Dom Bertrand of Orleans and Braganca may be about to meet his Waterloo. On May 13, he sent a letter to his nephew, Prince Dom Rafaele, who had recently announced his engagement to Margherita Delle Piane, a descendant of several Italian noble families. He told Rafaele that he would not approve the marriage, as Margherita is not of royal birth.
For the never-married Dom Bertrand, the 85-year-old head of the Brazilian Imperial Family, this is a major concern. It must be stressed that neither he nor his older brother, Dom Luiz, ever considered finding their own royal brides. Most members of the Vassoursas branch have lost their rights to the non-existent Brazilian throne because they did not marry someone of equal rank.
Margherita is well-educated and well-connected. Her brother Guy is married to Princess Xenia of Croy, daughter of the Duke of Croy.
Dom Rafael did request dynastic approval, which was denied in a long and grandstanding letter. Bertrand wrote two letters to his nephew. A friend translated the letters, originally written in Portuguese, into English, and they will be included at the end of the article.
Bertrand was clear: he would not approve Rafael's marriage, and Rafael would have to sign a renunciation with his sister, Maria Gabriela, becoming the Princess Imperial. The number of dynasts is dwindling: Rafael, Maria Gabriela, Leonor (Princess of Ligne), and her son, Prince Henri, who is the heir apparent to his father, Prince Michel.
Rafael's father, Antonio, who died in 1924, and Leonor were brother and sister. They also married siblings: Princess Christine and Prince Michel de Ligne.
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| The marriage of Princess Christine de Ligne and Prince Antonio of Orleans-Braganca - 1981 |
Rafael and his family are said to be standing up to Dom Bertrand's intransigence. Maria Gabriela has allegedly written to her uncle, saying she supports her brother and will not accept becoming the Princess Imperial. It has also been alleged—not published—that Bertrand told Cristina and her two children that they will no longer represent the Imperial Family. That leaves the Princess of Ligne and Prince Henri. Apparently, they too have allegedly told Bertrand that he should approve Rafael's marriage.
The Monarchist Circle of Rio de Janeiro has entered the dissenting chat - and they brought receipts.
In his first letter to his nephew, Dom Bertrand wrote: "From Dom João VI down to the present day, in every generation, the unaltered principle of dynastic marriages has been maintained. Princess Isabel, the undisputed Head of the Imperial Family, sought to preserve this same principle when she wished that her eldest son, who desired to break with that tradition, should renounce for himself and his future descendants the imperial succession before contracting a non-dynastic marriage."
This Monarchist group points out that it is one hundred percent loyal to Dom Bertrand as the head of the House; however, the group calls for him to reconsider his decision to not approve Rafael's marriage.
The organization presented a video, Dynastic Crisis: Dom Bertrand Rejects the Marriage of the Imperial Prince, noting that this is the "greatest succession crisis faced by the Imperial House in the last 100 years." The original analysis comes from a study by Professor André Miranda, director of the Monarchist Circle of Rio de Janeiro.
Miranda's study argues that Margherita comes from an "old Patrician family from Genoa, with historical records dating back to the 12th century." Her mother, Stefania d'Afflitto, was a member of "an aristocratic family from southern Italy." The video also notes the marriage of her brother, Guy delle Piane, who married Princess Xenia of Croy, "a member of a traditional princely house and a cousin of Dom Rafaele."
Also cited was the marriage of the Prince Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, head of the Portuguese royal house, is married to Isabel de Herédia, a member of a Portuguese noble family.
Margherita's family has "recognition and influence within the circles of European high aristocracy, even though they do not belong to a currently reigning or formerly sovereign royal house."
The organization also addresses Ebenbürtigkeit, once used in German royal and princely families to "designate equality" in dynastic marriages.
Ebenbürtigkeit was never applied in Portuguese and Brazilian marriages, according to the Monarchist Circle, citing the example of King Pedro I's second marriage to Princess Amélie de Leuchtenberg, daughter of Eugéne de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson. In 1817, Napoleon created him Duke of Leuchtenberg. This marriage was approved, and Amélie became Queen of Brazil.
Article 120 of the 1824 Imperial Constitution stipulated that the heir apparent's marriage needed the approval of the Emperor, "or in his absence, the General Assembly. The constitution did not include an equal birth requirement for the heir apparent's spouse.
The primary precedent that Dom Bertrand clings to is the marriage of his great-uncle Dom Pedro de Alcântara de Orleans e Bragança, who, in 1908, renounced his rights (and the rights of his descendants) before his marriage to Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz. Dom Pedro's younger brother, Dom Luiz (Bertrand's grandfather), became the heir, establishing the Vassouras branch of the former ruling Brazilian imperial house.
The monarchy's constitution ceased to exist in 1889, when Brazil became a republic. Why force Dom Pedro de Alcântara to renounce his rights when the 1824 constitution did not force equal birth marriages?
Bruno Hellmuth, the president of the Monarchist Circle, recently sent a message to the Brazilian newspaper, Diario: “ Dom Rafael de Orléans e Bragança is not facing the dilemma of marrying the one he loves and renouncing this marriage to remain in the line of succession to the throne. The one who must face a dilemma is his uncle, Dom Bertrand, single, 85 years old. Either he relaxes the rule, which is actually just a custom, that a prince must marry a princess, or he leads the Orléans-Bragança dynasty to extinction.”
This past weekend, the Prince Imperial and Miss delle Piane were in Vienna attending the marriage of Archduchess Isabel of Austria and Don Carlos Maria Palacio Gaytán de Ayala. Their marriage is scheduled to take place in Italy in November.
If Bertrand does not do a volte-face by approving Rafael's marriage, he might as well pull down the shades, turn off all the lights, and slam the door shut. His actions will have brought about the real possibility that he will be the last Brazilian dynast.
The letters were published on an Imperial family Instagram fan page.
Dom Bertrand is the copyright holder of the original Portuguese text.
São Paulo, 13 May 2026
My dear Rafael,
At your request, we shall meet this week to address matters concerning our Family. Probably what you will ask of me is that I, as Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, recognize as dynastically effective your already publicized plan of marriage. I wish at once to make clear certain points, which I now set forth.
When the formation of the nascent Empire of Brazil was being conceived, with what one might call prophetic wisdom, Dom João VI commissioned the Marquis of Marialva to arrange the union of his son Pedro, Crown Prince of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, with Archduchess Leopoldina of Habsburg-Lorraine, daughter of Emperor Francis I. Thus, by means of this dynastic marriage, an alliance was established between the House of Braganza and the House of Austria.
Another dynastic marriage was made when Emperor Dom Pedro II married Princess Dona Teresa Cristina, of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The Princess Imperial Dona Isabel likewise made a dynastic marriage when she married Prince Gaston d’Orléans, Count d’Eu, thereby sealing an alliance with the Royal House of France. In the following generation, Prince Dom Luiz, son and successor of Princess Isabel, followed the same custom by marrying Princess Dona Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The son of that couple, Dom Pedro Henrique — my Father and your Grandfather — also made a dynastic marriage when he married Princess Dona Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria — my Mother and your Grandmother. From that union were born my Predecessor Prince Dom Luiz, I myself was born, and your Father, the Prince Imperial Dom Antônio, was also born; he, in turn, also made a dynastic marriage by marrying your Mother, Princess Dona Christine de Ligne.
From Dom João VI down to the present day, in every generation, the unaltered principle of dynastic marriages has been maintained. Princess Isabel, the undisputed Head of the Imperial Family, sought to preserve this same principle when she wished that her eldest son, who desired to break with that tradition, should renounce for himself and his future descendants the imperial succession before contracting a non-dynastic marriage.
One of the most cherished memories I retain of my Father and your Grandfather, the then Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, Dom Pedro Henrique, is when he gathered his children in the garden of our farm at Jacarezinho and formally declared to us: “My children, circumstances do not permit me to leave you a considerable material fortune, but there are three things I am determined to leave you: first, the Roman Catholic Apostolic faith — inherited from our forebears; second, a good education; and third, consciousness of our family’s historical mission.”
During the sixty years in which my Father headed the Imperial House of Brazil, and during the forty-one years in which my Brother Dom Luiz did so, the standard of conduct established by Princess Isabel was always maintained. A Prince or Princess who was not willing to make a marriage recognized as dynastic by the Head of the House, and who chose to give priority to affective preferences, would have to leave the line of imperial succession.
In our family, after Dom Pedro de Alcântara, several of my siblings, your uncles and aunts, also freely chose renunciation. Your Father, Dom Antônio, until the end of his days, in every contact he had with me, always repeated that he prayed every day for Holiness and for the marriage of his children; and not once did he speak about this kind of exception. He even said that he would apply the law even if it concerned his own children.
If you decide to make a non-dynastic marriage, you will have to choose renunciation, which must be formal, through the regular signing of a prior document, as has always been done in our family. My dear Rafael, although with much sorrow, I cannot and must not — I will not depart from this procedure.
Bear in mind, my dear Rafael, now another very important point: bear in mind that, even without prior documentary formalization, the making of a non-dynastic marriage by you will mean, ipso facto, and for all purposes, an effective and invalid [sic] renunciation, albeit tacit, of your dynastic rights, which will pass immediately to your sister Dona Maria Gabriela and, after her, to the next persons in the order of imperial succession.
And, as a consequence of this being so, I shall have to proclaim Dona Maria Gabriela as Princess Imperial of Brazil, with all dynastic rights, so that she may continue the tradition of our Family. And with particular affection, I remind you of her condition as a continuer of the Empress Leopoldina and of Princess Isabel, who so brilliantly guided our Brazil.
If you choose this marriage, my dear Rafael, and the inevitable renunciation that it will entail, I repeat that I shall deeply lament it. It will be yet another disappointment for Brazilian monarchists who, after the death of Dom Pedro Luiz, had placed in you the hope of dynastic continuity at the head of our Family. It will be an individual decision that you will take in your conscience, and for which you will render account to God, who will judge us all. And you will also render account to History, by which all of us, whether we wish it or not, shall be judged.
May God Our Lord, the Most Holy Virgin Our Lady of Aparecida, and Saint Pedro de Alcântara, our patron, enlighten and strengthen you to fulfill your duty.
Believe, my dear Rafael, in the unchanging affection of your uncle, who always prays and will continue to pray for you,
Bertrand
The second letter from Dom Bertrand to Dom Rafael:
São Paulo, 28 May 2026
My dear Rafael,
I received, and duly considered, your letter of the 15th of this month, in which you regret “the particularly harsh, cold, and insensitive manner” in which I dealt with the question of your proposed marriage. I was not harsh, nor cold, nor insensitive, my dear Rafael: I was merely clear and objective, avoiding any ambiguities, and I sought to do so in the most delicate and affectionate way within my power.
I see that you have not managed to understand the very grave underlying issue involved in your proposed marriage. It is not “political alliances or diplomatic questions” that are at stake in this case, nor is it a personal matter exclusive to you; rather, it is something much deeper and more important. It is a question of survival for the historical mission of our family, with all that this mission means in terms of sacrifices and the responsibilities it entails.
How often Papa instilled in us the notion that we had a historical mission to carry out for the future of Brazil!
And Mama, when we saw children eating ice cream in the streets of Rio de Janeiro and asked her to buy us some, would sometimes grant our request, but often refused, taking the opportunity to give us a life lesson and form our character. She explained to us that we were not ordinary boys, who could do whatever they pleased with their lives, but that we were princes who needed always to be prepared to make great sacrifices for our people. And she would conclude: “If you cannot now renounce an ice cream, how will you do so in the future, when Brazil asks great sacrifices of you?”
It is this school of princely formation, Rafael, laboriously maintained through the generations, that can guarantee the continuity of our lineage in times of general disintegration of values.
I see that you have not understood why our ancestors, for so many generations, insisted on maintaining the validity of the principles from which nobility and royalty itself arose. If we are princes, Rafael, it is because successive generations of our ancestors were able to sacrifice their personal preferences and desires in the service of the common good of the peoples over whom they reigned. This readiness for sacrifice is very well expressed in the double symbolism of the Cross that surmounts all crowns: on the one hand, it signifies the Faith; on the other, it carries with it the remembrance of sacrifice, for which monarchs must always be prepared.
This same readiness we have the duty to maintain, even if all external factors conspire against it. It is not a readiness in the abstract, in theory, but something concrete that must be practiced every day, throughout one’s entire life, whatever the cost.
You must consider, Rafael, the historical moment in which we are living, with a gradual process of the secularization of society, a true agenda of destruction promoted by the adversaries of our Western and Christian Civilization. The values and principles that inspired the formation of our glorious historical past are fading more and more. The notion of the family as the cellula mater of society is disappearing: divorces, marriages that do not produce children — resulting in the demographic deficit that afflicts so many nations — divided families, grown children who do not concern themselves with supporting their parents in old age; all of this forms an overall reality that we, as princes, even more than others, have the duty to consider with the utmost seriousness. It falls to us to stand in the front line in defense of the true values that are threatened; if we do not do so, we shall lose the reason for our existence.
It is in this context that the Imperial Family has been fulfilling its mission from Dom João VI down to the generation of your Father and mine.
You state in your letter that many European dynasties have adapted to new times in matters of marriage, since “historical and family circumstances have evolved profoundly over the last decades, without this having compromised the dignity, legitimacy, or continuity of their lineages.” Go back over, my dear Rafael, the list of Houses that you yourself set out, and think of the number of media scandals that so many of those Houses have produced in recent decades. If, in facing the general tide, they had been more faithful to the principles that constituted them centuries ago, their present situation would be very different!
The list you drew up, properly analyzed, proves the great danger to be avoided: two or three generations of marriages into families that do not carry in their “genetic baggage” the same readiness for sacrifice on behalf of the common good almost necessarily produce people forgetful of their historical mission, more interested in enjoying the pleasures and privileges of the upper bourgeoisie and the jet set than in the real fulfilment of their historical mission. Papa, with every reason, had a horror of those worldly society magazines, which debase true nobility into the jet set; he referred to such magazines as “funeral agencies of royalty and nobility.”
Keep all this very much in mind, my dear nephew. Reflect carefully on the immense responsibilities that we have to carry. Pray to God and to the Most Holy Virgin; pray to the Saints, male and female, from whom we descend, that they may help you in the impasse in which you find yourself. Your moral responsibility is very great.
One final consideration I wish to share with you, my dear Rafael. The fact that you have preferred to spend so much time outside Brazil has not allowed you to follow closely the evolution of attitudes and of Brazilian public opinion, which is increasingly tending toward a return to traditional standards and values, both in the religious and in the political sphere. I have travelled a great deal through Europe and the United States, and I know that this tendency is also notable in other countries; but I can say, from personal experience and with knowledge of the matter, that in Brazil the phenomenon is particularly intense, especially among the young, who show themselves much more desirous of traditional values than their parents and, above all, their grandparents.
This movement is still, without doubt, a minority one, and the factors of disintegration are still stronger, but the appetite for conservatism is visibly growing. The present generations increasingly long for a future within the line of tradition. The rebirth of the desire for religious practices and observances, the strengthening among the young of the true meaning of Christian marriage, the comforting number of adults who request Holy Baptism — these are among the many symptoms that we encounter day by day.
Have no illusions, dear nephew, about young Brazilian monarchists. It is not the desire for “modern monarchies,” condescending and adapted to the errors of our time, that attracts them. On the contrary, they are moved by a longing for a more traditional and conservative order of things. At this moment, our duty with regard to the future of the Monarchist Cause and of our Family is not to fall into the error of a false aggiornamento, but consists precisely in the arduous mission of preserving traditional principles and fighting for them. Fidelity to these principles is, and increasingly will be, what gives true credibility to families that have known how not to yield before the pressures of fashion, but to remain consistent with their reason for existing. Nobility and royalty are not merely the past. They are the future that they are called to shape in the identity of their dynasties.
I conclude, Rafael, by asking you one further thing: bearing all this well in mind, reread carefully and attentively my previous letter, which I wrote with extreme care, after having reflected much, suffered, and prayed until I reached the definitive decision that fell to me as Head of the Imperial House of Brazil. Reread that letter attentively and see that, far from being “cold and insensitive,” it was written with great affection for you, for whom I have every esteem.
Bertrand,
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2026/07/dom-bertrands-says-no-approval-to-dom.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2026/05/dom-rafael-de-orleans-e-braganca.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/11/hrh-prince-antonio-de-orleans-braganza.html
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