Cat's Historical Doodles

Doña Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana was born in the Royal Palace of Aranjuez on 25 April 1775. She was the second child of Charles, Prince of Asturias and his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma. Carlota Joaquina received a rigid and deeply Catholic education, and studied religion, geography, painting and riding. The closed and austere temperament of the Spanish monarchy imposed on the family and the court rigid norms of behaviour and etiquette. King Charles III was a reserved man, devoted to his family rather than the animations of the courtesan life, where his daughter in law, Maria Luisa, took part. Carlota Joaquina's mother assumed the organisation of the court's entertainments, with luxurious parties where morals were easily forgotten. Soon, Maria Luisa's image would be linked to that of a promiscuous woman who betrayed her husband. Not even the successive pregnancies and the birth of a long-hoped living male heir saved Maria Luisa from the contempt of the population. S...

Hürrem Sultan's birth name is unknown. It is said that it may have been Anastasia or Aleksandra Lisowska. Sources indicate that she was from Ruthenia, which was part of the Polish Kingdom. She was born circa 1502/4, in the town of Rohatyn, a major city of the Ruthenian Voivodeship. In the 1520s, Crimean Tatars captured her during one of their frequent raids into Ruthenia. Hürrem was first taken to the Crimean city of Kaffa, a major centre of slave trade, before she was taken to Istanbul. There, the Valide Sultan (the mother of the Sultan) Hafsa Sultan chose Hürrem as a gift for her son, Sultan Süleyman . Hürrem probably entered the harem at the age of 15. The precise year is unknown, but scholars believe that she became Süleyman's concubine around the time he became sultan, in 1520. Hürrem's unprecedented rise from harem slave to Süleyman's legal wife and Queen of the Ottoman Empire attracted jealousy and disfavour, not only from her rivals in the harem, but a...

Joanna (Spanish: Juana) was born on 6 November 1479, in Toledo. She was the second daughter of Isabella I of Castile and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon. She had a fair complexion, blue eyes and auburn hair, like her mother and sister, Catherine . Joanna was an intelligent and diligent child, and she was a great student. Her academic education consisted of canon and civil law, genealogy and heraldry, grammar, history, languages, mathematics, philosophy, reading, spelling and writing. Her education also included court etiquette, dancing, drawing, equestrian skills, good manners, music, embroidery, needlepoint, and sewing. Joanna excelled in all Iberian Romance languages (Castilian, Leonese, Galician-Portuguese and Catalan) and became fluent in French and Latin. Praise was given to her for being a skilled dancer and a talented musician: she played the clavichord, the guitar and the monochord. In 1495, Joanna showed signs of religious scepticism and little devotion to worsh...

Maria da Glória Joana Carlota Leopoldina da Cruz Francisca Xavier de Paula Isidora Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga was born on 4 April 1819, in Rio de Janeiro. She was the eldest daughter of the future King Pedro IV of Portugal (and first Emperor of Brazil), and his first wife, Maria Leopoldina of Austria . The death of Maria's grandfather, King João VI of Portugal, in March 1826 sparked a succession crisis in Portugal. The King had a male heir, Pedro, but he had proclaimed the independence of Brazil a few years before, in 1822, making himself Emperor. The King also had a second son, Miguel, but he was exiled in Austria after leading a number of revolutions against his father. Before his death, João had nominated his favourite daughter, Isabel Maria, to serve as regent until the legitimate heir returned to the Kingdom . However, he failed to specify which of his sons was the heir: Pedro, the liberal or Miguel, the absolutist. Most people considered Pedro the legitimate ...