Background
Through his father, John was a grandchild of King John II of Portugal and a 3rd cousin to King Manuel I of Portugal.
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John De Lencastre
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When he was 12 years old, he served crown prince John (who became later King John III of Portugal) and King Manuel I granted him the title of Marquis of Torres Novas by a royal decree issued on March 27, 1520. However, John of Lencastre declared he had secretly married the richest bride. The scandal in the Court ended when King John III ordered the Marquis imprisonment in the Castle of São Jorge, in Lisbon, allowing the celebration of the Infante Ferdinand"s marriage.
After nine years, when he was released, he went to live in Setúbal, maybe ashamed for the situation, and he only returned to the Court in 1535, to escort Infante Luis, Duke of Beja, who was leading the Portuguese fleet in Charles V’s crusade against Tunis.
In that year King John III granted him the title of Duke of Aveiro. In 1552, we was again chosen by the King to escort, from the border to Lisbon, the Infanta Joan of Spain, who would marry John, Crown Prince of Portugal (John III only surviving son).
John of Lencastre and Juliana de Lara had two sons:
George of Lencastre (1548–1578), Marquis of Torres Novas, who succeeded his father as 2nd Duke of Aveiro, and died in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir;
John of Lencastre wrote several books and built a magnificent convent in Arrábida, near Setúbal, where an annual music festival takes place.
