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Queen Maria I of Portugal

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The Resume

    (December 17, 1734-March 20, 1816)
    Born in Lisbon, Portugal
    First undisputed Queen regnant of Portugal
    Full name was Maria Francisca Isabel Josefa Antónia Gertrudes Rita Joana
    Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil
    Queen of Portugal and the Algarves (February 24, 1777-December 16, 1815)
    Queen of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves (December 16, 1815-March 20, 1816)
    Fled to Brazil along with her entire dynasty (November 29, 1807)
    Died at Carmo Convent in Rio de Janeiro

Why she might be annoying:

    She had an extremely long full name.
    She married her uncle Pedro, who was 17 years older than her, because a law forbade her from marrying a foreign prince or else she won't be recognized as queen. (June 6, 1760)
    She went insane from religious mania and melancholia following the death of her husband (1786), and it got worse with the subsequent deaths of her oldest daughter (1788), her oldest son, and her confessor (latter two in 1791).
    Because of her insanity, her fourth son and heir João had to take over her duties as regent after her insanity was confirmed. (1792)
    Her son José's death from smallpox could've been prevented had she allowed him to get vaccinated.
    After her husband's death, she forbade court entertainments, and state meeting looked like religious ceremonies as a result.
    The novelist William Thomas Beckford mentioned that she often 'indulged in conversations of a rather unchaste nature' during his visit to Portugal.
    She had a habit of screaming, 'Ai Jesus!' during her time at Queluz Palace.
    She even screamed throughout her trip to the carrack that took her to Brazil.
    She often slapped and punched servants while in Brazil.

Why she might not be annoying:

    All three of her brothers and a sister were stillborn, which left her the heiress presumptive.
    Her birthplace, the Ribeira Palace, was destroyed in an earthquake that destroyed much of Lisbon. (November 1, 1755)
    Incest aside, her marriage was a stable and happy one.
    Of all the seven children she had, only one outlived her.
    Her second child was a stillborn.
    She dismissed her father's first minister, the Marquis of Pombal, for his tyranny and pardoned his political prisoners.
    Dr. Francis Willis, the doctor who had treated King George III earlier, performed treatments on her that actually worsened her insanity.
    During the last years of her life, she suffered from various diseases and was bound to a wheelchair due to arthritis and oedema.
    She was popular in her native Portugal for being a strong female figure and for commissioning the Queluz National Palace, a Baroque-Rococo masterpiece.
    She was also popular in Brazil because many of its national institutions and organizations were created under her reign through her son's regency, paving the way to Brazil's independence.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 30 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 32 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 124 Votes: 56.45% Annoying