A proxy wedding took place about a week before, on 27 September 1862, with her cousin Prince Eugene of Savoy taking the role of the groom.

"[citation needed] One year after the wedding at age 15, Maria Pia gave birth to her first son and heir, Carlos, Duke of Braganza.

[citation needed] As Queen, Maria Pia was considered by some as extravagant, but far more for her many charitable works in aid of the Portuguese people.

It is speculated that she too had an affair with Tomás de Sousa Rosa but this was never confirmed, and may have just been some mean-spirited gossip most likely out of the mouth of Infanta Antónia of Portugal, her sister-in-law.

[citation needed] Maria Pia also maintained a rocky relationship with her father-in-law Ferdinand II of Portugal, disapproving his morganatic marriage to an opera singer.

She expressed her sympathy, describing her lost granddaughter as “Very small, but perfect and beautiful, with well-defined features.”[5] King Luís died on 19 October 1889 and Maria Pia became queen dowager.

The queen dowager was devastated after the assassination of her son King Carlos I of Portugal and grandson Crown Prince Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, on 1 February 1908 on the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon.

[citation needed] Due to the 1910 coup that deposed Maria Pia’s grandson, Manuel II, and established the republic in Portugal, the whole Portuguese royal family was exiled.

King Manuel and Queen Amélie went to England, while Maria Pia and Infante Afonso went to her native Italy.