Doña Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana of Spain (25 April 1775 – 7 January 1830) was Queen of Portugal and Brazil as the wife of King Dom John VI. She was the daughter of King Don Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma.
Detested by the Portuguese court—where she was called "the Shrew of Queluz" (Portuguese: a Megera de Queluz)—Carlota Joaquina gradually incurred the antipathy of the people, who accused her of promiscuity and influencing her husband in favor of the interests of the Spanish crown. After the escape of the Portuguese court to Brazil, she began conspiring against her husband, claiming that he had no mental capacity to govern Portugal and its possessions, thus wanting to establish a regency. She also planned to usurp the Spanish crown that was in the hands of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte. After the marriage in 1817 of her son Pedro with the Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria and the later return of the royal family to Portugal in 1821, Carlota Joaquina supported her son Miguel in his intrigues to gain the throne, but their relationship deteriorated and she ended up being confined in the Royal Palace of Queluz, where she died alone and abandoned by her children and political allies on 7 January, 1830.
