Duarte Nuno (Duke of Braganza)

Duarte Nuno Fernando Maria Miguel Gabriel Rafael Francisco Javier Raimundo Antoniu was born to Seebenstein Castle, in Austria-Hungary, the only son of Prince Miguel, Duke of Braganans (1853-1927), from his second marriage with Princess Maria Teresa Leuvenstein- Wörttgemme ( Wertgemme Wörttemberg-Wörttemberg 18-1935 ) ) Duarte Nuno had two older half-brothers, one older half-sister and eight siblings.

On the paternal side, Duarte Nuno was the grandson of King Miguel I (1802–1866), King of Portugal (1828–1834), and Princess Adelaide of Leuvenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1831–1909). On the maternal side, he was the grandson of Karl, the 6th Prince of Loewenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1834-1921), and Princess Sophia of Liechtenstein (1837-1899).

Prince Miguel, father of Duarte Nuno, was a Miguelist contender for the Portuguese royal throne, opposed his cousins ​​from the Bragans-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty, descendants of the Queen of Portugal Maria II and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha .

Prince Duarte Nuno was baptized at Seebenstein Castle. His godparents were his aunt, Aldegund, the Infanta of Portugal (1858-1946), the wife of Prince Enrico Bourbon of Parma, and the husband of another aunt, Alfons Carlos, Duke of San Jaime (1849-1936). They were both represented by trustees.

Prince Francisco José Braganza (1879-1919), Duarte Nuno's second brother, died in 1919 . His other elder brother, Prince Miguel, the Duke of Viseu (1878-1923), on July 21, 1920, renounced his inheritance rights to the Portuguese throne. Ten days later, on July 31, 1920 , Prince Miguel of Braganca renounced his claim to the Portuguese throne in favor of his youngest son, Duarte Nuno. Since that time, the Portuguese Miguelist monarchists (supporters of King Miguel and his descendants) began to consider Duarte Nuno King of Duarte II. Portugal since 1910 was a republic. The last Portuguese king Manuel II of the Bragança-Coburg dynasty (1889–1932), who ruled from 1908–1910 , lived in exile. Duarte Nuno took the title of Duke of Braganza .

Since Duarte Nuno was only 12 years old when he inherited from his father the title of head of the Miguelist line of the Braganza dynasty, his aunt, Adelgund Braganca, Duchess of Guimaraes , acted as regent for him until he reached adulthood. In 1921, she issued a manifesto outlining the goals of the family to restore the monarchy in Portugal.

In 1920, after the death of his uncle Afonso, Duke of Porto (1865-1920), the last king Manuel II did not have any close relatives who could claim the throne of Portugal, according to the Constitutional Charter of 1826 . Two rival lines of the Braganza dynasty began to claim the Portuguese throne: Migilesti and Braganca-Coburg . Representatives of the Miguelist branch spoke in favor of restoring the traditions of absolutism in Portugal, while Braganca-Coburg advocated a constitutional monarchy.

In 1912, Prince Miguel , the father of Duarte Nuno, met with the exiled King Manuel to try to come to some kind of agreement on the nomination of one common candidate for the Portuguese throne. their representatives allegedly signed a pact in Dover , according to which Miguel recognized Manuel as king, and Manuel recognized heir to Duarte Nuno in the absence of children and his uncle Afonso ^[1] . This treaty was unpopular among supporters of both parties, some even argued that in fact it was never signed.

On April 17, 1922, a Paris Pact was signed between representatives of Duarte Nuno and Manuel, in which Manuel agreed that if he died without descendants, the Cortes of Portugal should have elected his successor. At the same time, Duarte Nuno recommended that his supporters recognize Manuel II as king in exile ^[2] . The Dover and Paris Agreements were null and void. But they were important steps towards reconciling the Miguelists and the Braganca-Coburg line .

In 1927, Prince Miguel Braganca , father of Duarte Nuno, died, and on July 2, 1932, 42-year-old Manuel II died , leaving no children behind. After the death of the latter, most Portuguese monarchists supported Duarte Nuno as a single contender for the Portuguese throne. Juan Antonio de Azevedo Coutinho, leader of the supporters of Manuel II, issued a statement in support of Duarte Nuno. The Dowager Queen Amelia of Orleans (1865-1951), mother of Manuel II, supported Duarte Nuno's claim to the royal throne of Portugal.

Duarte Nuno attended schools at Ettal Abbey in Bavaria and Clervaux Abbey in France, then completed his secondary education in Regensburg . He graduated from the University of Toulouse with a degree in agricultural sciences.

In 1929 , despite the ban on entry into Portugal, Prince Duarte Nuno secretly visited his homeland.

On May 27, 1950, the National Assembly repealed the laws on the expulsion of the royal family, adopted on December 19, 1834 and October 15, 1910. In the same year, Prince Duarte Nuno did not return to his homeland, he daddied in a car accident in Thionville, where he was seriously wounded. Only in 1952, the prince was able to return to the homeland of his ancestors. He was granted the residence of Fundação Casa de Bragança.

In 1974, Duarte Nuno transferred his residence to the Palacio de San Marcos University of Coimbra. For the past two years, he has lived in southern Portugal with his unmarried sister, Infanta Philippa. Ulter Curley, an American writer, met Duarte Nuno at the end of his life and in his book Monarchs in Waiting describes Duarte Nuno as suffering from "nervous depression" after the death of his wife.

On December 24, 1976, 69-year-old Duarte Nuno died in the Ferragudo area. The prince was buried in the Augustinian monasteries at Vila Visoza , the traditional burial place of the Dukes of Bragança.

On October 15, 1942, in the Cathedral of Petropolis in Brazil, Prince Duarte Nuno married his distant relative, Princess Maria Frasiske of Orleans-Braganza (September 8, 1914 - January 15, 1968), the second daughter of Prince Pedro de Alcantara of Orleans-Braganza , Prince of Grand Para (1875 -1940), and Countess Elizabeth Dobrzhenskaya de Dobrzhenich (1875-1951). This dynastic marriage united the two rival lines of the Portuguese royal family of Braganza. Maria Francis was the great-granddaughter of the last Brazilian emperor Pedro II , the younger brother of the Queen of Portugal, Maria II .

The couple had three sons:

• Prince Duarte Piu, 24th Duke of Bragança (born May 15, 1945, Bern , Switzerland ), current head of the Portuguese Royal House since 1976
• Infant Miguel, 8th Prince of Viseu (born December 3, 1946, Bern , Switzerland ), single and childless
• Infant Enrique, 4th Duke of Coimbra (November 6, 1949, Bern , Switzerland - February 14, 2017, Ferragudo , Portugal ), single and childless

• September 23, 1907 - July 31, 1920: " His Royal Highness Prince Duarte Nuno Braganca, infante of Portugal " ^[3]
• July 31, 1920 - December 24, 1976: " His Royal Highness the Duke of Braganza ."

•   Grand Master of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary of Villa Wycozos
•   Grand Master of the Order of the Wing of St. Michael
•   Sovereign of the Order of St. Isabella
•   Cavalier of the Order of the Golden Fleece
•   Balli - Commander of the Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion to the Order of Malta
•   Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of St. George

Kinship between Duarte Nuno and Manuel II

Pedigree

Sources

• D. Duarte Nuno de Bragança, um rei que não reinou: testemunhos sobre a vida ea obra de D. Duarte II, Chefe da Casa Real Portuguesa . Lisbon, 1992.
• Cabral, Antonio. El-Rei D. Duarte II: rei morto, rei posto, a sua vida, os seus direitos, paginas de historia . Lisbon: Livraria popular de F. Franco, 1934.
• Galvão, Manuel de Bettencourt e. O Duque de Bragança . Lisbon: Edições Gama, 1945.
• Miranda, Jorge O Constitucionalismo luso-brasileiro . Lisboa: Comissão nacional para as comemorações dos descobrimentos Portugueses. 2001 ISBN 972-787-034-1