Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria

She was a distant relative of Francisco de Borja y Aragón, poet and viceroy of Peru from 1615 to 1621, and, like him, descended from Saint Francis Borgia.

Her husband was named viceroy of Peru on June 12, 1667, under the authority of Mariana of Austria, regent for her son Charles II of Spain.

On June 7, 1668, Viceroy Pedro Antonio Fernández de Castro sailed from Callao for Islay, Arequipa and Puno, leaving his wife in charge of the government of Peru, as gobernadora (female governor).

The royal decree by which the count held the position of viceroy provided that in his absence from the capital, the government would be entrusted to his wife.

She was not a figurehead; she exercised real authority and ran the business of the colony during her husband's absence, making decisions and issuing decrees.

News of the July 11, 1668, attack on Portobelo, Panama, by the English pirate Henry Morgan arrived in Lima on the following August 31.

In response, Countess Lemos sent supplies and military equipment in aid of the defenders and readied the colonial navy to guard against pirates off the Peruvian coast.

She continued the work of her uncle, Viceroy Francisco de Borja y Aragón, to achieve the beatification and canonization of St. Rose.