Apart from being a good wife, Isabella was also a devoted mother. She had six children, of which only three survived. However, she nurtured her remaining children with a lot of love and cared a lot about their education.

Apart from being a good wife, Isabella was also a devoted mother. She had six children, of which only three survived. However, she nurtured her remaining children with a lot of love and cared a lot about their education.

Isabella of Portugal was born on October 24, 1503, in Lisbon, Portugal to King Manuel I of Portugal and his second wife, Maria of Argon. She was the second child and the eldest daughter of the king.

Isabella was the granddaughter of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Fernando II of Argon. She was named after her maternal grandmother and her aunt Isabella, Princess of Asturias, who was also her father’s first wife.

Isabella had a happy childhood with her wealthy family. She spent her young life at the Ribeira Palace which was later destroyed by an earthquake.

Isabella loved learning new languages and was also a lover of literature. She owned a vast library. She learned Latin, Spanish, and French, before she became old enough to get married.

Charles of Habsburg was considered to be the best match for Isabella. Moreover, her mother, Maria, had clearly mentioned in her will that her daughter must consider only a king or a legitimate son of a king for marriage.

Charles was the son of Maria’s sister Joanna of Castile and Philip the Handsome, the Duke of Burgundy. That made him Isabella’s first cousin.

The marriage of Charles and Isabella was to be of great importance to Portugal and Spain. Since Portugal was the wealthiest kingdom and Charles was elected as the ‘Holy Roman Emperor,’ their alliance was to become the strongest in Europe.

The alliance of the two kingdoms would have ensured stability, peace, and safety in Europe. However, Charles was advised by William de Croy, one his advisors, to marry Mary Tudor, Charles’s other first cousin and daughter of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon.

Marrying Mary Tudor would have meant establishing an alliance with Europe and rejecting Isabella. However, this supposed and initial rejection did not affect Isabella’s determination to marry him, as she had made it clear that she would either marry him or enter a convent.

She served as a regent from 1529 to 1532, from 1535 to 1536, and from 1538 to 1539. She was an able woman who was determined to solve the kingdom’s problems with ease and grace.

Isabella was both beautiful and intelligent. She was clearly born to be a royal power and not just a wife and mother.

When Charles was away, she wrote letters to her husband, sharing the news of their kingdom and asking about his well-being. Charles often wrote back, but when he could not write for more than a few days, Isabella always checked on him.

Isabella even scolded him once for not keeping her aware of his whereabouts and told him that she would write to him every 20 days. On Emperor Charles’s return to his kingdom, Isabella welcomed him with a grand party.