A Bourbon King of Portugal

The Queen Mary I of Portugal and her husband Peter III had only 02 sons - Joseph and John- and one daughter - Mariana - who reached adulthood. Joseph, who married his own aunt, died from smallpox in Setember 1788, making his brother John become heir (and the future John VI of Portugal). But WI John had got smallpox and died more or less at the same time as Joseph?

The heir would be Mariana, who was married to Gabriel de Borbón, the fourth son of the Spanish king Charles III. But, if things goes as IOTL, both Gabriel and Mariana died in November 1788, leaving a two-years-old son: Pedro Carlos. So, the legitimate heir of Portugal would be an infant Spanish Bourbon.

How it could have changed the Iberian history? Portugal's policies would probably be much closer to Spain, and maybe there wouldn't be the war of 1801. And, if things goes in France more or less like OTL, and Spain still becomes a French ally, Portugal - tied with Spain - could have broken the alliance with Britain, so no need of a French invasion in 1807.

Any other ideas of possible consequences of a Bourbon on the Portuguese throne?
 
The problem is that no Portuguese government will fully trust Spain.
Also Pedro Carlos isn't the king yet, the regency council would want to keep the colonies at all cost and that means navy.
At that time the the only great power that could help was Britain...
The major changes would be the "Orange's War" doesn't happened and Portugal keeps Olivença and the French invasions.
About the French invasion based in written reports of the time they could have a very nasty surprise near the city of Castelo Branco.
The crossing of the Ponsul River and later the passing of the Talhadas Pass would be critical.
In OTL the French general Thiébault and the Coronel Dulong wrote on their memoires that the French Army wasn't destroyed there only because the Portuguese stay quiet.
The Portuguese king had ordered the Portuguese army to not attack in any way the French, at the same time he was trying to make peace with the French.

So here the orders would be to attack as hard as possible, using mainly the Caçadores units that Wellesley came to know and love.
After Napoleon received the news of the defeat he would send his backup army to try to get Portugal, but when they arrived Portugal would also received troops from Britain.
Maybe he even came to Portugal and face Wellesley earlier ? :D
And the first thing that the Portuguese government would send the prince to Rio a lot earlier then in OTL.

Nasei
 
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