Who was the last King of Portugal?
Manuel II of Portugal
"Dom" Manuel II (15 November 1889 – 2 July 1932), "the Patriot" () or "the Unfortunate" (), was the last King of Portugal, ascending the throne after the assassination of his father, King Carlos I, and his elder brother, Luís Filipe, the Prince Royal. Before ascending the throne he held the title of Duke of Beja. His reign ended with the dissolution of the monarchy in the 5 October 1910 revolution, and Manuel lived the rest of his life in exile in Twickenham, South London.
Afonso IV of Portugal
Afonso IV (; 8 February 129128 May 1357), called the Brave (), was King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1325 until his death. He was the only legitimate son of King Denis of Portugal by his wife Elizabeth of Aragon.
Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza
Duarte Pio João Miguel Gabriel Rafael was born on 15 May 1945 in Bern, Switzerland, as the first of three sons of Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, and Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza. His father was the grandson of King Miguel I, while his mother was a great-granddaughter of King Pedro IV (Emperor Pedro I of Brazil), who was King Miguel I's older brother. Through his father, he is a member of the Miguelist branch of the House of Braganza. Duarte Pio's godparents were Pope Pius XII, Queen Amélie (the mother of King Manuel II, the last monarch of Portugal) and his great-aunt Infanta Adelgundes, Duchess of Guimarães.
Renaissance architecture in Portugal
The Ribeira Palace of Lisbon, a royal palace built in the early 16th century in Manueline style by King Manuel I, was remodelled towards the end of the 16th century by the orders of Philip I (Philip II of Spain). At this time the façade of the palace was modernised and a large Renaissance-style tower with a dome was built by the Tagus river. The palace and its prominent tower dominated the cityscape of Lisbon until 1755, when the Great Lisbon earthquake destroyed it. With the royal palace destroyed, perhaps the most important late Renaissance palace in Portugal is the Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa, built between the late 16th and early 17th centuries for the Dukes of Braganza.
Afonso VI of Portugal
Colonial affairs saw the Dutch conquest of Jaffnapatam, Portugal's last colony in Portuguese Ceylon (1658) and the cession of Bombay and Tangier to England (23 June 1661) as dowry for Afonso's sister, Catherine of Braganza, who had married King Charles II of England. English mediation in 1661 saw the Netherlands acknowledge Portuguese rule of Brazil in return for uncontested control of Ceylon.
Portugal
King John IV's eldest son came to reign as Afonso VI, however his physical and mental disabilities left him overpowered by Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa, 3rd Count of Castelo Melhor. In a palace coup organized by the King's wife, Maria Francisca of Savoy, and his brother, Pedro, Duke of Beja, King Afonso VI was declared mentally incompetent and exiled first to the Azores and then to the Royal Palace of Sintra, outside Lisbon. After Afonso's death, Pedro came to the throne as King Pedro II. Pedro's reign saw the consolidation of national independence, imperial expansion, and investment in domestic production.
Joseph I of Portugal
Joseph I (, , 6 June 1714 – 24 February 1777), "The Reformer" (), was the King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. Indeed, he assembled one of the greatest collections of operatic scores in Europe.
Duke of Braganza
From this time onwards, the title "Duke of Braganza" was kept for the heir apparent of the throne – in its strictest sense. Although the other title for an unavoidable heir, that of "Prince of Brazil", was from time to time granted even to female heirs, the Dukedom of Braganza was always reserved only for the male heir except for two extraordinary creations, in 1683 and 1711. These two creations are deemed invalid by some legalists, who accordingly number the dukes in a way that Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, the last Duke of Braganza during the period of Portuguese monarchy, is reckoned to be the 21st Duke. The present table reflects a numbering that specifies him as the 21st Duke.
Miguel I of Portugal
"Dom" Miguel I (; English: "Michael I"; 26 October 1802 – 14 November 1866), "the Absolutist" () or "the Traditionalist" (), was the King of Portugal between 1828 and 1834, the seventh child and third son of King João VI (John VI) and his queen, Carlota Joaquina of Spain.
Kingdom of Portugal
With the start of the 20th century, Republicanism grew in numbers and support in Lisbon among progressive politicians and the influential press. However a minority with regard to the rest of the country, this height of republicanism would benefit politically from the Lisbon Regicide on 1 February 1908. While returning from the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa, King Carlos I and the Prince Royal Luís Filipe were assassinated in the Terreiro do Paço, in Lisbon. With the death of the King and his heir, Carlos I's second son would become monarch as King Manuel II. Manuel's reign, however, would be short-lived, ending by force with the 5 October 1910 revolution, sending Manuel into exile in Great Britain and giving way to the Portuguese First Republic.
Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal
Infanta Maria Antónia of Portugal (Portuguese: "Maria Antónia Adelaide Camila Carolina Eulália Leopoldina Sofia Inês Francisca de Assis e de Paula Micaela Rafaela Gabriela Gonzaga Gregória Bernardina Benedita Andrea"; 28 November 1862 – 14 May 1959) was a Portuguese infanta, the seventh and last child of Miguel of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.
Maria I of Portugal
The ultimate Napoleonic plan for Portugal was to split it into three sections. The northern parts of Portugal, from the Douro to the Minho, would become the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania, and its throne was promised to King Louis II of Etruria. The Alentejo Province and Kingdom of the Algarve would be merged to form the "Principality of the Algarves", of which Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy would be sovereign. The remaining portion of Portugal would have been directly ruled by France.
Afonso of Portugal, Lord of Portalegre
Infante Afonso of Portugal (Lisbon, 8 February 1263 – Lisbon, 2 November 1312; ; or "Alphonse") was a Portuguese "infante" (prince), son of King Afonso III of Portugal and his second wife Beatrice of Castile. He was titled Lord of Portalegre, Castelo de Vide, Arronches, Marvão and Lourinhã.
Infanta Francisca Josefa of Portugal
Infanta Francisca Josefa Maria Xaviera(; ) (30 January 1699 – 15 July 1736) was a Portuguese "infanta" (princess) and the last of eight children of King Peter II of Portugal and his second wife Marie Sophie of Neuburg.
Kingdom of Portugal
After the Portuguese Restoration War of 1640–1668, the kingdom passed to the House of Braganza and thereafter to the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From this time, the influence of Portugal declined, but it remained a major power due to its most valuable colony, Brazil. After the independence of Brazil, Portugal sought to establish itself in Africa, but was ultimately forced to yield to the British interests, leading to the collapse of the monarchy in the 5 October 1910 revolution and the establishment of the First Portuguese Republic.
Fernando Afonso of Portugal
Fernando Afonso (1135–1207), was Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller between 1202-1206. He was the oldest son of Afonso Henriques, the first king of the Kingdom of Portugal, though would never inherit the crown as he was born out of wedlock.
Maria I of Portugal
Dona Maria I (English: "Mary I"; 17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 1777 until her death. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Portugal and the first monarch of Brazil. With Napoleon's European conquests, her court, then under the direction of her son João, the Prince Regent, moved to Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a kingdom, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
Francesco Ravizza
After the Treaty of Lisbon (1668) there was the possibility for the Pope to restore the ecclesiastic jurisdiction in Portugal, previously placed in hold due to the conflict between the House of Braganza and the House of Habsburg: in 1659 had died the last bishop in Portugal.
On 12 August 1670 Francesco Ravizza was nominated Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal. He reached Lisboa on 4 May 1671 after had passed in Paris to obtain the support of France in negotiating with the prince-regent Peter II of Portugal. In Lisboa Ravizza performed many episcopal consecrations in order to re-establish a hierarchy there, but he found difficulties to re-establish also the ecclesiastic tribunals.
Portugal
Portugal as a country was established during the Christian "Reconquista" against the Moors who had invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 AD. Despite attempts at independence since its foundation as a county in 868, only after the Battle of São Mamede in 1128, where Portuguese forces led by Afonso Henriques defeated forces led by his mother, Teresa, the County of Portugal affirmed its sovereignty and Afonso styled himself Prince of Portugal. He would later be proclaimed King of Portugal at the Battle of Ourique in 1139 and was recognised as such, by neighbouring kingdoms, on the Treaty of Zamora, in 1143.
Twickenham
Not far from Pope's Grotto is the Roman Catholic Church of Saint James, which has a memorial window in the form of the Royal Arms of Portugal and memorials to Manuel II, Portugal's last king, who worshipped here and died in nearby Fulwell Park in 1932.
Afonso VI of Portugal
Afonso VI (; 21 August 164312 September 1683), known as "the Victorious" (), was the second King of Portugal of the House of Braganza from 1656 until his death. He was initially under the regency of his mother, Luisa of Medina-Sidonia, until 1662, when he removed her to a convent and took power with the help of his favourite, the Count of Castelo Melhor.
Sintra
With the death of the Cardinal-King Henry (1578–1580), Philip II of Spain inherited the Kingdom of Portugal, initiating a personal union of the crowns that would last until 1640. During this period, Portuguese political power moved from Sintra to Vila Viçosa, principal centre of the House of Braganza, whose dukes, descendents of John of Portugal, were heirs to the throne of Portugal. Following the decision of the "Cortes" of Tomar in 1581, Phillip as King of Portugal accepted an administration composed of the Portuguese aristocracy. He passed through Sintra around October 1581, visiting the monasteries and churches. It was during this period that cult of Sebastianism, the hope for the return of King Sebastian, came to an end, when several fake "Sebastians" were denounced. In 1585 Mateus Alvares, born on the island of Terceira in the Azores and guardian of the hermitage of São Julio, passed himself off as King Sebastian and created conflict in Sintra, Madra, Rio de Mouro and Ericeira. The Sebastian adventure ended with the hanging of thirty people and the suffering of many more. It was not surprising, therefore, that the visit in 1619 by King Phillip IV of Spain (Phillip III of Portugal) resulted in many families escaping to the hills. During this union (1580–1640), Sintra was a privileged place for Portuguese "exiles" from the Castilian court; nobles who wished to distance themselves from Spanish nobility would purchase lands in the region, away from court intrigue. At the time of the Restoration, in 1640, the municipality had approximately 4000 residents.
Battle of Évora (1808)
Emperor Napoleon concluded the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition. While the Kingdom of Prussia was humiliated, the Russian Empire became an ally of France. After his triumph, the emperor looked to the west where Portugal was the oldest continental ally of the United Kingdom. Portugal's Prince Regent John of Braganza had declined to join the Continental System against British trade. Furthermore, Napoleon resented Britain's trade with Portugal's colony in Brazil, wished to seize Portugal's shipping, and wanted to deny the Royal Navy the use of Lisbon's major port.
List of Portuguese monarchs
After the demise of the Portuguese monarchy, in 1910, Portugal almost restored its monarchy in a revolution known as the Monarchy of the North, though the attempted restoration only lasted a month before destruction. With Manuel II's death, the Miguelist branch of the house of Braganza became the pretenders to the throne of Portugal. They have all been acclaimed king of Portugal by their monarchist groups.
Crown of João VI
The crown saw its last official use during the reign of Manuel II of Portugal, when it was used for his acclamation and at the official opening of the Cortes, the Portuguese parliament.
Descendants of Manuel I of Portugal
After King Manuel's death, his descendants would hold a great importance to Portuguese sovereignty and European history. Almost all of Manuel's descendants would become crucial beings in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580, the Iberian Union, and later the Portuguese Restoration War, as all the claims to the Portuguese throne during these events originated from descendancy from Manuel I.
Portuguese succession crisis of 1580
António, Prior of Crato (1531–1595) was a claimant of the Portuguese throne during the 1580 crisis and, according to some historians, King of Portugal (during a short time (38 days) in 1580 in mainland Portugal, and since then until 1583, in the Azores). António was the illegitimate son of Infante Luis (1506–1555), and therefore grandson of King Manuel I. It was precisely because of his illegitimacy that his claim to the throne was weak and considered invalid. Following the death of King Sebastian, Antonio had put forward his own claim, but his pretensions were overlooked in favour of Cardinal Henry. In January 1580, when the Cortes Gerais were assembled in Almeirim to decide upon an heir, the old Cardinal-King Henry died and the Regency of the Kingdom was assumed by a Council of five members.
Duke of Braganza
On 1 February 1908 King Charles I of Portugal was murdered along with his eldest son and heir, Luís Filipe, the last individual during the monarchy to carry that title. Carlos was succeeded by Manuel II of Portugal but for a short time: on 5 October 1910, a republic was instituted, and the king was exiled. King Manuel II then settled in England.
Line of succession to the former Portuguese throne
The Portuguese monarchy was abolished on 5 October 1910, when King Manuel II was deposed following a republican revolution. The present head of the House of Braganza, the former ruling house, is Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, a position he has held since the death of his father, Duarte Nuno, in 1976. The succession law for the former Portuguese throne was male-preference cognatic primogeniture.
Coronations in Europe
In 1646, immediately after his Coronation, King João IV of Portugal and the Algarves consecrated the Crown of Portugal to the Virgin Mary, proclaiming her to be the Queen and patroness of his nation. After this act, no Portuguese sovereign ever wore a crown. The Portuguese monarchy was abolished in 1910.
John III of Portugal
John III ( ; 7 June 1502 – 11 June 1557) nicknamed "o Colonizador" (English: "The Colonizer") was the King of Portugal and the Algarves from 13 December 1521 to 11 June 1557. He was the son of King Manuel I and Maria of Aragon, the third daughter of King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile. John succeeded his father in 1521, at the age of nineteen.
History of Portugal
The death of King John VI in 1826 led to a crisis of royal succession. His eldest son, Pedro I of Brazil, briefly became Pedro IV of Portugal, but neither the Portuguese nor the Brazilians wanted a unified monarchy; consequently, Pedro abdicated the Portuguese crown in favor of his 7-year-old daughter, Maria da Glória, on the condition that when she came of age she would marry his brother, Miguel. Dissatisfaction at Pedro's constitutional reforms led the "absolutist" faction of landowners and the church to proclaim Miguel king in February 1828. This led to the Liberal Wars in which Pedro eventually forced Miguel to abdicate and go into exile in 1834 and place his daughter on throne as Queen Maria II.
List of Portuguese supercentenarians
She remembered the day when the last king of Portugal, D. Manuel II, visited the nearby town of Espinho, on 23 November 1908.
Portuguese Cortes
Curiously, the Cortes gained a new importance with the Iberian Union of 1581, finding a role as the representative of Portuguese interests to the new Habsburg monarch. The Cortes played a critical role in the 1640 Restoration, and enjoyed a brief period of resurgence during the reign of John IV (r.1640-1656). But by the end of the 17th century, it found itself sidelined once again. The last Cortes met in 1698, for the mere formality of confirming the appointment of Infante John (future John V) as the successor of Peter II of Portugal. Thereafter, Portuguese kings ruled as absolute monarchs. No Cortes were eassembled for over a century. This state of affairs came to an end with the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which set in motion the introduction of a new constitution, and a permanent and proper parliament, that however inheirited the name of "Cortes Gerais".
Sancho I of Portugal
With the death of Afonso I in 1185, Sancho I became the second king of Portugal. Coimbra was the centre of his kingdom; Sancho terminated the exhausting and generally pointless wars against his neighbours for control of the Galician borderlands. Instead, he turned all his attentions to the south, towards the Moorish small kingdoms (called taifas) that still thrived. With Crusader help he took Silves in 1188. Silves was an important city of the South, an administrative and commercial town with population estimates around 20,000 people. Sancho ordered the fortification of the city and built a castle which is today an important monument of Portuguese heritage. At the time he also styled himself "By the Grace of God, King of Portugal and Silves ("Dei Gratiæ, Rex Portugalliæ et Silbis"). 
However, military attention soon had to be turned again to the North, where León and Castile threatened again the Portuguese borders. Silves was again lost to the Moors in 1191.
Henry, King of Portugal
Cardinal Henry ( ; 31 January 1512 – 31 January 1580) was King of Portugal and the Algarves and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He ruled Portugal between 1578 and 1580 and was known as "Henry the Chaste" (Portuguese: "Henrique o Casto") and the "Cardinal-King". As a clergyman, he was bound to chastity, and as such, had no children to succeed him, and thus an end to the Royal House of Aviz. His death led to the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 and ultimately to the 60-year Iberian Union that saw Portugal share a monarch with that of Spain. The next independent monarch of Portugal would be John IV, who took the throne after 60 years of Spanish rule.
Decline and fall of Pedro II of Brazil
The Emperor's great-grandmother, Maria I of Portugal, had been a queen regnant. However, she had been married to her uncle, Pedro III of Portugal who was a Braganza. This meant that her offspring would continue to belong to the House of Braganza. Emperor Pedro II was the last of the direct male line in Brazil descended from Dom Afonso I, first king of Portugal and founder, in 1139, of the dynasty which headed the Brazilian Empire. There were two other male Braganzas, albeit living abroad: Pedro II's half-brother Rodrigo Delfim Pereira and his cousin Miguel, Duke of Braganza. Both were barred from the line of succession, however. The former because he was an illegitimate son, and the latter because he was a foreigner and not a descendant of the first Brazilian Emperor, Pedro I.
History of Portugal (1640–1777)
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 saw both the death of the young king Sebastian and the end of the House of Aviz. Sebastian's successor, the Cardinal Henry of Portugal, was 70 years old. Henry's death was followed by a dynastic crisis, with three grandchildren of Manuel I claiming the throne: Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, who was married to John, 6th Duke of Braganza; António, Prior of Crato; and Philip II of Spain. António had been acclaimed King of Portugal by the people of Santarém on July 24, 1580, followed by many other cities and towns throughout the country. However, Philip II marched into Portugal and defeated the troops loyal to the Prior of Crato in the Battle of Alcântara. Philip II was crowned Philip I of Portugal in 1580 (he was subsequently recognized as official king by the Portuguese Cortes of Tomar in 1581) and the Philippine Dynasty began.
Portugal–United Kingdom relations
The history of the relationship between Portugal and Britain dates back to the Middle Ages. English Crusaders aided Portugal in the Reconquista, and after taking Lisbon in 1147, the first King of Portugal Afonso Henriques made the Englishman Gilbert of Hastings the Bishop of Lisbon. In 1373 the Kingdom of England signed the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the oldest alliance in the world still in force. The alliance was formalised by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386, and in 1387 Philippa of Lancaster, the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, was married to John I of Portugal.
House of Aviz
The House of Aviz (modern Portuguese: Avis; ) known as the Joanine Dynasty was the second dynasty of the kings of Portugal. In 1385, the Interregnum of the 1383-1385 crisis ended when the Cortes of Coimbra proclaimed the Master of the monastic military Order of Aviz as King John I. John was the natural (illegitimate) son of King Peter I and Dona Teresa Lourenço, and so was half-brother to the last king of the Portuguese House of Burgundy or "Afonsine Dynasty", Ferdinand I of Portugal. The House of Aviz continued to rule Portugal until Philip II of Spain inherited the Portuguese crown with the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.
Portuguese Crown Jewels
During the Portuguese Restoration War, João II of Braganza sold many of the Portuguese Crown Jewels to finance the war with Spain. When João II became King of Portugal as João IV and deposed the Philippine Dynasty in 1640, he placed his crown with a statue of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception and said that she was the "true Queen of Portugal". Since then, Portuguese monarchs did not have a coronation but instead an acclamation. Before the assumption of the Portuguese throne by the Philippine Dynasty, the Kings of Portugal used to be anointed and crowned in the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon.
Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza
Duarte Nuno’s second brother, Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza, died in 1919, and on 21 July 1920 his eldest brother, Prince Miguel, Duke of Viseu, renounced his succession rights. Ten days later on 31 July 1920 Duarte Nuno’s father, Miguel, abdicated his claim to the Portuguese throne in favour of Duarte Nuno. Henceforth the Miguelists recognised Duarte Nuno as "King Duarte II of Portugal", even though Portugal had become a republic in 1910 when Maria II’s great-grandson, King Manuel II (who was still living in 1920), was sent into exile. Duarte Nuno used "Duke of Braganza" as a title of pretense.
Portuguese Empire
The King's reaction to the ultimatum was exploited by republicans. In 1908 King Carlos and Prince Luís Filipe were murdered in Lisbon. Luís Filipe's brother, Manuel, became King Manuel II of Portugal. Two years later he was overthrown and Portugal became a republic.
Sebastian of Portugal
During the time of the Iberian Union, between 1580 and 1640, four different pretenders claimed to be the returned King Sebastian. The last of these pretenders, who was in fact an Italian, was hanged in 1619, while another was obtained by the Spanish from Venice, tried, found guilty and hanged in 1603.
Edward, King of Portugal
Duarte (; 31 October 1391 – 9 September 1438), known in English as Edward and called the Philosopher ("o Rei-Filósofo") or the Eloquent ("o Eloquente"), was King of Portugal and the Algarve and Lord of Ceuta from 1433 until his death. He was born in Viseu, the son of John I of Portugal and his wife, Queen Philippa of Portugal, a daughter of John of Gaunt. Edward was the oldest member of the "Illustrious Generation" of accomplished royal children who contributed to the development of Portuguese civilization during the 15th century. As a cousin of several English kings, he became a Knight of the Garter.
History of Portugal (1640–1777)
The last straw for the Court of Portugal was the attempted assassination of the king on September 3, 1758, of which the Jesuits were alleged to have had prior knowledge (see the Távora affair below). Among those arrested and executed was Gabriel Malagrida, the Jesuit confessor of Leonor of Távora. The Jesuits were expelled from the kingdom; important non-Portuguese members of the Order were imprisoned. The Order was civilly suppressed in 1759. The Portuguese ambassador was recalled from Rome and the papal nuncio sent home in disgrace. Relations between Portugal and Rome were broken off until 1770.
Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal
D. Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, Duke of Braganza, (; 21 March 1887 – 1 February 1908) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of King Carlos I of Portugal. He was born in 1887 when his father was still Prince Royal of Portugal and received the usual style of the heirs to the heir of the Portuguese crown: 4th Prince of Beira at birth, with the subsidiary title 14th Duke of Barcelos. After his grandfather King Luís I of Portugal died, he became Prince Royal of Portugal with the subsidiary titles 21st Duke of Braganza, 20th Marquis of Vila Viçosa, 28th count of Barcelos, 25th count of Ourém, 23rd count of Arraiolos and 22nd count of Neiva.
History of Portugal (1834–1910)
On 1 February 1908 King Carlos I and the royal family returned to Lisbon from Vila Viçosa. After leaving the train in Barreiro and traveling by boat to Lisbon, they were met in the city center by members of the court, Franco government (including the Prime Minister) and some royalist citizens. Returning to the royal palace, their landau passed through the Terreiro do Paço, where two republican activists, Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buíça, fired on the open carriage in which they were traveling. Five bullets were fired from a rifle carried by Buíça (a former army sergeant), hidden under his long overcoat: three of these struck and killed the king, while another fatally wounded the heir to the throne Luís Filipe. During the turmoil the police killed the two assassins, as well as an unfortunate bystander. The royal carriage was driven to the nearby Naval Arsenal, where both the king and the prince were declared dead. Manuel, the king's youngest son, was quickly acclaimed King of Portugal.
José, Prince of Brazil
D. José, Prince of Brazil, Duke of Braganza (; 20 August 1761 – 11 September 1788) was the heir apparent to the Kingdom of Portugal until his death in 1788, as the eldest child of Queen Maria I of Portugal and King Pedro III of Portugal, members of the House of Braganza.
History of Portugal
At the end of the 11th century, the Burgundian knight Henry became count of Portugal and defended its independence by merging the County of Portugal and the County of Coimbra. Henry's son Afonso Henriques proclaimed himself "Prince of Portugal" on 24 June 1128 and King of Portugal in 1139. In 1179 a papal bull officially recognised Afonso I as king. The Algarve was conquered from the Moors in 1249, and in 1255 Lisbon became the capital. Portugal's land boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the 13th century. The Treaty of Windsor (1386) created an alliance between Portugal and England that remains in effect to this day.
Henry, Count of Portugal
Henry (Portuguese: "Henrique", French: "Henri"; 10661112), Count of Portugal, was the first member of the Capetian House of Burgundy to rule Portugal and the father of the country's first king, Afonso Henriques.
Infante António of Portugal
Infante António of Portugal () (Lisbon, 15 March 1695 - Lisbon, 20 October 1757) was a Portuguese "infante" (prince), the third surviving son of Peter II, King of Portugal, and his wife Maria Sophia of Neuburg.
Manuel II of Portugal
Since both the Dover and Paris Pacts did not resolve the issue of succession and there are no known documents proving them, there was no direct heir to the defunct throne. Manuel also made it clear that the branches of the Portuguese royal family (including the Imperial family of Brazil, the Braganza-Orleans, and the descendants of the Duke of Loulé) ended with the last direct male heir to the House of Braganza. Still, the monarchist Integralismo Lusitano movement acclaimed Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza as King of Portugal, since Miguel I of Portugal, on the death of his grandchild, was head of the Portuguese Royal Family. Their justification, ironically, included the fact that both branches had met to determine the line of succession in Dover and Paris, even though those accords were both later repudiated.
Infante Alexandre of Portugal
Infante Alexandre ("Alexandre Francisco José António Nicolau "; ) was a Portuguese "infante", the last child of John V, King of Portugal, and his wife Maria Anna of Austria.
John V of Portugal
Dom John V (Portuguese: João V; 22 October 1689 – 31 July 1750), known as the Magnanimous (Portuguese: "o Magnânimo") and the Portuguese Sun King (Portuguese: "o Rei-Sol Português"), was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. John V's reign saw the rise of the prestige of Portugal and its monarchy, which had been in decline among European courts, to a new level of prosperity and wealth.
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
Thus, the abdication of the Portuguese Crown by Brazilian Emperor Pedro I terminated the brief 1826 personal union and separated the monarchies of Portugal and Brazil, and that abdication, coupled with the exclusion of the new Portuguese Queen, Maria II, from the Brazilian line of succession, broke the last remaining ties of political union between the two Nations, securing the preservation of the independence of Brazil and putting to an end all hopes of the rebirth of a Luso-Brazilian United Kingdom.
Nevada Stoody Hayes
Nevada, Duchess of Porto (21 October 1885 – 11 January 1941), sometimes called Nevada of Braganza, was an American socialite who became the wife of Infante Afonso of Braganza, Duke of Porto, whose nephew, Manuel II, was the last king of Portugal. She was never accepted as a member of the exiled Portuguese royal family, yet by Portuguese law her marriage to Afonso was legal.
House of Aviz
Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão, writing in 1956 and counting António as a king, dates the end of the dynasty's rule of Portugal as occurring in 1581–1582. The Cortes of Tomar had acclaimed Philip II of Spain as Philip I of Portugal in 1581, subsequently António's forces were utterly defeated at sea by Álvaro de Bazán at the Battle of Ponta Delgada off São Miguel Island in the Azores, on 26 July 1582. António then retreated to Terceira, where he supervised the raising of levies for defense, but in November he left Angra do Heroísmo en route to France to persuade the French to furnish more troops, 800 of which arrived in June 1583. Philip had despatched Santa Cruz with an overwhelming force which left Lisbon on 23 June, and reaching sight of São Miguel some time after 7 July, finally reduced the Azores to subjection.
Sancho II of Portugal
Sancho II (), nicknamed the Pious () and the Caped or the Capuched (Portuguese: "o Capelo"), King of Portugal (8 September 1209 – 4 January 1248) was King of Portugal from 1223 to 1248. He was succeeded on the Portuguese throne by his brother, King Afonso III, in 1248.
John I of Castile
King Ferdinand died soon thereafter, on 22 October 1383. According to the treaty between Castile and Portugal, the Queen Mother, Leonor Telles de Menezes, declared herself Regent in the name of her daughter and son-in-law. The assumption of the regency by the queen was badly received in many Portuguese cities; Leonor was considered a treasonous interloper who intended to usurp the Portuguese crown for Castile and end Portugal's independence. At the request of John I of Castile, when he had knowledge of his father-in-law's decease, Leonor ordered the acclaim of Beatrice, although John I of Castile hadn't expressly recognized her as the Regent. This was ordered first in Lisbon, Santarém and other important places, and some days after the assassination of Count Andeiro, in all the country. The national rebellion led by the Master of the Order of Aviz, the future John I, began immediately, leading to the 1383-1385 Crisis.
King John of Castile invaded Portugal in the end of December 1383, to enforce his claim to be king by right of his wife. The consequent war was effectively ended in 1385, with the defeat of Castile in the Battle of Aljubarrota on 14 August. In the aftermath of this battle, John of Aviz became the uncontested King of Portugal. John of Castile and Beatrice no longer had a tenable claim to the throne of Portugal, but during the lifetime of John I of Castile, they continued to call themselves king and queen of Portugal.
To secure the succession of the throne of Portugal, the Portuguese Cortes on 2 April 1383 in Salvaterra de Magos covenanted marriage between Beatrice and John I of Castile, with the stipulation that upon the death of Ferdinand I, with no issue of sons, the crown would pass to Beatrice, and her husband become titular king of Portugal. Although John I of Castile could call himself king of Portugal, the Spanish and Portuguese parties agreed not to unite the kingdoms of Castile and Portugal, and therefore, Leonor, widow of King Ferdinand, would remain regent of the government of Portugal until Beatrice had a son who upon reaching fourteen years of age would assume the title and office of King of Portugal, and his parents' claim cease. If Beatrice died childless, the crown would pass to other hypothetical younger sisters, and if not, the crown would pass to John I of Castile, and through him to his son Henry, thus disinheriting the line of Inês de Castro. Pedro de Luna, a Papal legate to the realms of Castile, Aragon, Portugal and Navarre, pronounced the betrothal in Elvas on 14 May, and the wedding ceremony took place on 17 May at the Cathedral of Badajoz. To ensure compliance with the treaty, on 22 May a group of Castilian knights and prelates of the kingdom swore an oath to depose their king if the Castilian king dishonoured the commitments agreed in the treaty, and a corresponding group of Portuguese knights and prelates vowed to do the same if the king of Portugal broke the treaty with Castile, among them the Master of Aviz.
Palace of Mafra
The last king of Portugal, Manuel II, following the proclamation of the republic, left on 5 October 1910 from the palace to the nearby coastal village of Ericeira on his way to exile. The palace was declared a national monument in 1907. At present, the building is conserved by the Portuguese Institute of the Architectonic Patrimony, which carried out several recovery programs, including the conservation of the main façade. A major restoration of the historical pipe organs began in 1998 with the collaboration of foreign experts and was finished in 2010. The restoration won the Europa Nostra 2012 award.
Amélie of Orléans
Princess Amélie of Orléans (28 September 1865 – 25 October 1951) was the last Queen consort of Portugal. Wife of Carlos I of Portugal, she was known to her husband's subjects as "Maria Amélia de Orleães". As the eldest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, and his wife, Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans, she was a "Princess of Orléans" by birth.
List of Portuguese monarchs by longevity
This is a list of Portuguese monarchs by longevity since the formation of the Kingdom of Portugal in the 12th century.
Portugal–Spain relations
In 1578, King Sebastian of Portugal died in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir against the Moroccans and the Turks. Having no heirs, he was succeeded by his great-uncle Henry of Portugal, who reigned until his death (31 January 1580).
Afonso, Duke of Porto
In Portugal, morganatic marriage was not recognized. Any legitimate child of Afonso and Nevada could become the lawful heir to the Portuguese throne. Nearly as disturbing was the prospect that both Manuel and Afonso would fail to produce an heir. In this event, the claimant to the Portuguese throne would be a descendent of Miguel I, the absolutist king who, in 1834, lost the Portuguese War of the Two Brothers to the liberal line of constitutional monarchs.
Dom Afonso was the fourth husband of Nevada Stoody Hayes. They were unable to marry religiously in Italy, where the king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, like the Pope, chose not to recognize the validity of a previous trial marriage in Rome. She convinced Afonso to marry her again at a Madrid hotel, where a consular officer of the Portuguese Republic performed the civil ceremony, with no family or friends as witnesses. Some believe that the Portuguese consul in Madrid was as cooperative as he was because the Republican government in power at Lisbon was delighted to see one of the last of the Braganzas do such an unpopular thing. A religious marriage ceremony was performed in Madrid on 23 November 1917.
United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
On 20 March 1816 Queen Maria I died in Rio de Janeiro. The Prince John, the Prince Regent, then became King John VI, the second monarch of the United Kingdom, retaining the numbering of Portuguese Sovereigns. After a period of mourning and several delays, the festivities of the acclamation of the new King were held in Rio de Janeiro on 6 February 1818.
Francisco de Portugal, 3rd Count of Vimioso
Francisco de Portugal, also known as Francis II of Portugal, 3rd Count of Vimioso (c. 1550 – 1582), was the eldest son and heir of the 2nd Count of Vimioso, Afonso de Portugal (Alphonse of Portugal).
Kingdom of Portugal
The Kingdom of Portugal (, ) was a monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of modern Portugal. It was in existence from 1139 until 1910. After 1415, it was also known as the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves, and between 1815 and 1822, it was known as the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The name is also often applied to the Portuguese Empire, the realm's extensive overseas colonies.
List of monarchs of Brazil
During the imperial era, King John VI of Portugal briefly held the honorific style of Emperor of Brazil under the 1825 Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, by which Portugal recognized the independence of Brazil. The style of emperor was a life title, and became extinct upon the holder's demise. John VI held the imperial title for a few months only, from the ratification of the Treaty in November 1825 until his death in March 1826. During those months, however, as John's imperial title was purely honorific, Emperor Pedro I remained the sole monarch of the empire.
Andrew of Galicia
Andriy II Yuriyevych or Andrew of Galicia () (unknown – 1323) was the last Rus' king of Galicia-Volhynia in 1308–1323 (according to other sources since 1315). He was the son of Yuriy I (1252–1308) whom he succeeded on the royal throne of Galicia. His mother was Euphemia of Kuyavia. After the death of his father, he ruled the kingdom together with his brother Lev II. Though the kingdom was one being managed together, there are sources informing that Andrew was seated in Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Lev II in Galicia.
Music history of Portugal
Cardinal-Princes D. Afonso (1509–1540) and D. Henrique (1512–1580), sons of D. Manuel I of Portugal (1469–1521) administrated the main Portuguese dioceses through the 16th century. Afonso administrated the Évora and Lisboa dioceses until his death. Henrique was successively Archbishop of Braga, Lisboa and Évora, as well as head of the Portuguese Inquisition. He became King of Portugal when his grand-nephew Sebastião I (1554–1578) died at Alcácer-Quibir (1578). As princes, they had their personal chapels and imposed a magnificent liturgy in the cathedrals they administrated.
Infanta Benedita of Portugal
Benedita died in Lisbon and is buried in the national pantheon at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora. She was the last surviving grandchild of John V of Portugal.
Dutch Ceylon
From 1580 to 1640, the throne of Portugal was held by the Habsburg kings of Spain resulting in the biggest colonial empire until then (see Iberian Union). In 1583 Philip I of Portugal, II of Spain, sent his combined Iberian fleet to clear the French traders from the Azores, decisively hanging his prisoners-of-war from the yardarms and contributing to the "Black Legend". The Azores were the last part of Portugal to resist Philip's reign over Portugal.
History of Portugal (1415–1578)
Sebastian of Portugal was the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.
He was the son of John Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and his wife, Joanna of Austria. Sebastian succeeded to the throne at the age of three, on the death of King John III, his paternal grandfather. Soon after his birth, his mother Joanna of Spain left her infant son to serve as Regent of Spain for her father, Emperor Charles V. After his abdication in 1556, she served in the same capacity for her brother Philip II of Spain. Joanna remained in Spain until her death in 1573, never to see her son again. Since Sebastian was still a child, the regency was handled first by his paternal grandmother, Catherine of Austria, and then by his great-uncle, Cardinal Henry of Évora. During this period Portugal continued colonial expansion in Angola, Mozambique, and Malacca, as well as the annexation of Macau in 1557.
List of last scions
The House of Aviz, an illegitimate branch of its predecessor the House of Burgundy, ruled Portugal from 1385 to 1580; its last member was "Henrique, Cardinal-King of Portugal" (1512–1580), who succeeded his grand-nephew King Sebastian late in life. António, Prior of Crato would briefly rule Portugal shortly thereafter, but his illegitimate birth contests his claim to be considered a member of the House of Aviz.
Pedro V of Portugal
Peter V (; Portuguese 'Pedro V'; 16 September 1837 – 11 November 1861), nicknamed "the Hopeful" (), was King of Portugal from 1853 to 1861.
Manuel, Prince of Portugal (1531–1537)
Manuel, Prince of Portugal (11 November 1531 – 14 April 1537), was the Prince of Portugal from 1535 to his death in 1537. He was the fifth child son of king John III of Portugal and Catherine of Austria.
Portugal in the Middle Ages
Ferdinand had been the last legitimate descendant of Count Henry of Burgundy. With John I began the rule of a new dynasty, the House of Aviz. The most urgent matter which confronted the king or the group of statesmen, led by João das Regras and the "Holy Constable" who inspired his policy was the menace of Castilian aggression. John of Castile marched into Portugal with a large army in August 1385. But on August 14, the much-outnumbered Portuguese, aided by 500 English archers, utterly defeated the Castilians and their French allies at Aljubarrota. By this victory the Portuguese showed themselves equal in military power to their strongest rivals in the Peninsula. In October the "Holy Constable" invaded Castile and won another victory at Valverde. Early the next year, John of Gaunt and 5,000 English reinforcements arrived to aid John I. Together they launched another counter-invasion of Castile, but the campaign proved abortive. By the treaty of Windsor (May 9, 1386), the alliance between Portugal and England was confirmed and extended. Against such a combination the Castilians were powerless; Denis, eldest son of Inês de Castro, claimed the Portuguese throne and invaded Portugal in 1398, but his troops were easily crushed. A treaty was arranged in 1387 and renewed at intervals until peace was concluded with the Treaty of Ayllón, 1411.
The domestic and foreign policy pursued by John I until his death in 1433 may be briefly described. At home he endeavoured to reform administration, to encourage agriculture and commerce, and to secure the loyalty of the nobles by grants of land and privileges so extensive that, towards the end of his reign, many nobles who exercised their full feudal rights had become almost independent princes. Abroad, he aimed at peace with Castile and close friendship with England. In 1387 he had married Philipa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt; Richard II sent troops to aid in the expulsion of Denis; Henry IV, Henry V, and Henry VI of England successively ratified the treaty of Windsor; Henry IV made his ally a knight of the Garter in 1400.
The Cortes of Coimbra, the battle of Aljubarrota and the treaty of Windsor mark the three final stages in the consolidation of the monarchy. A period of expansion oversea began in the same reign, with the capture of Ceuta in Morocco. The three eldest sons of King John and Queen Philippa, Edward, Peter and Henry (afterwards celebrated as Henry the Navigator) desired to win knighthood by service against the Moors, the historic enemies of their country and creed. In 1415 a Portuguese fleet, commanded by the king and the three princes, set sail for Ceuta. The town was captured and garrisoned, and thus the first Portuguese outpost was established on the mainland of Africa.
Battle of Aljubarrota
The end of the 14th century in Europe was a time of revolution and crisis, with the Hundred Years' War between the English and the French for Western France, the Black Death devastating the continent, and famine afflicting the poor. Portugal was no exception. In October 1383, King Ferdinand I of Portugal died with no son to inherit the crown. The only child of his marriage with Leonor Telles de Meneses was a girl, Princess Beatrice of Portugal.
Denis of Portugal
Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325 in Santarém), called the Farmer King ("Rei Lavrador") and the Poet King ("Rei Poeta"), was King of Portugal and the Algarve. The eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second wife, Beatrice of Castile, and grandson of king Alfonso X of Castile (known as the Wise), Denis succeeded his father in 1279. His marriage to Elizabeth of Aragon, who was later canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, was arranged in 1281 when she was 10 years old.
Urraca of Portugal
Urraca of Portugal (; (Coimbra, 1148 – Wamba, Valladolid, 1211) was an infanta of Portugal, daughter of Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal, and his wife, Queen Maud of Savoy. She was queen consort of León as the wife of King Ferdinand II and the mother of Alfonso IX.
Mafalda of Portugal (daughter of Afonso Henriques)
Mafalda of Portugal (1153, Coimbra – after 1162) was a Portuguese "infanta", the fourth legitimate child and third daughter of Afonso Henriques (the first king of Portugal) and his wife Mafalda of Savoy.
Carlota Joaquina of Spain
Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, now became King of Portugal as well, but knowing that carrying out the duties of both positions would be impossible, Pedro abdicated in Portugal and made his eldest daughter Maria the Queen of Portugal as well as betrothing her to Miguel, his younger brother. In the meantime, Carlota Joaquina's daughter, the Infanta Isabel Maria was to be Regent in Portugal instead of Carlota Joaquina, who ordinarily would have held such a post as Queen Dowager. About two years later the little queen set out for Portugal, only to find upon arrival at Gibraltar that her uncle and fiancé had not only removed the regent, but declared himself King of Portugal.
History of Portugal (1640–1777)
Peter continued as Prince Regent but "de facto" ruler of Portugal for the next 16 years. When Afonso died in 1683, Peter succeeded him as Peter II of Portugal. Peter II is considered the first absolutist monarch of Portugal. He dismissed the historic legislative "Portuguese Cortes" in 1697 and ruled alone. He encouraged the focusing of Portuguese exploration of Brazil after silver was found in the territory. Peter's reign also saw the signing of the Methuen Treaty of trade with England.
Portugal
Portugal voluntarily entered a dynastic union between 1580 and 1640. This occurred because the last two kings of the House of Aviz – King Sebastian, who died in the battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, and his great-uncle and successor, King-Cardinal Henry of Portugal – both died without heirs, resulting in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580.
Abolition of monarchy
The monarchy of Portugal was also overthrown in 1910 (5 October), two years after the assassination of King Carlos I, ending the reign of Manuel II, who died in exile in England (1932), without issue.
Praça do Comércio
On 1 February 1908, the square was the scene of the assassination of Carlos I, the penultimate King of Portugal. On their way back from the palace of Vila Viçosa to the royal palace in Lisbon, the carriage containing Carlos I and his family passed through the Terreiro do Paço. While crossing the square, shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men: Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buiça. The king died immediately, his heir Luís Filipe was mortally wounded, and Prince Manuel was hit in the arm. The assassins were shot on the spot by members of the bodyguard and later recognized as members of the Republican Party – which two years later overthrew the Portuguese monarchy.
History of Portugal (1777–1834)
The death of King Joseph in 1777 forced the accession of Princess Maria Francisca, his eldest daughter, to the throne of Portugal; she succeeded her father as the first Queen regnant of the 650-year-old country, which was still recovering from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Before becoming queen, Princess Maria and her husband, the Infante Pedro, lived on the sidelines of politics, but were clearly unsympathetic to her father's former Prime Minister, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, who had been the "de facto" ruler of the kingdom for the past 27 years. During her father's last few years, she had been the Marquis' fiercest detractor; once in power, she eagerly dismissed him and then exiled him to Pombal.
Carlos I of Portugal
Dom Carlos I (; English: "Charles") known as the Diplomat (also known as the Martyr); and ; 28 September 1863 – 1 February 1908) was the King of Portugal. He was the first Portuguese king to die a violent death since Sebastian in 1578.
History of the Republic of the Congo
As a result of all these wars the kingdom of the Loango in the north gained independence from Kongo. Also new kingdoms came to existence of which the Téké was the most important, ruling over a large area encompassing present-day Brazzaville and Kinshasa. Portugal's position in Europe suffered a major change in 1580 when the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal were united by a personal union under King Philip, creating the Iberian Union which lasted until 1640. This resulted in a diminished role for Portugal in African affairs, including the area around the mouth of the Congo River. The Kingdom of Kongo was reduced to a small enclave in the north of Angola with King Pedro V in 1888 finally accepting to become a vassal of the Portuguese. The Portuguese abolished the kingdom after the revolt of the Kongolese in 1914.。。
John VI of Portugal
John VI (Portuguese: "João VI"; – ), nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom over which he ruled ceased to exist "de facto" beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch "de jure" between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he also became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Pedro I of Brazil, was both "de facto" and "de jure" the monarch of the newly-independent country.
Afonso I of Portugal
Afonso I (; 25 July 1106 / 1109 or August 1109 / 11116 December 1185), nicknamed the Conqueror (), the Founder () or the Great () by the Portuguese, and "El-Bortukali" [in Arabic ] ("the Portuguese") and "Ibn-Arrink" [in Arabic or ] ("son of Henry", "Henriques") by the Moors whom he fought, was the first King of Portugal. He achieved the independence of the southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia, the County of Portugal, from Galicia's overlord, the King of León, in 1139, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with the "Reconquista", an objective that he pursued until his death in 1185, after forty-six years of wars against the Moors.
House of Aviz
The House of Aviz would rule Portugal until Philip II of Spain conquered Portugal in 1580, after he had ordered the Duke of Alba to take Portugal by force. The "Cortes" in Tomar acknowledged Philip II of Spain as King Philip I of Portugal on 16 April 1581 after this Spanish military intervention. From 1581, the House of Aviz had ceased to rule any portion of continental Portugal; António, Prior of Crato held out in the Azores into 1582 as "António I of Portugal"; the last of his allies in the islands finally surrendered in 1583.
History of Portugal (1834–1910)
Militant Republicans and their allies in the Carbonária were not willing to remain in the shadows of the constitutional monarchy. Between 4–5 October 1910, members of the Carbonária, republican youth, and elements of the army instigated a coup d'état against the already weak constitutional monarchy. The young king and his family, after a few miscues, escaped from the Palace in Mafra to exile in England. On the morning of 5 October 1910, the Republic was declared from the balcony of Lisbon City Hall, ending eight centuries of monarchy in Portugal.
Carlos I of Portugal
Buíça, a former army sergeant and sharpshooter, fired five shots from a rifle hidden under his long overcoat. The king died immediately, his heir Luís Filipe was mortally wounded and Prince Manuel was hit in the arm. The queen alone escaped injury. The two assassins were killed on the spot by police and bodyguards; an innocent bystander was also killed in the confusion. The royal carriage turned into the nearby Navy Arsenal, where, about twenty minutes later, Prince Luís Filipe died. Several days later, the younger son, Prince Manuel, was proclaimed king of Portugal; he was the last of the Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty and the last king of Portugal as well.
Portugal
Queen Maria II (Mary II) and King Ferdinand II's son, King Pedro V (Peter V) modernized the country during his short reign (1853–1861). Under his reign, roads, telegraphs, and railways were constructed and improvements in public health advanced. His popularity increased when, during the cholera outbreak of 1853–1856, he visited hospitals handing out gifts and comforting the sick. Pedro's reign was short, as he died of cholera in 1861, after a series of deaths in the royal family, including his two brothers Infante Fernando and Infante João, Duke of Beja, and his wife, Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Not having children, his brother, Luís I of Portugal (Louis I) ascended the throne and continued his modernization.
Infanta Maria Adelaide of Portugal
Infanta Maria Adelaide was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France. Her godparents were King Manuel II, the last reigning king of Portugal (deposed in 1910), and his mother Queen Amélie. She was educated at the Sacre Coeur College in Riedenburg, Germany. She was married in Vienna, 13 October 1945, to Dr. Nicolaas van Uden (Venlo, 5 March 1921 – Lisbon, 5 February 1991) who was Dutch and who became a naturalized Portuguese citizen in 1975. Son of Adrian van Uden (Gerwen, May 7, 1893 – December 24, 1959) and wife Cornelia Antonia Baaijeens (Gorinchem, September 7, 1897 – June 15, 1979), daughter of Nicolaas Baaijeens and wife Helena Dam, Nicolaas van Uden was a medical biochemist and a great scientific authority in the field of yeast development.
List of Portuguese monarchs
The monarchs of Portugal ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution.
Afonso II of Portugal
Afonso II (; English: "Alphonzo"), or "Affonso" (Archaic Portuguese), "Alfonso" or "Alphonso" (Portuguese-Galician) or "Alphonsus" (Latin version), nicknamed the Fat (Portuguese "o Gordo"), King of Portugal, was born in Coimbra on 23 April 1185 and died on 25 March 1223 in the same city. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Sancho I of Portugal by his wife, Dulce, "Infanta" of Aragon. Afonso succeeded his father on 27 March 1211.
Afonso V of Portugal
Afonso V () (15 January 1432 – 28 August 1481), called the African (), was King of Portugal and of the Algarves. His sobriquet refers to his conquests in Northern Africa.
Bragança, Portugal
After 60 years the Portuguese were able to end the Iberian Union with Spain. On 1 December 1640 the independence of Portugal was restored, allowing the ascension of the 8th Duke of Braganza (then military governor of Portugal) as King John IV. From 1640 to 1910 the House of Braganza was responsible for providing Portugal its kings and the two emperors of Brazil. The latter ruled from 1822 to 1889. The feudal castle of the dukes (built 1187) still remains.