King of Portugal 1706-1750. He was the son and heir of king Pedro II and his 2nd queen Maria Sophia von Pfalz-Neuburg. One of his first acts as king was to intimate his adherence to toe Grand Alliance, which his father had joined in 1703. Accordingly his general Das Minas, along with Lord Galway, advanced into Castille, but sustained the defeat of Almanza. In October 1708 he married his maternal cousin Maria Anna von Habsburg, the daughter of the Roman emperor Leopold I of Austria and empress Eleonore von Pfalz-Neuburg, thus strengthening the alliance with Austria; the series of unsuccesfull campaigns ultimately terminated in a favourable peace with France in 1713 and with Spain in 1715.The rest of his long reign was characterized by royal subservience to the clergy, the kingdom being administered by ecclesiastical persons and for eccliastical objects to an extent that gave him the best of rights to the title "Most Faithful King", bestowed upon him and his successors by a bull of Pope Benedict XIV in 1748. João V died on July 31, 1750, and was succeeded by his son Josè I.

King of Portugal 1706-1750. He was the son and heir of king Pedro II and his 2nd queen Maria Sophia von Pfalz-Neuburg. One of his first acts as king was to intimate his adherence to toe Grand Alliance, which his father had joined in 1703. Accordingly his general Das Minas, along with Lord Galway, advanced into Castille, but sustained the defeat of Almanza. In October 1708 he married his maternal cousin Maria Anna von Habsburg, the daughter of the Roman emperor Leopold I of Austria and empress Eleonore von Pfalz-Neuburg, thus strengthening the alliance with Austria; the series of unsuccesfull campaigns ultimately terminated in a favourable peace with France in 1713 and with Spain in 1715.The rest of his long reign was characterized by royal subservience to the clergy, the kingdom being administered by ecclesiastical persons and for eccliastical objects to an extent that gave him the best of rights to the title "Most Faithful King", bestowed upon him and his successors by a bull of Pope Benedict XIV in 1748. João V died on July 31, 1750, and was succeeded by his son Josè I.

Bio by: Benny Chordt Hansen