fbpx

KidsKonnect

Catherine of Braganza Facts & Worksheets

Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese Roman Catholic who married King Charles II of England (reigned 1660–85). She was married to Charles due to a significant alliance between England and Portugal, where she served as a pawn in anti-papal plots and diplomatic negotiations.

Search for Worksheets

Worksheets /Social Studies /Catherine of Braganza Facts & Worksheets

Premium
Not ready to purchase a subscription? Click to download the free sample version   Download sample

Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese Roman Catholic who married King Charles II of England (reigned 1660–85), was born in Vila Viçosa, Portugal, on November 25, 1638, and passed away in Lisbon on December 31, 1705. She was married to Charles due to a significant alliance between England and Portugal, where she served as a pawn in anti-papal plots and diplomatic negotiations.

See the fact file below for more information on Catherine of Braganza, or you can download our 33-page Catherine of Braganza worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

OVERVIEW

  • She was the daughter of John IV of Portugal, who overthrew the Spanish Habsburgs’ 60-year hegemony over Portugal in 1640 and reinstated the Portuguese kingdom, which had been established in 1143. John was the first king of the House of Braganza. 
  • During her brother Peter II’s absence in Portugal in 1701 and following her return to her native country as a widow in 1704–1705, Catherine presided as regent of Portugal.
  • Catherine was disliked in England because of her steadfast adherence to the Roman Catholic faith in which she had been educated. 
  • She was a target of Titus Oates, the instigator of the Popish Plots, who charged her with plotting to poison the king after her attendants were accused of killing Edmund Berry Godfrey in 1678. 
  • Catherine was in grave danger for a while due to these accusations, the folly of which was quickly demonstrated by cross-examination. Oates accused Catherine of high treason on November 28, 1678, and the English House of Commons issued an order expelling her and all Roman Catholics from Whitehall Palace. 
  • Several more depositions against her followed, and in June 1679, it was agreed that she should go to trial. The king’s intervention, for which she would later express her thanks, removed the threat of a problem.
  • Despite suffering three miscarriages, Catherine was unable to bear Charles any descendants. Barbara Palmer, the 1st Duchess of Cleveland, was the most notable of her husband’s many mistresses, and Catherine was compelled to accept her as one of her Ladies of the Bedchamber. 
  • Charles confessed to having a large number of children through his mistresses.

EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

  • At the Ducal Palace of Vila Vicosa, Catherine, the second surviving child of Luisa de Guzmán and John, 8th Duke of Braganza, was born. 
  • As a result of the Portuguese Restoration War, her father was anointed King John IV of Portugal on December 1, 1640.
  • With Catherine’s rising popularity as a potential bride for European royalty, the Duc de Beaufort, John of Austria, Louis XIV of France, and Charles II of England all made marriage proposals to her. 
  • Her father’s new status as one of Europe’s most influential monarchs and Portugal’s then-vast colonial Portuguese Empire helped to make her a prime choice for a wife for European royalty. 
  • After the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, France allegedly abandoned Portugal; her ability to act as a valuable intermediary for allying Portugal and England was considered when making the final decision. 
  • Catherine had a happy childhood in her beloved Lisbon despite the constant conflict between her country and Spain.
  • Queen Luisa, widely considered the force behind the throne, was a loving mother who actively participated in her children’s upbringing and oversaw her daughter’s schooling. 
  • Most of Catherine’s youth is thought to have been spent in a convent near the royal palace, where her protective mother constantly watched over her. 
  • One contemporary noted that Catherine “was bred hugely retired” and “has hardly been out of the palace in her life,” suggesting that her upbringing was very protected. Joana, Princess of Beira, Catherine’s older sister, passed away in 1653, making Catherine the last surviving child of her parents. 
  • Luisa, who took on the role of regent for her nation when her husband passed away in 1656, chose her husband.

MARRIAGE

  • Negotiations for the marriage between Catherine of Braganza and King Charles I began during his reign and finalized after the Restoration. Despite Spanish opposition, the marriage contract was signed in 1661. 
  • England gained territorial and trading privileges, while Portugal received military support against Spain and religious freedom for Catherine. The marriage included both Catholic and Anglican ceremonies.
  • Catherine, raised in a convent, had qualities appreciated by her mother-in-law but faced challenges in her marriage due to Charles’s infidelities. 
  • She had little say in the alliance, as her mother orchestrated it to aid Portugal’s fight for independence. Catherine’s life had been relatively sheltered and bound by strict court etiquette.
  • She suffered multiple miscarriages and imagined giving birth during an illness. Charles supported her emotionally, claiming she had borne children. 
  • Despite her difficulties and Charles’s affairs, he treated her respectfully and refused to divorce her, despite advisors’ suggestions. Catherine remained loyal to Charles throughout their marriage.

QUEEN CONSORT

  • Catherine, a Roman Catholic, faced initial unpopularity as Queen due to religious differences. Language barriers, Charles’s infidelity, and religious conflicts posed challenges. 
  • However, her loyalty, affection for Charles, and dignified demeanor gradually improved public perception.
  • Despite struggling with English, Catherine embraced courtly pleasures, engaging in card games, dancing, masques, and outdoor activities like fishing and archery. 
  • She maintained an interest in Portugal and sought to improve relations with the Pope.
  • She supported efforts to aid Crete against the Ottomans and received holy objects from the Pope.
  • Catherine’s relationship with Charles strained when his mistress, Barbara Palmer, was appointed her Lady of the Bedchamber. 
  • Catherine resisted initially but eventually withdrew from court life and activities, maintaining a subdued presence. She occasionally used a royal yacht for communication with Portugal and retained a connection to her homeland.

CATHOLICISM

  • Catherine, though keeping her Catholic faith private, faced anti-Catholic sentiment due to her religion and proximity to the king. She was known for her piety, admired by Charles, and had a household of priests.
  • She built The Friary, a religious house for Portuguese Franciscans, in 1665.
  • In 1675, concerns about divorce and anti-Catholic measures led to illness.
  • She appointed a Catholic friend as her Lord Chamberlain, but he was dismissed, leaving her isolated. 
  • Despite not engaging in religious politics, she was criticized for allegedly supporting the appointment of a bishop to England. 
  • The Popish Plot of 1678 threatened her due to her high-ranking Catholic status, but she had Charles’s favor and support from the House of Lords, leading to warmer relations between the royal couple.

LATER LIFE AND DEATH

  • She expressed tremendous sorrow at Charles’s death and worried about his return to the Roman Catholic faith during his final illness in 1685. 
  • When Catherine was asked in 1685, when he was almost gone, she sent a cable pleading for forgiveness and “to beg his pardon if she had offended him all his life.” 
  • “Alas, poor woman! Does she seek my forgiveness? I implore you to withdraw that response. 
  • Later that year, she unsuccessfully petitioned the 1st Duke of Monmouth, James II, for the life of James Scott, Charles’s illegitimate son and rebel leader, despite the Monmouth Rebellion’s support from fervent Protestants hostile to the Catholic Church. 
  • Through James’s rule and William III and Mary II’s removal of James in the Glorious Revolution, Catherine stayed in England and continued to reside at Somerset House. 
  • She remained in England partially due to a drawn-out legal battle with Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, her former Lord Chamberlain, over money she claimed was part of her allowance and that he claimed was a perk of his position.
  • One of Catherine’s more surprising traits is her love of money; her brother-in-law James, who was also notoriously avaricious, said she always drove a complicated deal. 
  • Her relationship with William and Mary, which had been initially cordial, deteriorated due to miscommunications and growing isolation caused by her religious practice. 
  • Catherine was urged not to stir up trouble with the government after a bill was brought to Parliament restricting the number of her Catholic workers.
  • In March 1692, she finally made her way back to Portugal.
  • Despite the earl being a lifelong Protestant, Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, has claimed that during her widowhood, she secretly wed his relative Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham.
  • She backed the Methuen Treaty, which united Portugal and England, in 1703. In 1701 and 1704–1705, she served as Peter II’s regent. She passed away in Lisbon’s Bemposta Palace on December 31, 1705, and was cremated at the Pantheon of the House of Braganza.

LEGACY

  • Tea drinking was unusual in Britain during Catherine’s time, and she is frequently credited with making it more commonplace. Beyond tea, she introduced and spread products like cane, lacquer, cotton, and porcelain with her entrance.
  • Queens, a borough of New York City, is said to have been called for Catherine of Braganza since she was the monarch in 1683, the year Queens County was founded. 
  • The borough of Brooklyn, initially named after her late husband, King Charles II, and the borough of Staten Island, named for his illegitimate son, the 1st Duke of Richmond, share names with Kings County and Richmond County, respectively.
  • However, neither historical proof nor a contemporaneous document stating that Queens County was named in her honor exists. Some published biographies of queens omit entirely or ignore the monarch.
  • The Portuguese-American “Friends of Queen Catherine” club started collecting funds to build a 35-foot statue of Queen Catherine on the East River shoreline in Long Island City after the tricentennial of the founding of Queens County in 1983. 
  • The group commissioned Audrey Flack to create the statue’s sculpture, and numerous well-known New York City residents, including Claire Shulman and Donald Trump, supported the initiative. 
  • Nevertheless, the project was well underway when resistance to the statute developed from several sources. Historians argued against the memorial because there was no proof that Queens was named after her and that the intended statue’s location was inappropriate. 
  • Irish-Americans in Queens objected because it would detract from the Calvary Cemetery, which had been built for the Irish immigrant community in the country, and African-American Bethesda Missionary Baptist Church objected due to allegations that Queen Catherine and the House of Braganza had benefited from the slave trade. 
  • Shulman had to withdraw her support due to this widespread criticism, and the statue was never constructed. At the Lisbon, Portugal, location of Expo ’98, a quarter-scale replica facing west across the Atlantic still stands.
  • She is honored with Catherine Street, originally Brydges Street, in the heart of London.
  • Most notably, Jean Plaidy in her Charles II trilogy, Margaret Campbell Barnes in “With All My Heart,” and Susanna Gregory in her Thomas Chaloner mystery books all portray the Queen sympathetically in their works of fiction. 
  • As did Alison Macleod in “The Portingale,” a 1976 history of the queen, and Isabel Stilwell in “Catherine of Braganza: The Courage of a Portuguese Infanta Who Became Queen of England.”
  • Catherine’s marriage had a significant impact on later Indian history and the history of the British Empire, even though the Queen personally had little to do with it. 
  • Charles II rented the Seven Islands of Bombay to the East India Company, which relocated its Presidency there soon after acquiring them as part of his wife’s dowry. As a result, Bombay/Mumbai eventually expanded to become one of India’s major cities.

Catherine of Braganza Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Catherine of Braganza across 33 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Catherine of Braganza,a Portuguese Roman Catholic who married King Charles II of England.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Catherine of Braganza Facts
  2. Biography of Catherine
  3. Journey Through Time
  4. Portrait of Catherine
  5. Marriage Pact
  6. Cup of Influence
  7. Letter Across the Seas
  8. Unveiling the Figures
  9. Cooking Adventure
  10. Royal Style
  11. Leaving a Legacy

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Catherine of Braganza?

Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese princess who became the Queen Consort of England, Scotland, and Ireland when she married King Charles II of England in 1662. She was born on November 25, 1638, and died on December 31, 1705.

Why was Catherine of Braganza’s marriage to Charles II significant?

Catherine’s marriage to Charles II was significant because it marked the end of the English Civil War and the period of Interregnum under Oliver Cromwell. Her marriage helped restore the monarchy in England and played a role in stabilizing the political situation.

What is Catherine of Braganza’s role in the history of tea in England?

Catherine of Braganza is often credited with popularizing tea in England. She brought the custom of drinking tea from Portugal to the English court, and it became a fashionable beverage among the aristocracy. Catherine’s preference for tea had a lasting impact on English culture, leading to the development of the traditional afternoon tea tradition.

How did Catherine of Braganza’s marriage influence Anglo-Portuguese relations?

Catherine’s marriage strengthened diplomatic ties between England and Portugal. As a result of the marriage treaty, Portugal provided England with military and political support. The alliance between the two countries remained intact for many years and had a lasting impact on their international relations.

What was Catherine of Braganza’s life like after the death of Charles II?

After the death of King Charles II in 1685, Catherine of Braganza lived in England for a few more years but faced increasing isolation due to her Catholic faith and the political climate. She eventually retired to a quieter life in Portugal, where she spent her remaining years in relative obscurity. She died in Lisbon on December 31, 1705, and was buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza.

Link/cite this page

If you reference any of the content on this page on your own website, please use the code below to cite this page as the original source.

Link will appear as Catherine of Braganza Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, October 11, 2023

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

Related Resources