Queen

Following her proxy marriage on 2 July 1687 in Heidelberg, Maria Sophia left her native Germany the following August. She travelled up the Rhine to receive the honours of all courts along the river. At Brila, Maria Sophia embarked on an English yacht that was put at her disposal by order of James II of England. She was accompanied by an English fleet that travelled to Plymouth with the Duke of Grafton, son of the late Charles II of England. The new queen arrived in Lisbon 12 August 1687 amid great celebration and the same day the couple was formally married by the Archbishop of Lisbon at Ribeira Palace. Supposedly Louis XIV was "greatly chagrined" by Peter's decision to marry a daughter of the Elector Palatine and not a French princess, as he had hoped.^[1]

The young queen quickly gained the affection of her stepdaughter Isabel Luísa, who was herself less than three years younger than Maria Sophia. She was also loved by her husband, who was quickly presented with a son the year after his marriage. The son survived only three weeks, but a year later, Maria Sophia had another son who would succeed his father as John V of Portugal. As an adult, he would marry his first cousin Maria Anna of Austria, daughter of Empress Eleonore Magdalene.

Maria Sophia was described as gentle, and Peter reportedly treated her with respect. While she clashed with her widowed sister-in-law Catherine of Braganza on matters of etiquette, she was described as a popular queen who was decidedly generous and set about helping the poor of Lisbon.^[2] Her pious nature also made her a popular queen. She was frequently involved with charities that supported widows and orphans and allowed poor patients access to medical care at the royal palace. She had a very intimate friendship with Father Bartolomeu do Quental, who died with the reputation of a saint. In Beja, she financed the foundation of a Franciscan school. She died in Lisbon of fever, possibly a symptom of erysipelas, on 4 August 1699, two days before her thirty-third birthday. Her body was laid to rest at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.