This Saturday, October 7, 2023, Infanta Maria Francisca of Braganza, only daughter of the Duke of Braganza, married Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins, at the National Palace of Mafra. Members of royal families from across Europe and beyond attended the wedding in grand style, as did the Portuguese president himself. Brazil’s imperial family was well represented by dozens of princes and princesses who crossed the ocean to return to Portugal, the cradle of their family.
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The princes of Brazil return to Portugal to attend the wedding of the daughter of the Duke of Braganza
This Saturday, October 7, 2023, many princes and princesses of the imperial family of Brazil returned to Portugal to celebrate the marriage of the daughter of the Duke of Braganza. In addition to being the historical family from which the imperial family of Brazil descends in the male line, the Braganza family has also strengthened its links with the Orléans-Braganza more recently in the maternal line. The bride’s grandmother, who gave her her first name, is none other than Princess Maria Francisca (Françoise) of Orléans-Braganza, granddaughter of the regent Isabella. The mother of the current pretender to the throne of Portugal was therefore a Brazilian princess.
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On April 22, 1500, a fleet led by Pedro Alvares Cabral landed on the coast of Brazil. The navigator seizes the lands in the name of King Manuel II of Portugal. Half a century later, King John III decided to make Brazil a colonial enterprise. After exploiting sugar cane, gold was discovered at the end of the 17th century in the region of Minas Gerais. The 18th century saw the road to gold in Brazil, a precious metal brought back to Portugal. King John V will use it to adorn the sumptuous National Palace of Mafra.
This Saturday, October 7, 2023, Infanta Maria Francisca of Bragança, daughter of the Duke of Bragança, got married at the National Palace of Mafra to Duarte de Sousa Araúnjo Matins. The bride is a descendant of King Michael I of Portugal and her father, the Duke of Braganza, is the head of the royal family and current claimant to the throne of Portugal. The historical Portuguese royal family is that of Braganza. The Braganza family descends from Alfonso (1377-1461), an illegitimate son of King John I, who had been titled Duke of Braganza. In 1640, one of his descendants, John of Braganza, acceded to the Portuguese throne as John IV of Portugal.
Read also: Infanta Maria Francisca and her fiancé Duarte: peaceful moments in Sintra and Estoril before the royal wedding in Lisbon
The Orléans-Bragance find the Braganza
In 1807, while Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops invaded Portugal, the regent Jean (future John VI, who governed in place of his mother, Queen Marie 1st), decided to transfer his court to his Brazilian colony. The court was established in 1808 in Rio de Janeiro and in 1815, during the Congress of Vienna, the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was created. When Queen Mary died in 1816, her son John VI succeeded her on the Portuguese throne, while he was in Brazil. With the sovereign’s departure, the Portuguese economy was in decline and John VI had to return to Lisbon but left his son, Crown Prince Peter, in Rio. The Portuguese parliament demands the return to colony status for Brazil and the return of the crown prince, who refuses and proclaims Brazil’s independence as an empire. He becomes Emperor Peter I of Brazil. When his father died in 1826, he also became King Peter IV of Portugal. Entangled in a political crisis, Peter I was forced to abdicate in 1831, in favor of his son, Peter II, aged 5. Peter I returns to Portugal leaving his young son alone in Brazil. Peter II reigned until the abolition of the monarchy in 1891, with the help of his daughter, Isabella, who ensured several periods of regency. Isabelle married Prince Gaston of Orléans, Count of Eu, grandson of King Louis-Philippe 1st of the French. Their descendants, current members of the imperial family of Brazil, therefore bear the double surname of Orléans-Braganza.
Read also: Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal presents her fiancé: the Duke of Braganza announces his daughter’s engagement
The Orléans-Braganza at the wedding of the Infanta Maria Francisca
Both branches of the imperial family, that of the Vassouras and that of the Petropolis, were represented. The Petropolises descend from the eldest son of the regent Isabella and the Vassouras from the second son whom Isabella had designated as her successor due to the unapproved marriage of her eldest. The two branches have long opposed each other in a dynastic feud. On the Petropolis side, Prince João Henrique and his wife Claudia were invited to the wedding. He found his cousins, Elizabeth and Núria Orleans and Bragança Martorell, the daughters of Princess Thérèse, herself granddaughter of the regent Isabella.
The Vassouras branch, more active within monarchist circles, was widely represented at the wedding of Infanta Maria Francisca. Prince Rafael, aged 37, is the one to whom all eyes are turning. He is currently only 2nd in the order of succession but he is considered the future leader of Orléans-Braganza. The current claimant to the throne is his uncle, Prince Bertrand, aged 82 and childless. Bertrand’s successor is his brother Antônio, 73, who is Rafael’s father. Rafael was surrounded by his sisters, Princesses Maria Gabriela and Amélia. The latter was accompanied by her husband, Alexander James Spearman.
Several brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces of Prince Bertrand had made the trip. We were thus able to see Prince Luiz Philippe of Orléans-Braganza, son of Prince Eudes and nephew of Bertrand, who is certainly the most publicized and known member of the family outside monarchist circles. Luiz Philippe was a strong supporter of Jair Bolsonaro and has been a federal deputy in Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies since 2019. He was present at the wedding with his wife Fernanda and their 11-year-old son, Maximilian. Prince Luiz Philippe was sitting in the basilica not far from his sister, Princess Ana, accompanied by her husband, Paulo Ibrahim Mansour.
Prince Alberto, another brother of Betrand, was present with his wife, Princess Maritza. Other nephews and nieces of Betrand seen in the basilica were Princess Beatriz, Princess Maria da Glória, Johannes Hessel de Jong, Prince Gabriel (and his wife Luciana) and the de Ligne family. Prince Michel de Ligne and his wife, Princess Eleonora, were accompanied by their son, Prince Henri, future Prince de Ligne.
Prince Antônio, current heir to his brother Betrand, married Princess Christine de Ligne in 1981. Princess Christine, is the daughter of the 13th Prince de Ligne and sister of the current 14th Prince de Ligne, Prince Michel. Prince Michel married Christine’s sister, Princess Eleonora of Orléans-Braganza the same year that his sister Christine married Antônio. The imperial family of Brazil has thus formed a strong alliance with the Ligne family, one of the rare Belgian princely families. The imperial family of Brazil and the Ligne family had already gathered last Saturday at the Château de Beloeil, in the stronghold of the noble Belgian family, to celebrate the marriage of Archduke Alexander, descendant of the 11th Prince de Ligne.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been an independent web editor since 2014. After having been a copywriter and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media, he specialized in royal news. Nicolas is today editor-in-chief of Histoires royales. [email protected]
