Ines came to Portugal in 1340 as a maid of princess Constance of Castile, recently married to prince Peter, the heir to the throne. The prince fell in love with her and started to neglect his lawful wife, endangering the already feeble relations with Castile. Moreover, Peter love for Ines brought the exiled Castilian nobility very close to power: Ines brothers became the prince’s friends and trusted advisors. King Afonso IV of Portugal, Peter’s father, disliked Ines’ influence on his son and waited patiently for the affair to wear out. Unfortunately for the relations between the two, it didn’t. Ines and Peter kept seeing each other despite royal disapproval.
In 1349, Constance of Castile dies. Afonso IV tries several times to remarry his son, but Peter refuses to take other wife other than Ines – an unacceptable queen. Meanwhile, Peter’s legitimate son (future king Fernando of Portugal) was a frail child, whereas Ines’ bastards where thriving. This created even more discomfort in the Portuguese nobles, scared with increasing Castilian power with Peter. Afonso IV banished her from the court after Constance’s death, but Peter remained with her. After several attempts of keeping the lovers away, Afonso IV ordered Ines’ death. Pero Coelho, Alvaro Gonçalves and Diogo Pacheco went to the Monastery of Santa Clara in Coimbra, where Ines was detained, and killed her in January 7 1355. Ines’s death did not bring Peter more close to his father. Following his lover’s death, he rebelled against Afonso IV and dragged the country to a civil war.
Peter became king of Portugal in 1357. He then revealed to the country that had secretly married Ines and that she was the lawful queen of Portugal. The king’s word was, and still is, the only proof of the marriage, but Peter took Ines’ body from the grave and forced the entire court to swear alliance to her as queen.
Ines de castro’s life is immortalized in several plays and poems in Portuguese and Spanish language, including The Lusiads by Camoes.