1460) Margherita Farnese

Margherita Farnese (1567 – 1643). Italian noblewoman member of the House of Farnese and by marriage Hereditary Princess of Mantua during 1581–1583.

Her marriage with the heir of the Duchy of Mantua, Vincenzo Gonzaga, was annulled after two years due to Margherita's inability to consummate (because of a deformity of the genitals). After her divorce, the princess took monastic vows with the name of Sister Maura Lucenia and became Abbess of the monastery of Sant'Alessandro, Parma.

On the paternal side, the princess was the granddaughter of Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma and Margaret of Austria (in turn an illegitimate daughter of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor); on the maternal side, she was the granddaughter of the Infante Duarte of Portugal, Duke of Guimarães and Isabel of Braganza.

As a child, Margherita was ill with smallpox, which disfigured her face. The princess didn't receive a good education; she even not learned Latin. At the same time, she had a kind and modest character and was fond of poetry and music.

 

 

1455) Luís Vaz de Camões

Luís Vaz de Camões (sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns, c. 1524 or 1525 – 1580). He is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Milton, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads). His collection of poetry The Parnasum of Luís de Camões was lost during his life. The influence of his masterpiece Os Lusíadas is so profound that Portuguese is sometimes called the "language of Camões".

The day of his death, 10 June, is Portugal's national day.

 

- "The testimonies of his contemporaries describe him as a man of average size, with reddish blond hair, blind in his right eye, skilled in all physical exercises and with a temperamental disposition, having little difficulty in engaging in fights." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu%C3%ADs_de_Cam%C3%B5es

 

- “That famous poet Luís de Camóes—who, speaking in absolutes, was the prince of them all—was a tall man with broad shoulders and reddish hair. His face was freckled and he was blind in one eye..." https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/lusiads

 

Luis Vaz de Camoes, 16th-17th century, Portuguese School

 

401) Eleanor of Portugal

Eleanor of Portugal (1434 - 1467). Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Consort of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III and the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

397) Isabella of Portugal

Isabella of Portugal (1503 - 1539). Empress consort and queen consort of her cousin Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was the ruler of the Spanish Empire. She was Queen of Spain and Germany, and Lady of the Netherlands from 10 March 1526 until her death in 1539, and became Holy Roman Empress and Queen of Italy in February 1530. She was the regent of Spain because of her husband's constant travels through Europe, ensuring that the kingdom remained independent of imperial policies and economically healthy during her lifetime.

Her maternal grandmother was Isabella of Castile. Mother of Philip II.

396) Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal

Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal (1527 - 1545). Princess of Asturias as the first wife of the future Philip II of Spain, and Princess of Portugal as heir presumptive to the Portuguese throne between 1527 and 1535.

395) Sebastian of Portugal

Dom Sebastian I (1554 - 1578). King of Portugal and the Algarves and penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.

He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and his wife, Joanna of Austria. He was the grandson of King John III of Portugal and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. He disappeared (presumably killed in action) in the battle of Alcácer Quibir, against the Saadians of Morocco. Sebastian I is often referred to as the Desired (Portuguese: o Desejado) or the Hidden (Portuguese: o Encoberto), as the Portuguese people longed for his return to end the decline of Portugal that began after his death. He is considered to be the Portuguese example of the King asleep in mountain legend as Portuguese tradition states his return, in a foggy dawn, in Portugal's greatest hour of need.

 

- "His complexion was as fine and transparent as a girl’s; his eyes were clear and of blue; his hair of reddish gold." https://www.epedagogia.com.br/materialbibliotecaonine/2793Famous-Imposters.pdf

394) Catherine of Austria

Catherine of Austria (1507 - 1578). Queen of Portugal. Daughter of Philip I and Joanna of Castile. Her siblings were Mary of Hungary, Charles V, Isabella of Austria and Ferdinand I.

384) Isabella I of Castile

Isabella I of Castile (1451 - 1504). Queen of Castile. Wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon and mother (among others) of Catherine of Aragon, Isabella of Asturias , Joanna of Castile and Maria of Aragon.
Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon became the basis for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles I. After a struggle to claim her right to the throne, she reorganized the governmental system, brought the crime rate to the lowest it had been in years, and unburdened the kingdom of the enormous debt her brother had left behind. Her reforms and those she made with her husband had an influence that extended well beyond the borders of their united kingdoms. Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects, and for supporting and financing Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the New World and to the establishment of Spain as the first global power which dominated Europe and much of the world for more than a century. Isabella, granted together with her husband the title "the Catholic" by Pope Alexander VI, was recognized as a Servant of God by the Catholic Church in 1974. 

 

- "Isabella was short but of strong stocky build, of a very fair complexion, and had a hair color that was between strawberry-blonde and auburn." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_I_of_Castile

(The image above is from the painting

"Virgen de la mosca" and is thought to depict Isabella)

(Isabella and Ferdinand

with their daughter Joanna, c. 1482)

357) Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459 – 1519). King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death. He was never crowned by the pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He was instead proclaimed emperor elect by Pope Julius II at Trent, thus breaking the long tradition of requiring a Papal coronation for the adoption of the Imperial title. Maximilian was the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, and Eleanor of Portugal. 

He ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of the latter's reign, from c. 1483 until his father's death in 1493.

Maximilian expanded the influence of the House of Habsburg through war and his marriage in 1477 to Mary of Burgundy, the heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy, though he also lost his family's original lands in today's Switzerland to the Swiss Confederacy. Through marriage of his son Philip the Handsome to eventual queen Joanna of Castile in 1498, Maximilian helped to establish the Habsburg dynasty in Spain, which allowed his grandson Charles to hold the thrones of both Castile and Aragon. The historian Thomas A.Brady Jr. describes him as "the first Holy Roman Emperor in 250 years who ruled as well as reigned" and also, the "ablest royal warlord of his generation."

Husband of Bianca Maria Sforza. Father of Philip I of Castile.

342) Philip III of Spain

Philip III of Spain (1578 - 1621). Also, as Philip II, King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598. A member of the House of Habsburg, Philip III was born in Madrid to King Philip II of Spain and his fourth wife and niece Anna.
Husband of Margaret of Austria. Father of Philip IV of Spain, Anne of Austria and Maria Anna of Spain.

No references for this one as of yet. Just portraiture to go by, which seems to depict him with blondish hair, possibly tending to ginger. Definitely a tentative addition to the collection, but very much worth taking note of due to the unexpected number of red and fair-haired royals in the Spanish lines.

325) Infanta Beatrice of Portugal, Duchess of Savoy

Infanta Beatrice of Portugal (1504 – 1538). Second daughter of Manuel I of Portugal and his second wife, Maria of Aragon. Wife of Charles II (also referred to as Charles III), Duke of Savoy, often called Charles the Good. She was the one who introduced the name Emanuele into the House of Savoy through his son Emanuele Filiberto.

44) King Denis of Portugal

King Denis of Portugal and the Algarve (1261-1325). King of Portugal. He was nicknamed the Farmer King, and also the Poet King, The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and grandson of Alfonso X of Castile (known as the Wise), Denis succeeded his father in 1279. His marriage to Elizabeth of Aragon, who was later canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was arranged in 1281 when she was 10 years old.

Denis ruled Portugal for over 46 years. He worked to reorganise his country's economy and gave an impetus to Portuguese agriculture. He ordered the planting of a large pine forest (that still exists today) near Leiria to prevent the soil degradation that threatened the region and to serve as a source of raw materials for the construction of the royal ships. He was also known for his poetry, which constitutes an important contribution to the development of Portuguese as a literary language. 

- "A distinctive feature of his physiognomy revealed by examination of the body was that his hair and beard were auburn. This is a curious fact, as he was the first of the Portuguese royal line up to that time to have that hair color. This genetic trait could have been passed on the maternal side, as his uncle Ferdinand, called "La Cerda", or "the bristly one", had red hair as well. Denis may have inherited the trait from Henry II of England, who was his ancestor on both the paternal and maternal sides, or even possibly from his maternal great grandmother Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen, granddaughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ("barbarossa" means "red beard" in Italian)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_of_Portugal#Physical_Description