Line of succession to the former Brazilian throne


The Brazilian monarchy came to an end on November 15, 1889, following a military coup which overthrew Emperor Dom Pedro II and established a republic. According to the Imperial Constitution, the Brazilian monarchy was hereditary according to male-preference primogeniture among the dynastic descendants of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, and the crown could only be inherited by one who held Brazilian nationality. The Imperial constitution also states that the monarch and the first in line should be Catholic, and the marriage of a female heir presumptive required consent of the emperor or the Assembly.
Claimants to headship of the post-monarchic Brazilian imperial legacy descend from Emperor Pedro II, including the senior agnates of two branches of the House of Orléans-Braganza; the so-called Petrópolis and Vassouras lines. Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza heads the Petrópolis line, while the Vassouras branch is led by his second cousin, Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza. Rivalry within the family erupted in 1946 when Dom Pedro Gastão repudiated the renunciation to the throne of his late father, Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, for himself and his future descendants, when he made a non-dynastic marriage in 1908. Pedro de Alcântara was the eldest son of the Princess Imperial Isabel who, as Pedro II's elder daughter and heir presumptive when he was dethroned, became the last undisputed head of the family after her father's death in exile in 1891. Pedro Carlos is Dom Pedro Gastão's eldest son. Dom Luiz descends from Isabel's younger son, Prince Luís who, by a Bourbon princess, fathered Prince Pedro Henrique. Dom Luiz is Pedro Henrique's son by a Bavarian princess and upholds his dynastic claim to the same legacy.

Overview

In 1908, Dom Pedro de Alcântara wanted to marry Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz who, although a noblewoman of the kingdom of Bohemia, did not belong to a royal or reigning dynasty. Although the constitution of the Brazilian Empire did not require dynasts to marry equally, it made the marriage of the heir to the throne dependent upon the sovereign's consent. Princess Isabel, then head of the Brazilian Imperial Family, considered that Brazilian dynasts should adhere to European marital tradition, within which royalty married royalty. Prince Dom Pedro wanted to marry with his mother's blessing, and so it was agreed that she would consent to the marriage on condition that he resigned his position in the line of succession. As a result, Dom Pedro de Alcantara renounced his rights to the throne of Brazil on 30 October 1908. To solemnize this, Dom Pedro, aged thirty-three, signed the document translated here:
This renunciation was followed by a letter from Isabel to royalists in Brazil:
If the 1908 renunciation of Pedro de Alcântara was valid, his brother Luiz became next in the line of succession after their mother. Isabel's headship of the Brazilian Imperial House lasted until her death in 1921, when she is widely considered to have been succeeded by her grandson, Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza. Pedro Henrique was the elder son of Prince Luiz, second child of Isabel and a veteran of World War I who had died in 1920 from an illness he contracted in the trenches.
Prince Pedro de Alcântara did not dispute the validity of the renunciation. Though he did not claim the headship of the Imperial House himself in 1937, he did say in an interview that his renunciation "did not meet the requirements of Brazilian Law, there was no prior consultation with the nation, there was none of the necessary protocol that is required for acts of this nature and, furthermore, it was not a hereditary renunciation."
The dynastic dispute over the Brazilian crown began after 1940 when Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, eldest son of Pedro de Alcântara repudiated his father's renunciation and claimed the headship of the Brazilian Imperial House.
After the death of Pedro Gastão in 2007, his eldest son Prince Pedro Carlos and younger children declared themselves republicans. Several of Pedro Gastão's grandchildren also have dual citizenship.
During the thirty years between abolition of the Brazilian monarchy in 1889 and repeal of the law of banishment against members of the former Imperial family in 1920, all of the dynastic descendants of Pedro II, including the ancestors of the so-called Vassouras and Petropolis rival branches of the family, lived in exile, despite occasional efforts of some of the House of Orléans-Braganza to visit the country.
The descendants of the marriage of Emperor Pedro's younger daughter, Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, with Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, also took up residence in Europe: Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became a career officer in Austria's navy, marrying Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria in Vienna in 1894. Their daughter, Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, although born in Austria, became the first of Leopoldina's descendants to repatriate to Brazil, moving there in 1938 with Baron Lamoral Taxis von Bordogna und Valnigra, a Tyrolean courtier whom she had wed in Salzburg in 1930. On 18 October 1950, their four children, all born in Europe, were retroactively recognized as Brazilian citizens since birth, and on 25 October 1951 the Rio de Janeiro court of justice rendered decision No. 13.036 changing their surname to "Tasso de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança".

Descendants of Princess Leopoldina

The Saxe-Coburg-Braganza branch is descended from Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, second daughter of D. Pedro II, and her husband, Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Due to several years of difficulties that the Princess Imperial Isabel experienced in producing an heir to the Brazilian throne, clauses were included in the marriage contract between Leopoldina and her husband who ensured that the couple should, among other things, reside part of the year in Brazil and have their children in Brazilian territory, as heirs presumptive of Isabel: Pedro Augusto, Augusto Leopoldo, and José Fernando. With the birth of D. Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará and eldest son of Princess Isabel, the Saxe-Coburg-Braganza branch yielded first place in the line of succession to the Orleans-Braganza branch.
The only members of the Saxe-Coburg-Braganza branch who still retain Brazilian nationality, which was a constitutional requirement to succeed to the now defunct Brazilian throne, are the descendants of Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Augusto Leopoldo. The Brazilian nationality of princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was recognized by the government of Brazil only in 1922. Their four children were registered in the consulate of Brazil in Vienna as Brazilian citizens. :pt:Carlos Tasso de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança|Carlos Tasso de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança, Baron Taxis-Bordogna-Valnigra and son of Princess Teresa Cristina, is the current head of this branch.

Line of succession (Vassouras)

The succession line continues through other descendants of Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who still retain Brazilian nationality.

Line of succession (Petrópolis)

In science fiction, Robert Heinlein's novel Time for the Stars depicts its protagonists returning to Earth after a galactic voyage lasting several centuries, and landing at Rio de Janeiro, where they are greeted by "Emperor Dom Pedro III", who presents them with a medal on behalf of the World Government. Heinlein does not specify the circumstances under which, in the future depicted, the Brazilian monarchy was restored.
In alternative history fiction, Harry Turtledove's Southern Victory Series features the survival of the Empire of Brazil into the Twentieth Century as a consequence of Confederate secession. In the Great War trilogy, Dom Pedro IV enters Brazil on the side of the Central Powers, hastening the defeat of the Entente.
In The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling, an alternate history, steampunk and post-apocalyptic fiction novel, a meteor shower in 1878 known as 'the Fall' renders the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable, resulting in the evacuation of Europeans to their countries' respective colonies and the creation of new empires. By 2025, the Empire of Brazil has reformed itself into the shadowy Dominions of the House of Braganza, ruled by Dom Pedro and a caudillo of the month.
In the spy-romance series of alternative history O Agente do Imperador by Edson Miranda, Brazil is presented as a constitutional monarchy. The point of divergence is the failure of the Republican Coup of 1889. With the monarchy remaining until the present day, the Emperor of Brazil is Dom Pedro IV. The retired agent of Brazilian Intelligence Agency, André Reis, is called back to service by the prime-minister Felipe Cordeiro to spy on a marquis with plans to kill the Imperial Family, becoming then Regent of the Empire.
On cyberpunk E de Extermínio, by Cirilo Lemos, set in the first half of the 20th century, Brazil figures as a monarchy in crisis. Jerônimo Trovão, the protagonist, is a professional killer and in his last work he is asked to make a slaughter that will put his family and country in danger. The emperor Dom Pedro III is sick and sees his reign to fall while the country pass over a civil war, promote by the Army vs The populist prime-minister Vargas, and influence of nazis. The republicans are helped by United States and the monarchists by the Soviet Union.
On the tale Folha Imperial, by Ataíde Tartari the Empire of Brazil survived until modern days. On the story two gossip journalists make investigations under Brazil's heir's romantic live.