Few love stories have marked Portugal like that of Inês de Castro and King Pedro, Crown Prince of Portugal. A legendary love story.
Inês de Castro and King Pedro
This story begins in the 14th century, at the court of Portugal. We are in 1339 and Inês de Castro has just left her Spain native to join the Portuguese court and become lady-in-waiting to Constance of Castile.
The marriage between Constance of Castile and King Pedro, concluded for political reasons, is not happy and Dom Pedro quickly falls in love with Inês de Castro.
King D. Alfonso IV did not appreciate the influence of Inês on his son and decided to exile her in 1344. The two lovers continued despite everything to maintain a hidden relationship.
A year later Constance of Castile died giving birth to her third child. Dom Pedro then brings Inês back from his exile to settle down together. From this union, four children were born, never formalized in public marriage.
King D. Alfonso IV feared the influence of the Castro clan on the crown prince, which would drag Portugal towards a civil war of Castile so decided to have Inês assassinated in 1355.
Mad with grief, Dom Pedro rebels against his father, triggering a short civil war. On the death of the latter two years later, having become king in his turn, he finds the assassins of Inês and has their hearts torn out.
The legend wants Pedro to have exhumed Inês's body, before posthumously crowning her Queen of Portugal. He then decided to build two splendid tombs, visible in the Monastery of Alcobaça. Dom Pedro will join Inês de Castro in 1367.
