Line of succession to the Portuguese throne

The Portuguese monarchy was abolished on the 5 October 1910 when King Manuel II was deposed following a republican revolution. The present head of the House of Braganza the former ruling house is, Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza a position he has held since the death of his father Duarte Nuno in 1976. The succession law used for the former Portuguese throne is primogeniture [http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/atrfaq.htm#p2-5n] with male heirs taking precedence over female. This leads to the following theoretical order of succession to the throne:

# Infante Afonso de Santa Maria Prince of Beira (b. 1996)
# Infante Dinis, Duke of Porto (b. 1999)
# Infanta Maria Francisca (b. 1997)
# Infante Miguel, Duke of Viseu (b. 1946)
# Infante Henrique, Duke of Coimbra (b. 1949)
# Infanta Maria Adelaide de Bragança (b. 1912)
# Adriano Sérgio de Bragança van Uden, son of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Pedro Maria de Sousa e Menezes van Uden, son of above
# Mariana de Sousa e Meneses van Uden, daughter of above
# Ana Rita de Sousa Menezes de Bragança van Uden, daughter of above
# Nuno Miguel de Bragança van Uden, son of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Miguel Maria Bonneville van Uden, son of above
# Nuno de Santa Maria Bonneville van Uden, son of above
# Mafalda Maria Bonneville van Uden, daughter of above
# Ana do Carmo Maria Bonneville van Uden, daughter of above
# Francisco Xavier Damiano de Bragança van Uden, son of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Afonso Miguel Maria Gil de Braganca van Uden, son of above
# Henrique Maria Gil de Bragança van Uden, son of above
# João Maria Gil de Bragança van Uden, son of above
# Maria Francisca Gil de Braganca van Uden, daughter of above
# Miguel Inácio de Bragança van Uden, son of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Sebastião Dentinho Van Uden, son of above
# Catarina Dentinho van Uden, daughter of above
# Francisco Côrrea de Sá, filho de Catarina Dentinho
# Inês Dentinho van Uden, daughter of above
# Filipa Teodora de Bragança van Uden, daughter of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Nuno Gregório van Uden Fontes, son of above
# Francisco Maria van Uden Fontes, son of above
# Diana van Uden de Atouguia Fontes, daughter of above
# Maria Teresa de Bragança van Uden, daughter of Maria Adelaide de Bragança
# Francisco Maria de Bragança van Uden Chaves, son of above
# Xavier Maria de Bragança van Uden Chaves, son of above
# Miguel de Bragança van Uden Chaves, son of above
# Rodrigo de Bragança van Uden Chaves, son of above
# D. Pedro José Folque de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto, 6th Duke of Loulé
# D. Henrique Nuno Vaz Pinto de Mendonça, heir presumptive of the Dukedom of Loulé
# D. Helena Vaz Pinto de Mendonça

Line of succession as of 1910

At the time of the abolition of the monarchy, the uncontested heirs of king Manuel II were:

# Infante Afonso, Duke of Porto, King Manuel's uncle (Afonso Henrique Maria Luís Pedro de Alcántara Carlos Humberto Amadeu Fernando António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Volfando Inácio de Braganca e Saboya), born in Ajuda on 1 July, 1865, unmarried
# Infanta Antónia, Dowager Princess of Hohenzollern, King Manuel's grandaunt (Antónia Maria Fernanda Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Francisca de Assis Ana Gonzaga Silvina Júlia Augusta de Saxónia-Coburgo-Gotha e Braganca), born in Lisbon on 17 February, 1845, youngest surviving daughter of Maria II, queen regnant of Portugal and Algarves, etc., and her second husband Ferdinand II. [It is not altogether clear whether there actually were other persons in line of succession before Infanta Antónia: Antónia's late elder sister Infanta Maria Ana is alleged to have renounced her rights when marrying the youngest son of the then king of Saxony (although the existence of such renunciation is questioned; her bridegroom had an elder brother to succeed in Saxony) and had left a number of children (royal princes and princesses of Saxony). However, Maria Ana's eldest son Frederick August III of Saxony (born at Dresden 25 May 1865) was in 1910 the reigning king of another country, Saxony, and as such seems to have been regarded ineligible to Portuguese succession.] Infanta Antónia had in 1861 married Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and had become a widow in 1905. There is so far no evidence that Infanta Antónia had ever renounced her rights of Portuguese succession, particularly because her husband in 1861 or later was not reigning monarch of any other monarchy, sovereign or otherwise. Infanta Antónia's rights to the Portuguese succession were uncontested, but her children's rights have been contested on basis of them being foreigners; she was grandmother of Princess Augusta Victoria, who afterwards, in 1913, married her second cousin, the deposed king Manuel.

The line after Infanta Antónia was rather murky. Queen Maria II's father Pedro has been alleged to have renounced the succession on behalf of his children other than Maria, and many have theorized whether he actually was entitled to do so, if he ever actually did so. The Portuguese constitution of 1838 (which however had been replaced by reviving the 1826 Constitutional Charter), as well as decrees and treaties in 1834, had specifically excluded all rights of Pedro's younger brother, the Infante Miguel of Portugal, meaning that no one could be in line of succession on basis of descent from him.

Relatively uncontested is that the issue from Pedro's eldest sister, Infanta Teresa, Princess of Beira, were in line of succession (but several individuals from Pedro's lineage may have preceded them):

* Francisco Maria Isabel Gabriel Pedro de Alcantara Sebastiao Afonso, 1st Duke of Marchena, Infante of Spain and Portugal, born in Madrid on 20 August 1861, was the eldest grandson of Princess Teresa (see House of Bourbon-Braganza). His position of Portuguese infante derived from the specific grant made by Maria I, Queen regnant of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves. He had children and several brothers, all infantes and infantas of Portugal.

After all eligible issue of elder children of King John VI of Portugal, persons uncontestedly in line of Portuguese succession existed among issue of John VI's youngest daughter, Infanta Ana de Jesus Maria, who had married the Duke of Loulé. Infanta Ana's senior representative in 1910 was her granddaughter:

* Maria Domingas José de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto, 3rd Duchess of Loulé (born 1853)

Rules of succession

The 1822, 1826 and 1838 constitutions, as well as the 1842 revival of the 1826 constitutional charter, confirmed a feudal, cognatic primogeniture among issue of the then-reigning monarch and in case of its extinction, among collateral descendants of the Braganza dynasty. ("A sucessão da Coroa segue a ordem regular de primogenitura, e representação entre os legítimos descendentes; preferindo sempre a linha anterior às posteriores; na mesma linha, o grau mais próximo ao mais remoto; no mesmo grau, o sexo masculino ao feminino; e no mesmo sexo, a pessoa mais velha à mais nova.") That had been the succession also in earlier customs in Portugal.

After the 1640 rebellion against the Spanish Habsburgs and the accession of the Braganza dynasty, the relevant customary law in Portugal (which is regarded as part of fundamental law of the Portuguese monarchy) excluded kings of other countries from Portuguese succession. However, the customary law did not exclude persons born outside Portugal, nor persons holding positions in other countries (as attested by the fact that during the reign of king Pedro II of Portugal, his second cousin's son Manuel Joaquim Garcia de Braganca, Marquess of Flexilla and Xarandilla (1642-1707), who happened to be Prime Minister of the neighboring Spain, was recognized as the First Prince of the Blood in Portugal, and heir to the Portuguese throne after the (then precarious) issue of king Pedro.

The desire to avoid union with a more dominant country was displayed in some constitutional stipulations, such as article 100 of the 1838 constitution ("Nenhum Estrangeiro pode suceder na Coroa de Portugal").

The 1838 constitution was replaced in 1842 by reviving the 1826 Constitutional Charter of Portugal. Among other things, the 1826 charter stipulated: "Extintas as linhas dos Descendentes legítimos da SENHORA DONA MARIA II, passará a Coroa à colateral".

Since the exile of the royal family, there have been disputes over who are foreigners and who are not.

Portuguese customary law, as well as all the written constitutions, required legitimate birth as prerequisite to be eligible as heir.

The treaty of 1834, decisions ratified by the Cortes and the monarch, and the 1838 constitution ("Constituição portuguesa de 1838") specifically excluded from succession Infante Miguel and all rights derived through him.

External links

* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/portugal.html An Online Gotha (Portugal)]
* [http://www.geocities.com/henrivanoene/royalportugal.html The Royal Family of Portugal]

Notes