Princess Maria Theresa of Braganza


Maria Teresa of Bragança, Infanta of Portugal was a member of the House of Braganza and Infanta of Portugal by birth. Through her marriage to Prince Karl Ludwig of Thurn and Taxis, Maria Theresa was also a member of the House of Thurn and Taxis.

Family

Maria Theresa was born in Ödenburg, Austria-Hungary, the only daughter of the Miguelist pretender to the Portuguese throne Miguel, Duke of Braganza and his first wife Princess Elisabeth of Thurn and Taxis. Maria Theresa's father was the head of the non reigning branch of the Portuguese Royal House that had been exiled from Portugal. The exile was the result of the Portuguese law of banishment of 1834 and the constitution of 1838 which was brought about because his grandfather Miguel I of Portugal had in 1828 usurped the throne of Portugal from Queen Maria II. Her grandfather reigned as king until 1834 when Maria II was restored. Those Portuguese who recognised Maria Theresa's father as rightful king of Portugal acknowledged Maria Theresa as an Infanta of Portugal.

Marriage and issue

Maria Theresa married Prince Karl Ludwig of Thurn and Taxis, a member of the Czech branch of the family, son of Prince Maximilian Karl Friedrich of Thurn and Taxis and his wife Amélie Eugénie de Tascher de La Pagerie, on 22 May 1900 in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany. Maria Theresa and Karl Ludwig had one son: