What if King Carlos of Portugal married Princess Victoria of Wales ?

 Historical What-If

What if King Carlos of Portugal married Princess Victoria of Wales ?

(Left : Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom in the early 20th Century (Wikimedia Common)

Right : King Carlos I of Portugal (Deviant Art) )

 

King Carlos I of Portugal and King Edward VII of the United Kingdom were very good friends, and I always wonder what if Bertie’s daughter, Victoria, married the Portuguese King? After doing several researches, I could have the following hypothesis :

Princess Victoria of Wales (1868-1935), nicknamed Toria, was the second daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales who would later become King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. In reality, she was discouraged from marriages after several attempts to match with European Princes, and she was unmarried for her whole life. She was her mother, Queen Alexandra's companion and was very closed to King George V

(The Prince and Princess of Wales with their children, Sep 1885

Princess Victoria was on the far right of the back row (Royal Collection Trust) )

King Carlos I of Portugal (1863-1908)  was the eldest son of King Luis I of Portugal and Maria Pia of Savoy. His reign was very unpopular that contributed to the raise of the republicans. He was eventually assassinated in 1908 by two republicans and his son, King Manuel II, was deposed two years later

(Maria Pia, Queen of Portugal and the Infante Carlos and Infante Alfonso, Porto, 1875

Infante Carlos was at the back (Wikimedia Common) )

 
There had been plans for the marriage of Toria and Carlos but it never happened since Victoria had to convert from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism to marry him. In this hypothesis, we assume that Toria finally converted to Roman Catholicism and married Carlos.

Upon the conversion, it is certain that Toria would be removed from the line of succession to the British throne. It is stated in the Act of Settlement 1701 that British royals who married or converted to Roman Catholicism would be removed from the succession line.

 
The timing of the marriage matters in this hypothesis for the 1890 British Ultimatum would affect the popularity of Victoria in her new land, and I would like to make two situations.

The first one : before the Ultimatum

Victoria, aged 18, married Crown Prince Carlos in 1886. We assume that Victoria and Carlos had four children : 

1.  Infante Luis Alessandro Cristiano Maria Carlos Filipe Vittorio Alberto Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis (1887-1943), named after King Luis I of Portugal and Queen Alexandra

2.  Infante Vittorio Emanuele Carlos Fernando Cristiano Alberto Jorge Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis (1888-1962), named after King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, his great-grandfather

3.  Infanta Maria Luisa "Lou" Vittoria Frederica Carlota Xaveria de Paula Francisca de Assis Rafaela Gabriela Gonzaga (1891-1934), named after Louise, Princess Royal, her maternal aunt

4.  Infanta Maria Pia Carlota "Baby" Alexandra Cristina Xaveria de Paula Francisca de Assis Rafaela Gabriela Gonzaga (1894-1908), named after Queen Maria Pia, her paternal grandmother
 
Upon the marriage, Victoria's title was Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal of Portugal. Three years later, when Carlos succeeded his father as King of Portugal, Victoria became the Queen consort. Queen Maria Pia, Victoria's mother-in-law, was extremely satisfied with the match due to her pro and considered Victoria as a lovely woman. They had a closed relationship

Initially a harmonious marriage, the couple’s relationship deteriorated following the crisis in 1890. Victoria was unsatisfied with Carlos’s decision to connect the two Portuguese colonies which was unacceptable for the British Empire, where Victoria came from. The couple argued intensely for this issue and Carlos, under the pressure of Great Britain, withdrew from his plans ultimately. Thereafter, Carlos was criticized for his feebleness and blamed on Victoria’s interference and her home country. As a result, Victoria’s married life would be very unhappy, and Victoria was extremely unpopular as Queen of Portugal for being a British, despite her efforts to prove herself as a hardworking Queen consort with charitable works. The Lisbon Regicide occurred in 1908 had the King and their youngest daughter, Maria Pia, killed. Victoria was injured while attempting to protect her sons. Their eldest son, the 21-year-old Luis Alessandro then immediately succeeded as King Luis II of Portugal, and Victoria retired from the public.
 
She made frequent visits to England with her children, and the family eventually moved to England after King Luis II was deposed by the republicans. They were received by King George V, Queen Victoria’s brother.
 
Due to Victoria's frequent visits to England even after her marriage with her children, the Portuguese siblings were playmates to their first cousins, Princess Alexandra and Princess Maud, Crown Prince Olav of Norway, as well as the issues of King George V. The deposed King Luis II married Princess Maud, second daughter of the Princess Royal whom he had a closed relationship with. During the Portuguese brother's visit to Switzerland, Auguste Viktoria of Hohenzollern, the brother's second cousins, fell in love with Vittorio Emanuele. They were married in 1913 and Auguste Viktoria was entitled the Infanta of Portugal After the honeymoon, they moved back to England and lived with the Portuguese family in exile. 
 

The second one : after the Ultimatum

After the 1890 British Ultimatum, Carlos intended to marry one of Bertie’s daughters to resolve the tense relationship between Portugal and Great Britain. After meeting Victoria for a several time, they wedded in 1892, and Victoria was 24. It was an arranged marriage, but the couple lived harmoniously and respected each other. Victoria became the Queen consort of Portugal immediately after the marriage

We assume that Victoria and Carlos also had four children, but were born at different times : 

1.  Infante Luis Alessandro Cristiano Maria Carlos Filipe Vittorio Alberto Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis (1893-1949), named after King Luis I of Portugal and Queen Alexandra

2.  Infante Vittorio Emanuele Carlos Fernando Cristiano Alberto Jorge Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Francisco de Assis (1894-1968), named after King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, his great-grandfather

3.  Infanta Maria Luisa "Lou" Vittoria Frederica Carlota Xaveria de Paula Francisca de Assis Rafaela Gabriela Gonzaga (1896-1940), named after Louise, Princess Royal, her maternal aunt

4.  Infanta Maria Pia Carlota "Baby" Alexandra Cristina Xaveria de Paula Francisca de Assis Rafaela Gabriela Gonzaga (1900-1908), named after Queen Maria Pia, her paternal grandmother

 
As Queen of Portugal, Victoria aimed to prove herself as a royal with huge contribution to resolve the agitated sentiment towards to monarchy and the Portuguese Queen of British origin. She made frequent visits to hospitals and slums, and also encouraged opened schools for children. It was Victoria’s strong, tough and thoughtful personality that successfully gained the support of the Portuguese people and accepted her. Despite Carlos unpopularity, Victoria was well respected in Portugal
 
Moreover, her popularity had little significance in saving the monarchy as it is the rise of republicanism like many other European countries that led to the assassination of King Carlos. And I assume that King Carlos would still be killed despite the contribution of Victoria to save the monarchy. We assume that the situation will be the same in case 1 that both Carlos and Infanta Maria Pia died, and Victoria, now the Queen Dowager, supported her son, Luis Alessandro as the new King of Portugal, who was deposed before WW1
 
The two cases actually shows whether or not Victoria would be a popular Queen of Portugal, in the end, the Kingdom of Portugal might still come to an end. However, if any of Victoria and Carlos’s children reproduced, they would be the strongest claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Portugal instead of the Miguelist. Like her sister, Maud, Victoria would surely return to England regularly. Several different matches may be resulted but definitely not for the future King Edward VIII for the Portuguese siblings were Roman Catholics

DISCLAIMER : The story depicted in this post is partly fictional and are not real historical events. 

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