Ines of Portugal

This is the gruesome tale of Ines de Castro, who had forbidden love with Prince Pedro of Portugal, betrothed to Constance. When Constance died in 1345, Pedro and Ines hooked up. The King, Alfonso IV, was persuaded that Ines‘ family we’re a threat to the crown and had her assassinated in 1355. When the distraught Pedro took the crown in 1357 he ordered the execution of her murderers by having their hearts ripped out. Swearing that he had secretly married Ines, he crowned her exhumed body and built her grave (pictured) in the monastery of Alcobaca, facing his own.

I had to go to Alcobaca to get my tax number, which was actually alright as coronavirus bureaucracy standards go. People think the bureaucracy is bad here, but they’ve obviously never been to France !