Background
Maria Francisca was born in Paris as the younger daughter of Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours, and Élisabeth de Bourbon. She was a great-granddaughter of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d"Estrées.
Maria Francisca was born in Paris as the younger daughter of Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours, and Élisabeth de Bourbon. She was a great-granddaughter of Henry IV of France and his mistress Gabrielle d"Estrées.
Since the marriage was never consummated, she was able to obtain an annulment. She herself died later that year. Her only surviving sibling was Marie Jeanne of Savoy.
Prior to marriage she was styled Mademoiselle d"Aumale, a title derived from the duchy of Aumale which was a property of her father.
In need of support from Portugal against their mutual enemy Spain, the king of France, Louis XIV, arranged a marriage between Marie Françoise, an important member of the French nobility as a cousin of the king, and the new Portuguese king, Afonso VI, an ill young man who was paralysed on his left side and mentally unstable. As the Portuguese Restoration War continued, the incapable King Afonso VI became dominated by ambitious members of the nobility.