2025Ines de Castro - 700th Birthday - First Day Cover MS

Born in around 1325, Inês de Castro was the illegitimate daughter of Pedro de Castro, a Galician nobleman, and Aldonça Lourenço de Valadares, a Portuguese noblewoman. She was raised in the castle of Albuquerque by Teresa Sanches, wife of Afonso Sanches, the illegitimate son of King Dinis. On her father’s side, she was the illegitimate great-granddaughter of Sancho of Castile, the father of Beatriz of Castile, who in turn was the mother of Pedro, prince and future king of Portugal. She was, therefore, the prince’s third cousin. According to the Livro da Noa, the medieval codex of the Monastery of Santa Cruz, Inês de Castro was beheaded on 7 January 1355.