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.

In that time, the royal house announced the marriage of Infante Ferdinand, Duke of Guarda (younger son of King Manuel I) to one of the country's richest and most prestigious heiresses, Dona Guiomar Coutinho, 5th Countess of Marialva and the 3rd Countess of Loulé.

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.

After his return from Madrid, in 1537 (where he was sent by King John III to present formal condolences to Charles V, when his wife, Empress Isabel of Portugal, died) John of Lencastre, 1st Duke of Aveiro, decided to marry to Dona Juliana de Lara, daughter of the 3rd Marquis of Vila Real.