Get to know them: the Portuguese ‘Royals’

The former royal family of Portugal. There is much to tell about the history of the kingdom of Portugal. But who are the current ‘Royals’ of Portugal?

First, let’s go back a bit in history. If you are not interested in history, but want to go straight to information about the current Portuguese ‘Royals’, scroll down to the heading ‘Current Duke’.

The Kingdom of Portugal was a kingdom that was located on the Iberian Peninsula. The kingdom separated from the Kingdom of Leon in the 11th century. In 1385, the ties with this kingdom were finally broken. The Kingdom of Portugal existed from 1139 until it was replaced by a Republic in 1908. In 1500, Brazil was added to Portugal as the largest colony. The colonial empire of Portugal also had colonies in South America, Asia and Africa. Brazil became independent in 1822, later followed by other overseas provinces, such as Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique.

Regicide 1908

In the year 1908, the so-called regicide took place. What a sad story. On February 1, 1908, Manuel Buíça opened fire on the banks of the Tagus River in Lisbon. His fellow assassin Alfredo Costa climbed onto the carriage and fired his revolver. Queen Marie Amélie of Orléans behaved bravely: she stood up and hit the assassin with a bunch of flowers. Unfortunately, it was of little use. King Charles I died immediately. His son, Crown Prince Louis Philippe died 20 minutes later from his injuries (in fact, he was king for 20 minutes). The second son, Prince Emanuel, was shot in the arm. He survived and became King Emanuel II. The queen survived the attack and remained unharmed. The shooters were immediately arrested and soon killed. Further investigation became very difficult as a result.

Prince Emanuel became the new king as Emanuel II. He was strongly supported by his mother. They cautiously tried to implement reforms. Unfortunately, this came too late. In October, a prominent republican was proclaimed during the October Revolution. This ended the reign of Emanuel II and the republic was proclaimed. Queen Marie Amélie and her family left Portugal and lived in exile. She was the last queen of Portugal.

New pretender to the throne

Emanuel settled in Fulwell Park in England. There he married Princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on 4 September 1913. The marriage remained childless and Emanuel died at the age of 42. However, the royal house was not extinct. Earlier in the history of the Kingdom of Portugal, a king had been exiled. In this case it was the deposed King Michael. Michael’s grandson, Duarte Nono of Bragança, succeeded him as pretender to the Portuguese throne.

Back to Portugal

On 27 May 1950, the banishment laws of 1834 (King Michael) and 1910 (King Emmanuel II) were repealed. The royal family was able to return to Portugal. Duarte Nuno did not do this until 1952, because he was recovering from a serious car accident. He was assigned his own residence in Portugal. Duarte Nuno married Maria Francisca of Orléans-Bragança in 1942. Together they had three sons:

1. Duarte Pio (1945), current Duke of Bragança
2. Miguel (1946), Duke of Viseu
3. Henrique (1949-2017), former Duke of Coimbra.

Current Duke

This brings us to the current era. Dom Duarte Pio is the current Duke of Bragança. They are not very well known, but they are still guests at special events of other (non-reigning) royal houses every now and then. Duarte Pio was born on 15 May 1945 in Bern. He and his brothers initially grew up in Switzerland and France, until the family was able to move back to Portugal in 1952. Since 1976, Duarte Pio has been Duke of Bragança and pretender to the Portuguese throne.

Duarte Pio attended the Colégio Nuno Álvares in Santo Tirso from 1957 to 1959. The following year he went to study at the Military University in Lisbon. Duarte Pio served in Angola during the colonial war. Duarte Pio was an advocate of independence for East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that was violently occupied by Indonesia in 1975. In 1999, East Timor finally became independent.

Wedding

On 14 May 1995, Duarte Pio married Dona Isabel de Bragança at the Hieronymus Monastery in Lisbon. She was born in Lisbon on 22 November 1966 as the daughter of Dom Jorge de Heredia and his wife Dona Raquel Leonor Pinheiro Cuvello. The entire European nobility was present at the wedding. The wedding was also broadcast live on the Portuguese public broadcaster.

Godparent

Dom Duarte Pio and King Willem-Alexander are both godparents of Prince Carlos Enrique, the son of Prince Carlos and Princess Annemarie de Bourbon-Parme. Carlos Enrique is a grandson of Princess Irene.

State visit to the Netherlands

In 2017, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima paid a state visit to Portugal. For the counter-performance, Dom Duarte Pio and his wife Dona Isabel were invited by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. Duarte Pio made an appearance at the reception that was held in the Teatro Nacional de Dona Maria II in Lisbon.

Family Duarte Pio and Isabel

Duarte Pio and Dona Isabel had three children:

• Afonso (1996)
• Maria Francisca (1997)
• Diniz (1999)

Dom Duarte Pio and Dona Isabel are regular guests at royal or noble weddings and funerals.

Afonso

Afonso de Santa Maria Miguel Gabriel Rafael was born on March 25, 1996 in Lisbon. According to family tradition, his last three names honor the three archangels. When Afonds was just over 2 months old, he was baptized on June 1, 1996 in the cathedral of Braga. His godparents were Princess Elena of Spain and Afonso Miguel de Heredia, his uncle on his mother’s side.

Afonso attended St. Julian’s School on the Portuguese Riviera and Colégio Planalto in Lisbon. He then went to the Catholic Oratory School in the United Kingdom. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon.

Prince Afonso joined the volunteer fire brigade of Lisbon. He took part in a number of important actions on the ground. For example, he was honorary commander of the same brigade. In addition, Afonso completed a training period with the Portuguese armed forces, where he went through all branches: army, air force and navy.

Professionally, Afonso interned at the Luso-American Chamber of Commerce. He currently lives in Geneva and works at a large asset management firm, Pury Pictet Turrenttini.

The Prince of Beira is the patron of the Prince of Beira Award. This scientific award for biomedical sciences was created to help, motivate and develop young scientists under the age of 40 who are studying biomedicine, with the winner receiving national and international recognition and a cash prize.

Maria Francisca

Infanta Maria Francisca de Bragança was born in Lisbon on 3 March 1997. She is third in line of succession, after her elder brother Afonso and her younger brother Diniz. Maria Francisca was baptized on 31 May 1997 at the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição in Vila Viçosa, in Vila Viçosa. Her godparents are Princess Marie Liechtenstein (a maternal cousin of the Duke of Bragança) and Henrique de Bragança, Duke of Coimbra, an uncle of Maria Francisca.

Maria Francisca completed her secondary education at Colégio de São João de Brito in Lisbon. In May 2020, she obtained a degree in Social Communication and Culture from Universidade Católica Portuguesa. She then started working in a communications consultancy.

On July 4, 2018, the feast day of Saint Isabel of Portugal, Infanta Maria Francisca received the title of Duchess of Coimbra from her father, the Duke of Braganza, in a ceremony at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova. She is the successor to her uncle Henrique, who died in 2017.

The daughter of Dom Duarte Pio is the patron of the “Infanta Dona Maria Francisca Prize”. This prize rewards students of Masters in Fine Arts who have performed best.

Infanta Maria Francisca and Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins got engaged in December 2022 in Timor, the country her father fought so hard for. Their wedding took place on October 7, 2023 in Portugal. Maria Francisça, the daughter of Duarte Pio and Dona Isabel, married Duarte de Sousa Araújo. Maria Francisça is the current Duchess of Coimbra, after the death of her uncle Henrique. The church wedding took place at the Jerónimos Monastery, the same place where her parents were married on May 13, 1995. Duarte de Sousa Araújo is a lawyer.

Diniz

Infante Dinis de Santa Maria de Bragança was born on 25 November 1999 in Lisbon, the third child and second son of the Duke and Duchess of Bragança. As second in line of succession, he holds the title of ‘Duke of Porto’.

Dinis was baptized on 19 February 2000 in the Cathedral of Porto. His godparents are: his uncle Sebastião de Heredia (a brother of his mother) and Princess Ana Cecília de Bourbon Sicily.

Like his sister Maria Francisca, Diniz attended secondary school at the Colégio de São João de Brito in Lisbon. In 2019, he began his studies in Social Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. He interned at the European Parliament and worked at a consultancy firm that develops public-private partnerships. He also worked on various projects in Latin America and Africa. He also interned at an American NGO that works with the United Nations to achieve sustainable development goals.

Diniz is currently studying International Relations at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and is developing a consultancy firm that places products from Portuguese-speaking countries in different international markets.