Catherine of Braganza was a member of the British and Portuguese aristocracy (upper classes or upper crust). Born in Alentejo, she was the daughter of King John IV of Portugal and the wife of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. For the first 23 years of her life she lived in Portugal, but following her marriage in 1662 she resided in England until the 1690s. It was Catherine who began the British love for tea. Sadly she didn’t have the easiest of marriages as Charles took numerous mistresses and had at least a dozen illegitimate children. However apparently he always insisted she was treated with respect, and he came to her defence in 1669 when false charges of treason were laid against her.

On her return to beloved Lisboa, eight years after the death of her husband, she resided with Portuguese nobles. Soon after she commissioned her own palace, which became known as Paço da Rainha and on a couple of occasions before her death acted as regent for her brother Peter II. You can read all about her palace in Lisboa in my Portuguese post.

By the way the phrase upper crust to describe the upper classes is apparently an Americanism coined in the 19th century. So Catherine would never have heard herself called that. Although she may have heard the phrase with its original definition. There is written evidence it was first used to describe part of a loaf in England in the 1640s.

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    1. So much to put up with, including being left out of most history books!

      There’s a brilliant academic group called Team Queens who are celebrating and researching all queens. They’ve done a few podcasts for us, and there will be some more events at this year’s HODs. However you can also follow them on twitter @teamqueenshist and they have a website teamqueens.org

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  8. Ah yes, the upper crust – the best part of a loaf, or a muffin. Thank you for the mini-history lesson about the lovely lady who inspired a love of tea.

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    1. I love the crusts too – my dad and I used to race for it!!

      Glad you like the mini history post – snippets seem to work don’t they 🙂

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    1. awww thanks Jude, so glad you liked

      btw if you fancy a smile this afternoon do join us via that zoom link I sent you. We are starting later – 4pm. Everyone would love to see you xxx

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