Juana I of Castile

Juana I of Castile was queen of Castile from 1504 and of Aragon from 1516, although her father, husband and son successively restricted her exercise of power.

The daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, Juana married Philip of Habsburg in 1496. The deaths of her siblings made her heir to Castile. After Isabella died, Juana’s authority was contested by Philip and Ferdinand, and after Philip’s death she was confined at Tordesillas. She remained queen in title until 1555 while her son Charles V built a Habsburg monarchy across Europe and the Americas.