The surname Adriana Llabrs is a typical combination of two first names, which means ‘grandmother and mother’. This is evident from the first name, which means ‘High’, and the middle name, which is ‘Queen’ or ‘High King’. It’s a family tradition that has roots on the island of Arrecife in the Canary Islands, where Queen Isabella was married to the archduke Joanna, who was of high rank in Spain. As a result, the surname retains its original name, although it’s now known as Adriana Llabrs.
Adriana is one of those names that could have been adapted for a character in a book written by another famous personality, perhaps her niece, which would make a very interesting novel title! In the novel, she was described as being ‘fair and pretty, with a thick head of hair, which waved in the slightest breeze’. Isabella on the other hand, was described as ‘stout, dark and handsome’. Her character in the novel was described as ‘a woman of singular intellect, of average physical and mental features, of average attractiveness, boldness and activity’. So, there is a great correspondence between the traits we see in the first character of Adriana, and the description of Isabella in the novel, which places Adriana at the same level as the Queen of Spain, in the service of the Spaniards during the Reconquest.
There are a lot of interesting things about the character of Adriana, the daughter of the Archduke Joanna, who was married to the king of Arrecife, Don Henry, before her marriage to Don Pedro. It seems that the Spanish government wanted Adriana, a lady of high rank in the country, to marry Don Henry, a man lower in the country, since the queen worried him. This seems to have been the reason for her elevation to the rank of Archduke of Burgundy, which was a far more prestigious rank than that of a count or duke, even though she was technically consort to the king. In the beginning it appears that she does not fully trust her husband and doesn’t like the way he deals with the court. However, she soon comes to respect him as her lover, and he proves very supportive in her career.