Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza

Infobox Portuguese Royalty|infante
name = Francis Joseph
title = Prince of Braganza, Infante of Portugal


full name = Francisco José Gerardo Maria
royal house = House of Braganza
father = Miguel, Duke of Braganza
mother = Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis
date of birth = birth date|1879|9|7
place of birth = Meran (Merano), Austria-Hungary
date of death = death date and age|1919|6|15|1879|9|7
place of death = Ischia, Italy|

Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza (Lang-pt|Francisco José de Bragança; 7 September 1879 - 15 June 1919) was a member of the House of Braganza.

Early life

Francis Joseph was born in Meran (Merano), Austria (now in Italy), the second son of the Miguelist pretender to the Portuguese throne Miguel, Duke of Braganza and his first wife Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis. He was the namesake of his godfather Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. [cite book |last=Graham |first=Evelyn |title=Albert: King of the Belgians |year=2003 |publisher= Kessinger Publishing |isbn=0766161943 |pages=46 ] Prince Francis Joseph'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 of Portugal had in 1828 usurped the throne of Portugal from Queen Maria II. His grandfather reigned as king until 1834 when Maria II was restored. Those Portuguese who recognised Francis Joseph's father as rightful king of Portugal acknowledged Francis Joseph as an Infante of Portugal.

candals and later years

In August 1902 Francis Joseph was in London to attend the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. On September 11 he was indicted in the Central Criminal Court on a charge that he had committed an act of gross indecency with a fifteen-year old boy. ["The Times" (September 12, 1902), p. 10, and (September 13, 1902), p. 4.] A 24-year old man and a seventeen-year old boy were also charged with conspiring together to procure the commission of an act of gross indecency. A witness claimed that he had made a hole in a bedroom door and that through the hole he had seen Francis Joseph and the fifteen-year old boy engaged in sexual activity in a house in Lambeth. The witness's testimony was contradicted by the police who said that it was only possible to see nine inches of the bed through the hole. The prosecutors announced that they thought that it would not be right for the jury to convict on the evidence produced. The jury pronounced Francis Joseph not guilty.

After the acquittal his lawyer stated that Francis Joseph had gone to the house "under the impression that it was a brothel and that a woman would be waiting for him there. It was not uncommon on the Continent for men and boys to go about touting to take men to brothels." The other man and the two boys were found guilty of conspiring together to procure the commission of an act of gross indecency. The man was sentenced to two years imprisonment, and the boys to ten and eight months each. ["The Times" (September 13, 1902), p. 4.]

As a result of the scandal Francis Joseph was forced to resign his commission as a Lieutenant in the Seventh Hussars of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The Austrian courts reduced his legal status, depriving him of his civic rights and placing the administration of his affairs in the hands of a trustee, his brother-in-law Prince Charles Louis of Thurn und Taxis. [cite news | author = A Veteran Diplomat | title = Where Americans Lose Caste | publisher = New York Times | page = SM2 | date = 1909-07-18 ]

Francis Joseph was later implicated in a another homosexual scandal in Austria. [cite book |last=Smith |first=Timothy D'Arch |title=Love in Earnest: Some Notes on the Lives and Writings of English 'Uranian' Poets from 1889 to 1930 |year=1970 |publisher= Routledge & K. Paul |isbn=0710067305 |pages=43 ]

In November 1909 Francis Joseph got conned out of £325,000 after purchasing what he believed to be valuable emeralds and 50,000 shares in a English mining company, by a man calling himself Frederick Vanderbilt who claimed to be a member of the Vanderbilt family. The emeralds later turned out to be valueless and Prince Francis Joseph as a result decided to prosecute criminally through the Austrian embassy in London. [cite news | title = Bogus Vanderbilt To Jail | publisher = New York Times | page = 9 | date = 1915-09-11 ] [cite news | title = Prince Of Braganza Tells Of Swindle | publisher = New York Times | page = 3 | date = 1910-01-20 ]

In 1911-1912 Francis Joseph participated in the monarchist uprisings in northern Portugal led by Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro, in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the First Portuguese Republic. [cite book |last=de Saisseval |first=Guy Coutant |title=Les Maisons Impériales et Royales d'Europe |year=1966 |publisher=Éditions du Palais-Royal |pages=428 ]

During World War I Francis Joseph fought in the Austrian Army and was captured. He was imprisoned on the island of Ischia near Naples where he died of heart failure. ["The Times" (June 19, 1919), p. 11.]

Ancestry

ahnentafel top|Ancestors of Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza|width=100%ahnentafel-compact5
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boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
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boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
1= Prince Francis Joseph of Braganza
2= Miguel II, Duke of Braganza
3= Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis
4= Miguel of Portugal
5= Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
6= Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn und Taxis
7= Duchess Helene in Bavaria
8= John VI of Portugal
9= Charlotte of Spain
10= Constantine, Hereditary Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
11= Princess Marie Agnes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
12= Maximilian Karl, Prince of Thurn und Taxis
13= Baroness Wilhelmine of Dörnberg
14= Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria
15= Princess Ludovika of Bavaria
16= Peter III of Portugal
17= Maria I of Portugal
18= Charles IV of Spain
19= Maria Luisa of Parma
20= Charles, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg
21= Countess Sophie Luise of Windisch-Grätz
22= Charles Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
23= Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth
24= Karl Alexander, Prince of Thurn und Taxis
25= Duchess Therese Mathilde of Mecklenburg(-Strelitz)
26= Baron Ernst of Dörnberg
27= Wilhelmine Henriette von Glauburg
28= Duke Pius August in Bavaria
29= Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg
30= Maximilian I of Bavaria
31= Caroline of Badenahnentafel bottom

References