Ana Maria de Lorena, 1st Duchess of Abrantes

Who was Ana Maria de Lorena, 1st Duchess of Abrantes?

Dona Ana Maria de Lorena was a Portuguese noblewoman. The eldest daughter of Rodrigo Anes de Sá Almeida e Menezes, 1st Marquis of Abrantes and 7th Count of Penaguião, she adopted the patronymic "de Lorena" after a maternal great-grandfather, François Louis de Lorraine.

By a decree of king Joseph I of Portugal dated from 9 December 1753, she was made Duchess of Abrantes once she became the queen's Maid of Honour, the highest palatine office for a lady. She inherited her family estates and honours a few years later, upon her brother's death in 1756. Her younger brother, Joaquim Francisco de Sá Almeida e Menezes, had succeeded their father as 2nd Marquis of Abrantes and married Dona Ana Maria's only daughter, but died without issue; thus, she became 3rd Marchioness of Abrantes and 9th Countess of Penaguião.

As family name, she used Lorena, a name which came from her maternal grandmother, Marie Angelique Henriette de Lorraine, a daughter of François Louis, Count of Harcourt.

Ana Maria married Rodrigo de Melo, second child of Nuno Álvares Pereira de Melo, 1st Duke of Cadaval. They had a single daughter, Maria Margarida de Lorena, married to her uncle, Joaquim Francisco de Sá Almeida e Menezes, 2nd Marquis of Abrantes.