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Dom Pedro II, nicknamed "the Pacific", was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1683 until his death, previously serving as regent for his brother King Afonso VI from 1668 until his own accession. He was the fifth and last child of King John IV and his wife Queen Luisa de Guzmán.
Third son of King John IV and Queen Luisa, he was created Duke of Beja and Lord of the House of Infantado.
Following his father's death, his mother became regent for the new king Afonso VI, Peter's elder, partially paralysed, and mentally unstable brother. In 1662 Afonso put away his mother and assumed control of the state. In January 1668, shortly before Spanish recognition of Portugal's restoration of independence, Peter acquired political ascendancy over his brother and was appointed regent, banishing Afonso to the Azores and, later, Sintra where he died in 1683. Peter thereupon inherited the throne.
Peter not only inherited his brother's throne but also wed his former spouse, Queen Marie-Françoise of Savoy. They had one daughter, Isabel Luísa, Princess of Beira, heiress-presumptive a.k.a. a Sempre-Noiva ("the ever-engaged"), because of the many marriage projects intended for her that never came to fruition. |
