Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza (born 2 February 1941, in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Vichy France) is the head of the Vassouras branch of the House of Orléans-Braganza and one of two claimants to the defunct Brazilian throne. He succeeded his brother Luiz of Orléans-Braganza to the claim on 15 July 2022. The Vassouras branch claims the throne in opposition to the Petrópolis branch of the Orléans-Braganzas, headed by Pedro Carlos Orléans-Braganza. Although Bertrand and Pedro Carlos respectively were and are great-grandchildren of Princess Isabel (daughter of Emperor D. Pedro II), of the House of Braganza, they disputed leadership over the Brazilian Imperial Family due to a dynastic dispute concerning their fathers, who were cousins.
As with his two elder brothers, Bertrand was born in southern France, 1941, even though the exile imposed on the family had already been revoked, in 1920, due to the Second World War. He came to Brazil after the end of the conflict.[citation needed]
From a very young age he received Catholic formation, being guided by his father to the taste for the doctrinal study and the analysis of the national and international events. He participated with enthusiasm in the academic banks of the ideological struggles that marked Brazil in the first half of the sixties.[citation needed] His formation was completed with frequent trips to Europe, one of which took place during the entire First Session of the Second Vatican Council, when he took close contact with the Catholic intelligentsia to Rome for the great event. A civil pilot, he is a reservist of the Brazilian Air Force.[citation needed]
Besides Portuguese, his native language, Bertrand is fluent in French and Spanish.[citation needed]
Later life
Bertrand in 2011
He is not married and has no issue.
Both he and his elder brother, Luiz, were engaged in monarchist proselytism in Brazil.[8] They both played main roles during the campaign for the 1993 plebiscite, which represented the hitherto only real opportunity for a return of the monarchy since the proclamation of the republic, in 1889. In it, the people were asked to choose which form of government (presidential or parliamentary) and which form of state organization (republic or constitutional monarchy) Brazil should have. The monarchist cause was not successful, receiving only 13.4% of the vote.[9][10]
Roles
In recent years, Bertrand is coordinator and spokesman of the movement Paz no Campo (Peace in the fields), and has traveled all over Brazil lecturing for farmers and entrepreneurs in defense of private property and free enterprise.[11][12]
As the activist and spokesman of the Brazilian Imperial House for the restoration of the monarchy, Bertrand has gained prominence in the national media and, on some occasions, international media,[13] with the rise and spread of monarchist movements throughout the country.[14] He participates annually in public meetings with monarchists,[15] in addition to attending other meetings and conducting lectures, often at the invitation of private institutions, municipal governments and legislative assemblies, mainly for public events related to Brazil's monarchical past.[16] In 2016 he gave an interview to Mariana Godoy on her program on RedeTV!, gaining notoriety with the general public.[17] On 22 September 2017 Bertrand participated in the program The Noite com Danilo Gentili, currently the largest talk show in the country, breaking the program's record of audience.[18] Despite the campaign, politically the monarchist movement is still small, with 11% of support among the population, according to a survey.[19]
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