| Consort: | yes |
| Type: | duke |
| Leonor de Castro Mello y Meneses | |
| Succession: | Duchess of Gandía |
| Spouse: | Francis de Borja, IV Duke of Gandía |
| Issue: | Carlos de Borja y Castro, 5th Duke of Gandia Isabel de Borja y Castro Juan de Borja y Castro Alvar de Borja y Castro Juana Francisca de Borja y Castro Ferran de Borja y Castro Dorotea de Borja y Castro Alfons de Borja y Castro |
| Father: | Álvaro de Castro "the Old" |
| Mother: | Isabel de Melo Barreto e Menezes |
| Full Name: | English Leanora Castro Mello Meneses |
| Birth Date: | 1512 |
| Birth Place: | Portugal |
| Death Place: | Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba |
| Place Of Burial: | Gandia |
| Religion: | Roman Catholicism |
Leonor de Castro Mello y Meneses (born 1512; died 27 March 1546 in Gandía) was a Portuguese noble and court official, the Duchess of Gandía,[1] and the lady-in-waiting and close friend of the Empress regent Isabella of Portugal.
She was daughter of Álvaro de Castro "the Old", Captain-general of Africa of King Manuel I of Portugal, and wife Isabel de Mello Barreto e Meneses. Her brother, Rodrigo de Castro, was governor of the Portuguese seat of Safí (Morocco).
In 1526, she was appointed Camarera mayor de Palacio to empress Isabella of Portugal, queen of Spain (mother of Philip II of Spain) and regent of Spain during the absence of her spouse the emperor. Leonor de Castro was to become not only her lady-in-waiting but also her personal friend and confidant.
During 1529 the negotiations took place to resolve her marriage with Francis de Borja.[2] The emperor Carlos I of Spain, represented by his majordomo Pedro González de Mendoza, negotiating in the name of Leonor, urging the Duke of Gandía to accept her conditions. After agreeing to marriage, the spouses met in Toledo in August, and the wedding with Francis Borja took place in the Royal Alcazar of Madrid in 1529. They had eight children, five sons and three daughters.
In 1539, she and her husband attended the burial of the former regent empress Isabella in Granada.
She passed her last days in the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, very near to Gandia, recovering from her ailments, where she died on 27 March 1546. At the death of Leonor de Castro, her husband, Francis Borja, saddened, resigned his goods and possessions in favor of his children, yielded the nobility titles and went to Rome, where in June, 1546, he would enter in the Society of Jesus.
By his husband, Leonor had eight children, five sons and three daughters:[3]