Following the treaty of Utrecht, Portugal, successful diplomatically where she had failed militarily, embarked on a lengthy period of balancing the interests of Britain, France and Spain against her own political and economic needs. This study, drawing extensively on state papers and other collections, follows the course of Anglo-Portuguese relations through the years of John V, the age of Pombal and the 1762 war with Spain, to the years of the French revolution and the flight of the court to Brazil under the threat of Napoleon's army.