Afonso (Duke of Porto)

Born July 31, 1865, the prince received the full name of Afonso Enrique Maria Luis Pedro de Alcantara Carlos Umbert Amadeu Fernando Antoniu Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis Joan Augusto Juliu Walfandso Ignatu Portugu Ignati Portugu Ignati Ignati Ignati . Henrique Maria Luís Pedro de Alcântara Carlos Humberto Amadeu Fernando António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando Inácio de Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha e Bragança ). The father chose a military career for his youngest son. Afonso House was a major general of the Portuguese army, inspector general of artillery, since 1865 he had the honorary position of Royal Connable, in 1896 he served as commander of the armed forces in Goa , at the same time fulfilling the duties of vice-king of Portuguese India in 1895-1896. At the beginning of 1890, the engagement of the prince to the Austrian Archduke Maria Valeria , the daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I , was announced, but soon Maria Valeria terminated the engagement under the influence of her aunt Maria Theresa , daughter of the ousted king Miguel I , who did not want kinship with the usurper’s dynasty father’s. After the death of his father, Louis I in 1889, the Afonso house received the title of Duke of Porto, which he wore until his death. After the death of his brother Carlos I and his heir Infant Luis Filipe , the Afonso house was the title of heir to the throne during the entire reign of his nephew Manuel II in 1908 - 1910 . Afonso House was known for its kindness, simplicity, and also became famous as a womanizer , a cutler and a merry fellow. The passion of the prince was cars, he owns the idea of ​​holding the first car races in Portugal in which he participated as one of the drivers. The prince’s love for cars is connected with a historical joke about his nickname “ Going Along ” ( port. O Arreda ), which he received while driving at high speed through the city streets and warning passersby about his appearance with this scream. After the attempt on his brother, Afonso's house made it a habit not to part with his weapons, day or night, to always be ready to protect himself and his family. Afonso House was also chairman of the Royal Volunteer Fire Society. After the death of his father, the prince remained in the palace of Ajud, where he lived with his mother, the Dowager Queen Mary Pius until their exile in 1910, while his brother Luis and his nephew Manuel chose the palace of Nessesidadesh as their residence. After the Portuguese Revolution of 1910, the prince left the country with the rest of the royal family, first leaving for Gibraltar with his nephew, deposed by King Manuel II, then to Italy with his mother, Queen Maria Pia. He lived with her in Turin , and after her death he first moved to Rome , and then to Naples .

Marriage

On September 26, 1917, the Afonso house in Rome married the very wealthy American Nevada Studi Hayes (1885-1941). The notorious socialite in America and Europe has already been married three times:

1. in 1906 - for the multi-millionaire Lee Agnew Sr., from whom she gave birth to a son and obtained the amount of $ 2 million during a divorce;
2. in 1906-1907 - for billionaire William Henry Chapman, who left the widowed Nevada a fortune of $ 8 million;
3. in 1909-1914, after Philip Van Valkenburg, the youngest son of one of New York ’s most influential families.

At different times, among the applicants, Nevada Hayes was named: Lord Falconer, 10th Earl of Kintor; Count Artemy Skull-Spiridovich ; Prince Mohammed Ali of Egypt and many others. The infanta’s marriage was a political event for the Portuguese royalists, since the ousted King Manuel II (who lived in the UK and married Augustus Hohenzollern ) had no children, and the marriage of Afonso at home to a twice-divorced and once widowed woman (who also had a very dubious reputation ) literally buried their plans to restore the dynasty on the throne.