HRH Prince Dom Bertrand Maria José Pio Januário Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orleans e Bragança is the 85-year-old head of the Vassouras branch of the Brazilian Imperial Family. He is a devout and traditional Roman Catholic who has never married. In 2022, he succeeded his older brother, Prince Dom Luiz, also a traditional and celibate Roman Catholic, who died at the age of 84.
In 1889, Emperor Pedro II was deposed in a military coup. A republic was established, and the royal family went into exile. Pedro's heir, Isabel, the Princess Imperial, settled in France, as she was married to Prince Gaston, Count of Eu, a member of the French royal house. The couple had three sons: Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza, Prince of Grão Pará (1875-1940), Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza (1878–1920), and Prince Antônio Gastão of Orléans-Braganza (1881-1918).
Dom Pedro headed the Petropolis branch of the former Imperial Family. It was his marriage to Countess Elisabeth Maria Adelheid Dobrženský von Dobrženitz, a Bohemian aristocrat, that led to the renunciation of his succession rights (and those of his descendants). His parents, Princess Isabel and the Count of Eu, would not give permission for his marriage until after his younger brother, Luiz, married Princess Maria di Grazia (Maria Pia) of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 1908.
Elisabeth was not of royal blood, which was the reason for Isabel's disapproval. She and Dom Pedro were married soon after Luiz's marriage to Princess Maria Pia. With Dom Pedro's renouncement, Dom Luiz became his mother's heir.
There is a bit of irony with Dom Pedro's announcement. Three of his five children married into European royal Houses. Their eldest daughter, Princess Isabelle, married Prince Henri, Count of Paris. Their grandson, Prince Jean, is the current head of the French royal house.
Dom Pedro's son, Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza (1913-2007), never accepted his father's renouncement and made Pedro Henrique, Prince of Brazil, his own claim to the defunct throne. In 1944, he married Princess Maria de la Esperanza of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, whose sister, Maria de las Mercedes, was the mother of King Juan Carlos of Spain. One of Dom Pedro's six children, Princess Maria of Orléans-Braganza, was the first wife of Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia.
Their second daughter, Princess Maria Francisca, married Dom Duarte Nino, Duke of Braganza, then head of the Portuguese Royal Family. Their eldest son, Dom Duarte Pio, is the current Duke of Braganza, the de jure king of Portugal. He is married to a Portuguese noblewoman, Isabel Inês de Castro Curvello de Herédia.
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| Dom Luiz and Princess Maria Pia |
The Vassouras branch is technically the junior branch, but the one with the succession rights. Unfortunately, the majority of Dom Luiz's descendants have married commoners or aristocrats.
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| Pedro Henrique and Maria Elisabeth |
His son, Dom Pedro Henrique (1909-1981), chose a royal bride, Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria. They were the parents of twelve children. Only two of the 12 children married equally: the sixth son, Antonio (1950-2024), and Leonor (1953), who married siblings: Michel, Prince of Ligne, and Princess Christine of Ligne.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/11/hrh-prince-antonio-de-orleans-braganza.html
Prince Antonio and Princess Christine were the parents of four children: Pedro-Luiz, Amelia, Rafael, and Maria Gabriella. On May 31, 2009, Pedro-Luiz was a passenger on Air France Flight 447, bound from Rio to Paris, that crashed into the Atlantic.
Princess Amelia renounced her rights when she married Alexander Spearman in 2014.
The burden of equal marriage fell upon Dom Rafael. In May, he became engaged to Italian aristocrat Margherita delle Piane, whose brother Guy is married to Princess Xenia of Croy.
Members of Rafael's family believed that Uncle Bertrand would approve this marriage, as it is a love match, but on July 11th, while attending the 36th National Monarchist Meeting in São Paulo, he read aloud the letter he sent to his nephew, Rafael, concerning the latter's forthcoming marriage. Bertrand stated emphatically that the marriage, even if Rafael does not renounce before the ceremony, "will ipso facto and for all intents and purposes constitute an effective and valid, albeit tacit renunciation of his dynastic rights, which will immediately pass to his sister Dona Maria Gabriela and, after her, to the next in line of succession."
Bertrand also urged his nephew to “proclaim Dona Maria Gabriela as Imperial Princess of Brazil."
Dom Bertrand's statement reeks of hypocrisy. Several days ago, he met with his kinsman, Prince Jean, Count of Paris, who is married to Philomena de Tornos y Steinhart, whose mother was an Austrian aristocrat. Has he not noticed that the Queen consorts of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain are commoners, and their counterparts in Belgium and Luxembourg are nobles, who would not have been good enough for the Brazilians. This is 2026.
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| November 2024. Dom Bertrand kisses Queen Silvia of Sweden's hand. The German-born wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf is half-Brazilian ... and born a commoner. The King and Queen were visiting Brazil, and Dom Bertrand was a guest at a luncheon in their honor @Casa do Imperial Brasil |
Bertrand's overzealous and traditional Catholic views have clouded his judgment. Why didn't he (or his older brother, Luiz) look for an acceptable bride? He often traveled to Europe, where one of his many cousins could have introduced him to a nice Catholic princess. Where was his due diligence? Where was his duty to the family?
There are only three dynasts left: Rafael, Maria Gabriela, and their first cousin, Prince Henri de Ligne, whose older sister, Princess Alix, renounced her rights when she married Count Guillaume de Dampierre.
Earlier this month, Princess Maria Gabriela received the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Queen Saint Isabel from the Duchess of Braganza, perhaps a signal that the succession change is forthcoming. Maria Gabriela and Prince Henri are 37 years old, and neither are married.
The princess has been described as a "pillar of strength" for her brother. Is it possible for the princess and Prince Henri to renounce their rights in solidarity with Rafael? This action could provide a wake-up call for Bertrand, as there would be no one left in the family with succession rights.
Margherita delle Piane shares "the same Catholic principles and values" as her fiancé. Bertrand should approve of that. But no, she is not blue-blooded enough to marry the heir to a throne that has not existed since 1889. Members of the de Orleans e Bragança family are active, socially and politically, in Brazil.
There is the elephant in the room -- or the ubiquitous can of worms that would be unleashed if Bertrand accepted the marriage. The Petropolis branch would be able to claim that they now have dynastic rights. The Duke of Braganza and Dom Bertrand are second cousins. If Dom Duarte Pio could marry a Portuguese nobleman without surrendering his rights to a younger, then Dom Rafael should have the same courtesy and be allowed to marry the woman he loves without the drama of being forced to renounce his rights.
Uncle Bertrand is a bitter old man who does not live in the real world. He's never experienced the love between a man and a woman, and is unwilling to accept that royal families, reigning and non-reigning, have changed to love and equal partnership. Other royal families, including Portugal, have accepted non-royal spouses and remained in line. Why can't Bertrand understand or accept these changes?
God will tell Dom Bertrand that it is okay to accept Dom Rafael's marriage to Margherita delle Piane.
