A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Catharine of Braganza
CATHARINE OF BRAGANZA,
Wife of Charles the Second, King of England, and daughter of John the Fourth of Portugal, was born in 1638. In 1661, she was married to Charles the Second, in whose court she long endured all the neglect and mortification his dissolute conduct was calculated to inflict on her. This endurance was rendered more difficult by her having no children; but she supported her situation with great equanimity.
Lord Clarendon says of Catharine—"The queen had beauty and wit enough to make herself agreeable to the king; yet she had been, according to the mode and discipline of her country, bred in a monastery, where she had seen only the women who attended her, and conversed with the religious who resided there; and, without doubt, in her inclinations, was enough disposed to have been one of the number. And from this restraint she was called out to be a great queen, and to a free conversation in a court that was to be upon the matter new formed, and reduced from the manners of a licentious age, to the old rules and limits which had been observed in better times; to which regular and decent conformity the present disposition of men and women was not enough inclined to submit, nor the king to exact. After some struggle she submitted to the king's licentious conduct, and from that time lived on easy terms with him till his death." After Charles died, Catharine was treated with much respect.
In 1693, she returned to Portugal, where, in 1704, she was made regent by her brother, Don Pedro, whose increasing infirmities rendered retirement necessary. In this situation, Catharine showed considerable abilities, carrying on the war with Spain with great firmness and success. She died in 1705.