Currently, the headship of the house is disputed between Pedro Carlos of Orleans-Braganza [es], agnatic senior member of the house, head of the so-called Petrópolis branch, and Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza, who heads the so-called Vassouras branch of the Imperial Family. The formation of these branches goes back to the question of the validity of the renunciation of dynastic rights in 1908 by Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, grandfather of the head of the Petrópolis Branch, and whose rights would have been inherited by the younger brother Luís, Prince Imperial of Brazil, grandfather of the head of the Vassouras Branch.[4]
In 1864, the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was looking for a match to his daughters. The Emperor's sister, Princess of Joinville suggested her nephews, Prince Gaston, Count of Eu, and Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, both grandsons of King Louis Philippe of France, as suitable choices for the imperial princesses. The two young men traveled to Brazil in August 1864 so that the prospective brides and grooms could meet before a final agreement to the marriage. Isabel and Leopoldina were not informed until Gaston and August were mid-Atlantic. Arriving in early September, Gaston described the princesses as "ugly", but thought Isabel less so than her sister. For her part, Isabel in her own words "began to feel a great and tender love" for Gaston. The two couples: Gaston and Isabel; August and Leopoldina; were engaged on 18 September. On 15 October 1864 at Rio de Janeiro, Prince Gaston married Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil and heiress of the Empire.
On 15 November 1889 a republican coup d'état took place in Rio de Janeiro deposing the old Emperor Pedro II and proclaiming the exile of the Brazilian Imperial Family. The imperial family arrived in Lisbon on 7 December 1889. The Orleans-Braganza family moved to southern Spain. Further bad news came from Brazil, as the new government abolished the imperial family's allowances, their only substantial source of income, and declared the family banished. On the back of a large loan from a Portuguese businessman, the imperial family moved into the Hotel Beau Séjour at Cannes.[5][6]
In early 1890, Princess Isabel and Prince Gaston moved into a private villa, which was far cheaper than the hotel, but the Emperor refused to accompany them and remained at the Beau Séjour, later moving to Paris where he died in 1891. Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours, Gaston's father, provided them with a monthly allowance. By September, they had taken a villa near Versailles and their sons were enrolled in Parisian schools. Isabel and Gaston purchased a villa in Boulogne-sur-Seine, where they lived an essentially quiet life. Attempts by Brazilian monarchists to restore the crown were unsuccessful, and Isabel lent them only half-hearted support. She thought military action unwise and unwelcome. She correctly assumed that it was unlikely to succeed.
When Gaston's father died in 1896, an inheritance assured him and Isabel financial security. Their three sons enrolled at a military school in Vienna, and Isabel continued her charitable work associated with the Catholic Church. In 1905, Gaston purchased the Château d'Eu in Normandy,[7] the former home of her grandfather King Louis Philippe I and where he was raised, and the couple furnished it with items received from Brazil in the early 1890s.
In 1907, Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza, Isabel and Gaston's second son, planned an ambitious project to defy the decree banishing the imperial family from Brazil by traveling to Rio de Janeiro. His sudden arrival created an uproar in the old imperial capital because the arrival was widely circulated in newspapers. It also caused difficulties for Brazilian politicians by placing the imperial family at the center of attention and many Brazilians went to welcome him. However, Luís was prevented from disembarking and was not allowed to set foot on his native land by the republican government. Nonetheless, he sent his mother a telegram saying: "Hindered of disembarking by the Government, I greet the Redeemer of Slaves on the bay of Guanabara in the eve of May 13."[8]
Soon before the World War I, Princes Luis and Antônio, members of the Austro-Hungarian Army with the permission of their uncle-grandpa, the Emperor Franz Joseph, disconnected from the military. With the war, they tried to enlist the French Army to protect the fatherland of their father, which they adopted but they both was denied because they were part of the French Royal Family. The Princes then joined the British armed forces. Prince Antônio died in 1918, soon after the end of the war in an airplane crash. The serious illness contracted in the trenches proved resistant to all treatments and his health gradually deteriorated until the death of Prince Luis 1920.[8]
In 1920, the republican government headed by President Epitácio Pessoa lifted the imperial family's banishment. The next year Prince Gaston and Prince Pedro de Alcântara traveled back to Brazil after 31 years of imposed exile for the reburial of the Emperor and the Empress in Cathedral of Petrópolis. Isabel, the Emperor's daughter and heir and de jure Empress of Brazil was too ill to travel and died in this same year. She was the last pure Braganza heir to the Brazilian throne. After her death, the claim passed to her grandson Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza, Luis's eldest son. The following year, Prince Gaston, Count of Eu, eventually died a natural death during a journey that would take him back to Brazil to celebrate the first centenary of independence.
In 1937, the son of Luís Prince Pedro Henrique marries Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria, granddaughter of Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria in Germany. They fled the country to avoid the Nazis and went to live in a palace in France where they start to have children. The couple moved to Brazil in 1945 soon after the end of the war giving a definite end to the exile.
I Prince Pedro de Alcântara Luiz Filipe Maria Gastão Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga of Orléans and Braganza, having maturely reflected, have resolved to renounce the right that, by the Constitution of the Empire of Brazil, promulgated on 25 March 1824, accords to me the Crown of that nation. I declare, therefore, that by my free and spontaneous will I hereby renounce, in my own name, as well as for any and all of my descendants, to all and any rights that the aforesaid Constitution confers upon us to the Brazilian Crown and Throne, which shall pass to the lines which follow mine, conforming to the order of succession as established by article 117. Before God I promise, for myself and my descendants, to hold to the present declaration.
Cannes 30 October 1908 signed: Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza[20]
This renunciation was followed by a letter from Isabel to royalists in Brazil:[10][21]
9 November 1908, [Castle of] Eu
Most Excellent Gentlemen Members of the Monarchist Directory,
With all my heart I thank you for the congratulations upon the marriages of my dear children Pedro and Luiz. Luis's took place in Cannes on the 4th with the brilliance that is desired for so solemn an act in the life of my successor to the Throne of Brazil. I was very pleased. Pedro's shall take place next on the 14th. Before the marriage of Luis he signed his resignation to the crown of Brazil, and here I send it to you, while keeping here an identical copy. I believe that this news must be published as soon as possible (you gentlemen shall do it in the way that you judge to be most satisfactory) in order to prevent the formation of parties that would be a great evil for our country. Pedro will continue to love his homeland, and will give all possible support to his brother. Thank God they are very united. Luis will engage actively in everything with respect to the monarchy and any good for our land. However, without giving up my rights I want that he be up to date on everything so that he may prepare himself for the position which with all my heart I desire that one day he will hold. You may write to him as many times as you may want to so that he shall be informed of everything. My strength is not the same as it once was, but my heart is still the same to love my homeland and all those who are so dedicated to us. I give you all my friendship and confidence,
a) Isabel, comtesse d'Eu
After Prince Pedro's renunciation, he lost every royal title he had and his dynastic rights as heir of his mother passed to his brother, Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza, who became Prince Imperial of Brazil. However, years later, after Pedro's death in 1940, his eldest son did not accept his father's resignation and again claimed the Brazilian throne in conflict with Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza, son and heir of Prince Luís, dead in 1920. Thus began a dispute for the crown of Brazil. The descendants of Prince Pedro became known as the Petrópolis Branch, and the descendants of Prince Luís as the Vassouras Branch.
Recognizing the principle of pérégrinité and therefore the impossibility for foreign princes to claim the crown of France,[22][23] the Orléans claimants and their supporters consider excluded from the succession to the throne the foreign descendants of King Louis-Philippe I: the Brazilian Orléans-Braganza (descendants of the Comte d'Eu) and the Spanish Orléans-Galliera (descendants of Antoine, Duke of Montpensier).[24][25]
The agreement of the family in 1909, known as the "Family Pact" (Pacte de Famille) confirms the exclusion of members of these branches from the succession on grounds of pérégrinité.[25] Further, it "takes note" of a written promise given by the Count of Eu and his son to refrain from asserting any claim to the Crown of France and to the position of Head of the House of France until the total extinction of all the other dynastic branches of the House of France (the Montpensiers were already deemed excluded).[25] According to the pact, the House of France recognized the Brazilian House of Orléans-Braganza as a cadet branch and create to his member the French title of Prince of Orléans-Braganza.
Alfred de Gramont alleged in his diary, L'ami du Prince, journal of a novel, published by Eric Mension Rigau-Fayard in 2011) that this decision was made by the Orléans for two reasons: first, the desire of other dynasts to exclude the Comte d'Eu and the princes of Orléans-Braganza (who became heirs presumptive to the Empire of Brazil), and second, the influence of French nationalism. However, exclusion from the succession as a consequence of permanent emigration to Brazil had been acknowledged and accepted in writing by the Count of Eu prior to his marriage to the Princess Imperial of Brazil.
Prince Francisco (b. 1955): Renounced his rights in 1980.
Prince Alberto (b. 1957): Renounced his rights in 1982.
Princess Maria Teresa (b. 1959): Renounced her rights in 1995.
Princess Maria Gabriela (b. 1959): Renounced her rights in 2003.
Prince Luís Gastão (1911–1931)
Princess Pia Maria (1913–2000)
Petrópolis line
Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará (1875–1940), the first son of Princess Isabel, had renounced all rights to the Brazilian Throne for himself and his descendants. The validity of the renunciation was disputed by his son Dom Pedro Gastão after his death.[27]
Most members of the Imperial House live in rented apartments in wealthy neighbourhoods, private mansions, or in Europe. Some of them, like Eleanora, Princess of Ligne [es], live in the royal houses of their spouses.[citation needed]
Generations indicate descent from Afonso, Duke of Braganza, founder of the House of Braganza, until João II, Duke of Braganza, the first Braganza monarch of Portugal; italics indicate a head of the House
Generations indicate descent from John IV, King of Portugal, formerly John II, Duke of Braganza, the first Braganza monarch of Portugal, until Manuel II, King of Portugal, the last monarch of Portugal, excluding the Miguelist line; italics indicate a head of the House
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