Notes which passed during Privy Council meetings between Charles and his chancellor, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, illustrate Charles’s somewhat disinterested acceptance of this match. Spain did not favour the match and the Spanish ambassador spread rumours that Catherine would be a sterile queen, hoping that Charles would look further north in Europe for a suitable wife. At twenty-one Catherine was neither young nor pretty and apparently was not considered an important candidate for marriage in other European courts. Her dowry included Tangier, Bombay, full trading privileges for England in the Indies and a very large sum of money for the impoverished Charles. If ever a marriage was made for political and economic reasons, the union of Charles and Catherine was such a match. Catherine was born at Vila Vicosa near Lisbon on 25 November 1638, the third child of the Duke of Braganza who later became King John IV of Portugal. In spite of being relatively poor, Charles easily assumed the role of King of England and he left it to his new government to work through the intricacies of choosing a wife who would bring the greatest political and economic benefit to him and to England.Ĭontrary to endless rumours that he was married to Lucy Walter in his teens, Charles was, in fact, married only once, and that was to a Portuguese princess eight years his junior, Catherine of Braganza. Catherine brought a dowry of £500,000, as well as Bombay, Tangier and the right of free trade with the Portuguese colonies, and also popularised tea-drinking in Britain. On 23 June 1661 a marriage treaty agreeing upon the union of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza was signed.
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