King for a day, duke for a lifetime?

Kellan Sullivan

One of the more neglected characters of history and althistory, is the Infante Duarte, duke of Guimaraes? brother to the more famous duchesses of Parma and Bragança, and cousin to King Sebastian of Portugal.

What would have a longer lasting independent Portugal look like - since if he had lived longer and married he would've become Duarte II.

No Cardinal-King and no possibility of Felipe II gaining Portugal...
 
Valena

Valena

An underused character, definitely, but in OTL he was mistreated by his cousin to the point of becoming shut-in and (probably) dying via suicide.
With POD of better relation between Duke of Guimaraes and the King we can see independent Portugal longer.
If Sebastian dies on schedule and Duarte succeeds him while still unmarried, Isabella-Clara of Austria who in OTL was considered prospective bride for Sebastian and only after his death was married off to Albert can marry Duarte.
 

Kellan Sullivan

I must admit ignorance on his suicide though.

As to a queen, Isabel was proposed for the future duke of Bragança, so I could see her being the wife of the alternate heir.

However, Margot de Valois would likewise be an interesting candidate. Or perhaps Elisabeth of Austria, OTL queen of France. after Sebastian's death, the reason Isabel became a spinster in all but name until Albert was defrocked was because she was promised to Rudolf II. However, Rudolf kept her dangling for several years before he finally declared he would marry no one.
 
Valena

Valena

Margot de Valois has fertility problems, however it is not 100% sure whether this was a genuine fertility problem or just Rh-incompatible marriage (as BOTH Henri IV and Margot (by some records) had children with other people.
I lean towards either Elisabeth or Isabella-Clara (Duarte being proposed instead of Albert). BTW, both will be referred to as Isabel if they marry into Portuguese court. Elisabeth is the best in terms of "Surviving Children" and with different Queen Charles IX can have male children.
Hell, we accidentaly reached into Charles IX remarries to his brother's widow territory:)
 

Kellan Sullivan

Mary, queen of Scots won't marry Charles. The age gap between she and François II was manageable, but here she would be marrying a child by comparison. Also, a certain queen dowager in Paris didn't like Mary too much
 

Kellan Sullivan

Kellan Sullivan said:
Mary, queen of Scots won't marry Charles. The age gap between she and François II was manageable, but here she would be marrying a child by comparison. Also, a certain queen dowager in Paris didn't like Mary too much
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An interesting but completely out of the realm of possibility would be for Mary to marry Duarte while he's only a royal duke who can thereby make his home in Scotland. D. Sebastiao dies on schedule and suddenly Mary ends up as queen of Portugal, and a union of Scotland and Portugal takes place.

And suddenly, scandal-ridden Lady Catharine Grey is looking like a safe alternative as heiress to Good Queen Bess
 
Valena

Valena

Kellan Sullivan said:
An interesting but completely out of the realm of possibility would be for Mary to marry Duarte while he's only a royal duke who can thereby make his home in Scotland. D. Sebastiao dies on schedule and suddenly Mary ends up as queen of Portugal, and a union of Scotland and Portugal takes place.

And suddenly, scandal-ridden Lady Catharine Grey is looking like a safe alternative as heiress to Good Queen Bess
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Yes, that will be outside of realm of possibility. For ducal consort Mary will opt for domestic candidate.
 

Gonzaga

Valena said:
An underused character, definitely, but in OTL he was mistreated by his cousin to the point of becoming shut-in and (probably) dying via suicide.
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Could you point me your source? Because I can only find that Sebastian was jealous of Duarte's popularity and as the king didn't invite him to a bullfight the duke retired from the Court and went to Évora, where he died sometime later. However, the king made him Constable of Portugal, and gave to him the command of the Navy and high positions in his army in 1573 and 1574. It doesn't seem that he was too mistreated.
 
Valena

Valena

That's why I told it was "probably" as I might have misremembered my facts which came from discussion on avoiding Portugal-Spain union or turning it on its head a bit later WITHOUT cliche Prince Miguel the theory came that he could have died in Evora because of suicide attempt.
But if it is some freak accident or disease - that is even better as psychological PODs are not the safest ones.
 

Gonzaga

Valena said:
But if it is some freak accident or disease - that is even better as psychological PODs are not the safest ones.
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Apparently he died after months suffering from an unspecified illness.
Regarding marriages, the Portuguese and the Spanish courts were negotiating the marriage of Sebastian and Isabella Clara. Philip II said that the matter would be decided after the Moroccan campaign. So Duarte (who would be Edward II ) would be the target for her marriage, especially if you consider that Portugal and Spain were concerned about having family ties, and he doesn't have many links with the Habsburgs (his paternal grandmother was a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, so he has Trastamara blood, but not Habsburg).
 
Valena

Valena

Gonzaga said:
Regarding marriages, the Portuguese and the Spanish courts were negotiating the marriage of Sebastian and Isabella Clara. Philip II said that the matter would be decided after the Moroccan campaign. So Duarte (who would be Edward II ) would be the target for her marriage, especially if you consider that Portugal and Spain were concerned about having family ties, and he doesn't have many links with the Habsburgs (his paternal grandmother was a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, so he has Trastamara blood, but not Habsburg).
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So I remembered Sebastian marriage negotiations right:) Isabella Clara will get married to Duarte, and Rudolf will be offered Catherine of Spain, maybe.
 

Kellan Sullivan

@ Gonzaga: So we won't be getting an inbred child who may/may not be mad due to the fact that his parents would have the same genetic coefficient as if they were half-siblings. Always a plus.

@Valena: if Rudolf turned Isabel down, why would he be more inclined to take Catherine? MHO is that Rudolf would remain a weird bachelor tinkering with his little experiments etc in Prague. Catherine MAY marry a defrocked Albert, but I think that might be equally unlikely and she'll be sent to Savoy as OTL.
 
Valena

Valena

I said OFFERED and not MARRIED TO. Catherine-Michelle will be discarded by Rudolf and then will go to Savoy:)
 

Kellan Sullivan

Valena said:
I said OFFERED and not MARRIED TO. Catherine-Michelle will be discarded by Rudolf and then will go to Savoy:)
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Besides the icky details of marrying his brother's "wife" if Catherine at least gets precontracted to Rudolf, is there a reason she might not be married to Albert instead? I know he's still wearing a cardinal's skirt, so maybe his older brother Ernst dies way ahead of schedule, freeing him from his skirts?
 
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