Born in Lisbon, he was a son of João Carlos Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese army general and 122nd Governor-General of Portuguese India (1929–1936) and his wife Júlia Clotilde Cristiano Salinas.

He concluded his Colégio Militar studies by 1911, having then entered the Escola Politécnica de Lisboa, in the same year he joined a cavalry regiment. He succeeded his father as the 123rd General Governor of Portuguese India (1936–1938).^[1]

Lopez served as the commander of the Portuguese volunteer forces during the Spanish Civil War. ^[2]

Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar chose Craveiro Lopes as the regime's presidential candidate in 1951 to succeed the late Óscar Carmona. Initially, he was to run in what would have been only the second contested election of the Estado Novo, when naval officer Manuel Quintão Meireles filed to run against him. However, Quintão Meireles withdrew before election day, and Craveiro Lopes was elected unopposed.

Under the Constitution, the president was vested with near-dictatorial powers. In practice, Carmona had mostly turned over the government to Salazar. However, Craveiro Lopes was not willing to give Salazar the free hand that Carmona had given him. Despite this, he did not go as far as to dismiss Salazar; for all intents and purposes, the president's power to sack the prime minister was the only check on Salazar's power.

Nevertheless, Salazar picked the seemingly more pliant naval minister, Américo Tomás, as the regime's candidate in 1958. The Democratic Opposition then invited Craveiro Lopes to be their candidate, but he knew he stood no chance of winning and refused. The regime, however, as compensation promoted him to Marshal. He was involved in the failed military attempt to overthrow Salazar in 1961, led by the Defence Minister Júlio Botelho Moniz.

He died in Lisbon on 2 September 1964.

• List of international presidential trips made by Francisco Craveiro Lopes

•   Portugal:
• Sash of the Three Orders
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Aviz
• Grand Officer of the Military Order of Aviz
• Officer of the Military Order of Aviz
• Commander of the Order of Christ
• Knight of the Order of the Tower and Sword
• Grand Collar of the Order of the Tower and Sword
• Victory Medal
• Exemplary Behavior Medal
• Medal of Military Merit
•   Military Medal of the War Cross (1^st Class) (MPCG) ^[a] (Portugal)

•   Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
•   Brazil:
  • Grand Collar of the Order of the Southern Cross (27 March 1952)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit (16 March 1956)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Naval Merit (13 August 1955)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Aeronautical Merit (16 March 1956)
•   Dominican Republic: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella (20 November 1957)
•   France: Grand Cross of the National Order of Legion of Honour (8 August 1953)
•   Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer (1 March 1955)
•   Holy See: Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (11 August 1953)
•   Lebanon: Grand Cross of the National Order of the Cedar (17 April 1956)
•   Sovereign Military Order of Malta:
  • Grand Cross of the Order pro Merito Melitensi (9 March 1954)
  • Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
•   Spain:
  • Grand Collar of the Imperial Order of the Yoke and Arrows (30 December 1953)
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Cisneros (14 June 1950)
•   United Kingdom:
  • Honorary Knight Grand Cross (Military Division) of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (20 April 1956)
  • Recipient of the Royal Victorian Order
•   Venezuela: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator

He married Berta Ribeiro Artur (Lisbon, Pena, 15 October 1899 – Lisbon, Santa Maria de Belém, 5 July 1958), natural daughter of Engineer Sezinando Ribeiro Artur (Lisbon, 1875 – Lourenço Marques, 1918) by Maria Clara Pereira, by whom he had four children.

• Craveiro Lopes. presidencia.pt