Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria

Who was Ana Francisca de Borja y Doria?

Ana Francisca Hermenegilda de Borja y Doria, condesa de Lemos was the wife of Peruvian Viceroy Pedro Antonio Fernández de Castro, conde de Lemos. During his absence from the capital from June 7, 1668 to November 12, 1668, she was governor of the colony. She thus became the first female governor of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

She was born into the House of Borja. She was a distant relative of Francisco de Borja y Aragón, poet and viceroy of Peru from 1615 to 1621, and, like him, descended from Saint Francis Borgia.

She was the daughter of Francisco Diego Pascual de Borja y Aragón y Centelles, 8th duque de Gandía, and of Artemisa María Ana Teresa Gertrudis, princesa de Doria de Melfi. Her elder sister Magdalena was the wife of Philippe François, 1st Duke of Arenberg.

Her second marriage, on July 20, 1664, was to her cousin, Pedro Antonio Fernández de Castro Andrade y Portugal, 8th conde de Villalba, 10th conde de Lemos, 7th marqués de Sarria. By this marriage she became the condesa de Lemos. Her husband was named viceroy of Peru on June 12, 1667, under the authority of Mariana of Austria, regent for her son Charles II of Spain.