By Ron Wain

THEY arrived in their hundreds to pay their respects to an exiled queen lying in state in the Hampshire rectory she was to call a refuge in the last year of her tragic life.

Maria Francisca, a Portuguese princess and the niece wife of Don Carlos V of Spain, had captured the hearts of Gosport’s residents – they had a member of European royalty in their midst.

With their three sons, the devout Catholic couple had fled here for reportedly refusing to recognise Isabella II as the legitimate heiress to the throne of mighty Spain.

They were Carlists, a Spanish political movement which believed women should be excluded from the royal succession.

Alverstoke Rectory, as it was then called, was home until Maria Francisca passed away from disease, aged 34, in September 1834.

Large stanchions were fitted so that her coffin could be roped off for protection against the public in a large south bedroom at the rectory, since renamed Stokehurst.

Now another chapter in the story of the 18th century property at 35 Anglesey Road, Alverstoke is to be turned.

Divided up to eight flats, the freehold building is to be auctioned with a guide price of £500,000-plus.

It is among 138 lots being sold by Clive Emson, Britain’s largest independent regional land and property auctioneer.

Rob Marchant, the firm’s auctioneer for Hampshire, said: “Stokehurst is replete with history, given the Queen’s connections and the fact it was built over a Medieval storeroom, known as an undercroft.

“The property, in the shadow of St Mary’s Church, is currently let at £29,700 per annum and, given the income potential, we anticipate keen interest from buy-to-let investors.”

Rob said four flats are let under the terms of assured shorthold tenancy agreements and the other four on a long leasehold basis.

Clive Emson, which works with 850 estate agents across southern England, holds the auction at 11am at the Ageas Bowl, West End, on Thursday, July 27.

In a footnote, Maria Francisca was buried, with “all the ceremony due to a Queen”, in a vault beneath the altar in the Roman Catholic Church in Gosport’s High Street.

It was not her last resting place – her remains were later placed alongside her children and her husband, the thwarted claimant to the Spanish throne, at Trieste Cathedral, Italy.

History records Maria’s full name as Maria Francisca de Assis da Maternidade Xavier de Paula e de Alcântara Antónia Joaquina Gonzaga Carlota Mónica Senhorinha Sotera e Caia de Bourbon e Bragança.

Clive Emson sold land and property worth more than £20 million at its June round of auctions, including the one at the Ageas Bowl.

The firm catalogued 143 lots and achieved a sale rate of 85 per cent.

Managing Director James Emson said: “There may be a lot of uncertainty in the world at present, but one certainty remains – there is security in bricks and mortar.

“Despite a political situation that seems to change every day, and one which offers little indication of how things will play out for the property industry as a whole, we go about our business as usual.

“Indeed, our packed June salerooms have demonstrated the continuing trend set so far in 2017 – that both buyers and sellers realise they get exceptional value and service from us.”

Clive Emson also stages an online auction, complementing the existing live auctions it holds across southern England every six weeks.