He was born posthumously and he inherited his father's titles and estates: the Dukedom of Guimarães. He was one of the most influential nobles during the reigns of Kings John III and Sebastian.
Political career
As member of the State Council he voted, in 1569, for the marriage of King Sebastian to Margaret of Valois (who later became Henry IV's first wife) and, in 1574, he escorted King Sebastian in his first trip to Tangiers, in north Africa.
King Sebastian was jealous of this and several times showed disrespect for Duarte's rank. When the King didn't invite Duarte to a royal bullfight, in Xabregas (Lisbon), Duarte was quite upset and, finally, he retired to Évora where, some months later, he died single and without issue.
Duarte had two sisters, both married to remarkable Renaissance princes:
Once she was married to a Portuguese, Infanta Catherine of Guimarães inherited her brother estates and rights to the Dukedom of Guimarães. During the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis, Catherine and her husband, John I of Braganza, were important claimants to the Portuguese throne.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Duarte, Duke of Guimarães (1541–1576)
* also an infante of Castile and León, Aragon, Sicily and Naples,§ also an infante of Spain and an archduke of Austria,# also an infante of Spain,‡ also an imperial prince of Brazil,¶ also a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke in Saxony,◙ also a prince of Braganza,¤ title removed in 1920 as their parents' marriage was deemed undynastic,ƒ claimant infante
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