The Brazilian Imperial Family: Seating on the steps: Prince Antoine. From left to right: Empress Donna Theresa;  Princess Imperial Isabel; Emperor Pedro II; Prince Pedro Augusto of Saxe-Coburg-Braganza; Prince Luiz; Gaston, Count d' Eu; Prince Pedro de Alcántara. c.1888.

During the 19th century  Fearing Napoleon’s onslaught the Portuguese royal family left Lisbon and moved their court to Brazil, the crown’s most prized possession. Dom Joao of Bragança, Regent of Portugal, packed his family and his demented mother, Queen Maria I, and headed for the sunny coasts of Brazil. As the Portuguese royal family left Lisbon, Napoleon’s troops led a the anti-monarchist General  overran the Portuguese border. On a cold November morning in 1807, the royal exodus started its long voyage into exile. Along with the royal family came an entourage estimated to include almost fifteen thousand people. The people of Lisbon watched in dismay as their ruler abandoned the country to the fate of the invading Napoleonic legions. But he had made the decision to escape the invasion, nothing would deter Dom Joao who believed that moving to Brazil would save his family from becoming Napoleon’s puppets just as some of his royal cousins throughout Europe had Dome.

The Portuguese royal contingent arrived on the coasts of Brazil on January 21, 1808. Brazilians who witnessed this most unexpected arrival went wild with ovations for the exiled royals. Two months later the royal party arrived at their final destination, the beautiful port of Rio de Janeiro. It

was at Rio that Dom Joao decided to settle his court in exile, and it was from there that he vigorously rebuild the fortunes of his shattered kingdom. Dom Joao opened Brazilian ports to foreign trade and basically constituted the colony into an independent, self-reliant kingdom under the rule of the House of Bragança. In due time, Dom Joao would acquire properties in the  countryside to where the royal family would retire to lead a quiet life away from the exigencies of court life.

The fall of Napoleon in 1814 restored the Portuguese royal family to their throne in Lisbon.

Despite this event, Dom Joao refused to return to Europe until the political situation there settled. He was also faced with an uncertain future in Brazil if he departed. Dom Joao, who was married to Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, had two sons, neither of which had reached majority in 1814.

Dom Pedro, the eldest of the Bragança princes, was sixteen, his brother Dom Miguel was only twelve years old. And since Brazil had become a semi-independent political entity during Dom Joao’s stay, the Prince Regent did not want to lose control over the affairs if the colony. Further pressure to return to Portugal was caused by the death of Queen Maria I in 1816. Dom Joao had acted as regent for his mother for almost two decades. Now he had finally ascended to he throne as Joao VI of Portugal, Joao I of Brazil. His coronation took place in Brazil amid pomp never before witnessed by the colonials.

Once safely enthroned Dom Joao went about sending envoys to various European courts in search for a bride for his heir. Several potential brides were inspected, yet none had the qualifications found in the Archduchess Maria-Leopoldina of Habsburg. Referred to as Leopoldina, the Austrian Archduchess was one of the daughters of Emperor Franz I and a sister of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife. For the faraway Braganças the hand of Marie-Leopoldina was a great dynastic coup. It certainly did not matter one bit that Dom Pedro had never set eyes on his future bride and that he was more interested in chasing young Brazilian ladies than in entering a dynastic union with an Austrian Archduchess.

Leopoldina arrived in Brazil at the end of 1817. The Braganças waited for her with great trepidation, particularly Dom Pedro. now styled as Prince of Beira. Leopoldina must have made a good impression on her husband for several months after her arrival the Brazilian court announced her first pregnancy. Leopoldina’s first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, no doubt caused by the ravages the Brazilian climate had inflicted on her frail body. Despite this, Pedro and Leopoldina continued their efforts to provide the crown with an heir. The couple’s first child, Princess Maria da Gloria of Bragança, was born in 1819. Two years later the much awaited heir arrived on March 6, 1821. The newborn Bragança was given the name of Joao.

Soon after the birth of his grandson, Joao VI finally returned to Portugal. Along with him went most members of the Bragança family, Pedro remained in Brazil to act as regent for his father.

Initially Joao VI was appalled at Pedro’s desire to remain in Brazil, but after his son refused to back away from his decision, the king agreed to Pedro and Leopoldina remaining behind. Dom Miguel, the king’s second son, did not question returning to Portugal for he never really adapted to life in Brazil. Besides it is quite possible that Miguel already foresaw his future as monarch of Portugal while his brother remained ruler of Brazil.

Leopoldina’s life in Brazil was to be fraught with anxieties over her future, that of her children and the decreasing attention paid her by her husband. Her first disappointment was the untimely death of little Prince Joao in 1822. The arrival of a second daughter one month after Joao’s death did not improve much the parents’ spirits. For Pedro an heir was a necessity since the heir presumptive to Portugal and Brazil was his increasingly troublesome brother Dom Miguel. A third daughter, Paula Mariana, was born in 1823.

In late 1822, Prince Regent Pedro of Bragança decided to stage a coup d’etat to emancipate Brazil from the Portuguese crown. Joao VI himself had recommended this course of action as a means of guaranteeing the Brazilian crown would remain under the Braganças. During the royal family’s long stay in Brazil the colony had learned how to rule itself without Lisbon’s guidance. Once Napoleon’s regime was ousted, Lisbon faintly tried to restore its control over Brazilian affairs.

This course of action was deeply resented by the Brazilians who were deeply resentful of Portuguese involvement in the country’s internal affairs. Thus to guarantee that Brazil would not be completely lost, Prince Regent Pedro gave his support to the independence movement that sealed the colony’s break from Lisbon. At the age of twenty-four, the Prince Regent became Emperor Pedro I of Brazil.

In the meantime, Pedro I continued to neglect his Austrian consort. It seemed that the only reason why he spent any time with her was in an effort to produce the long-awaited heir. The couple’s fourth daughter, Francisca Carolina, was born in 1824. Pedro’s impatience with Leopoldina knew no bounds and he continued to spend more time away from her and in the arms of his mistresses.

Leopoldina’s life in Brazil had turned into a living inferno, far away from her family, ignored by her husband, the young Brazilian empress slowly fell into deep depression. In Vienna, Emperor Franz I openly referred to his Brazilian son-in-law as a scoundrel. Nonetheless, Pedro and Leopoldina continued their efforts to produce an heir. The arrival of Prince Pedro de Alcantara of Bragança in late 1825, was Leopoldina’s crowning satisfaction. Exhausted by constant childbearing since her arrival in Brazil, Empress Leopoldina died practically ignored by her husband one year after the birth of the couple’s only surviving son.

Old King Joao VI died in early 1826. Faced with the quandary concerning the succession to his two thrones, Pedro I abdicated the Portuguese crown on his daughter Maria da Gloria. Pending her arrival in Portugal, Dom Miguel was declared Prince Regent of Portugal. Pedro also agreed to have his daughter marry her uncle Miguel upon becoming of age. Despite these future plans, Dom Miguel had other ideas in mind. It would not be long before Pedro I was faced with a rebellious brother who had tired of acting second fiddle for an absent monarch. In fact, Dom Miguel of Bragança considered himself the rightful heir to the Portuguese crown. Before Maria da Gloria’s  arrival, Dom Miguel staged a palace coup d’etat and declared enthroned himself as King Miguel I of Portugal. Maria da Gloria and her entourage sought refuge in London, pending a solution to Miguel’s treacherous act. Three years she spent as the guest of the British monarch while Pedro I did little to strip Miguel of his illegally obtained kingly mantle. In 1829, Maria da Gloria returned to Brazil on the same ship transporting her widowed father’s new bride, Princess Amelia of Leuchtenberg.

At the time of Amelia’s arrival in Brazil, Pedro I was deeply involved with the woman who had made Leopoldina’s last years a living hell. Domitila, Marqueza of Santos, was the mother of  several of Pedro’s illegitimate offspring. A woman of intense ambition she had poisoned Pedro against the his proud Austrian wife. Domitila had also wanted the emperor to legitimize their children, thus making them princes of the blood and placing them in competition with Leopoldina’s own children. Already faced with a rebellious brother in Portugal, Pedro instead sent envoys to Europe in search of a new bride. Princess Amelia was their choice. She was the daughter of Eugene de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, and Princess Auguste of Bavaria. Amelia was not only the niece of the King of Bavaria, but her step-grandfather had been none other than Napoleon Bonaparte.

Pedro is said to have fallen madly in love with Amelia. Within months of her arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Amelia had basically displaced the Marqueza de Santos. The fact that Amelia seemed unable to bear children allowed her to always be willing and ready to satisfy the demanding needs of her husband. Pedro was also very relieved to see that his new wife was immediately accepted by his orphaned children.

In 1831 Pedro I finally decided to face his brother Miguel. The Emperor was also facing increasing criticism from his Brazilian subjects who demanded more imperial offices for natives.

After touring the country with Amelia by his side, Pedro convinced himself that maybe it would be wise to enthrone little Dom Pedro as the new Brazilian monarch. Doing so would allow Pedro I the time to return to Portugal and put his brother Miguel in place. Finally, and not after serious confrontations with an increasingly angry populace, Pedro gave up and abdicated his throne on his only son Pedro II. A regency was quickly organized to rule Brazil until the infant monarch reached his legal age. Dom Pedro and Empress Amelia boarded an English ship, along with Maria de Gloria, and sailed towards Portugal. It had been twenty-four years since Pedro had set foot in his native Portugal.

As soon as they arrived in Europe, Pedro and Amelia toured several royal courts in search of help to overthrow King Miguel I. Despite Miguel’s lack of support among other European monarchs, Pedro was not able to enlist their help for his enterprise. It was while in Paris, where he was visiting King Louis-Philippe, that Pedro came in contact with a large community of Portuguese refuges exiled by his authoritarian brother. After consultation with the leaders of the Portuguese community in Paris, Pedro accepted to lead the effort to overthrow Miguel. He also promised to uphold constitutional government in Portugal in exchange for the restoration of Maria da Gloria to her throne.

Dom Pedro mortgaged most of his property with London bankers. These funds allowed him the money needed to stage his surprise invasion of Portugal. In 1832 the rebel force quietly congregated on the Azores from where they sailed for Portugal. Dom Pedro and his seven thousand-strong army landed in Oporto in July of 1832. The city’s garrison was surprised and Oporto surrendered before Pedro’s forces fired a single shot. One year later, Pedro and Miguel faced each other in the battlefield. Pedro’s armies was able to trap Miguel’s forces administering the royal usurper’s cause a deadly blow. Days later, Miguel hurriedly Abandoned Portugal and headed for exile in France. Dom Miguel would never recover his throne and eventually settled in Austria. It was there that he married a Lowenstein-Wertheim princess and fathered several children. His descendants finally made peace with the eldest branch of the Bragança family in the 1920’s. And it is his great-grandson, Dom Duarte, Duke of Bragança, who is the head of the Portuguese royal family today.

Pedro did not live long enough to enjoy the success of his venture, for within a year of Miguel’s overthrow he died unexpectedly. The former King of Portugal and former Emperor of Brazil was thirty-five years old. Maria II was fifteen when her father died and a ruling monarch in her own right. However, the young Queen of Portugal did not have a direct heir. In 1835 Maria II was married to the very handsome Prince Augustus of Leuchtenberg, Amelia’s brother. Still, the misfortune which never left her parents’ side struck soon enough and Augustus died eight months after their wedding. Disconsolate and lonely in her vast Lisbon palace, Maria II desperately needed a husband. Several candidates were offered from France, Naples, Germany and Sardinia.

The royal race was won by King Leopold I of the Belgians who had submitted the candidacy of his nephew Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The marriage contract was signed at the end of  1835 and several months later Ferdinand arrived in Portugal. Maria II and Ferdinand were married at Lisbon on April 8, 1836.

In Brazil, young Pedro II was kept in ignorance as to most of the events faced by his sister in Lisbon. The child emperor was placed under a regency until he reached the age required by law to begin his reign without supervision. In an effort to avoid Pedro II becoming a philandering womanizer, as his father had been, his tutors centered on raising his conscientiousness and morality. They also built within Pedro and his sisters a deep love and respect for the historical figure represented by their long-suffering mother. In doing so, the tutors of the imperial children turned Empress Leopoldina into a semi-divine figure who would be an ever present part throughout the life of Pedro II in particular.

The regency came to an end in 1840, when young Pedro, by then a tall, blue-eyed Germanic youth, was but fifteen years of age. Brazilian politicians had engulfed themselves in an increasing power struggle which was leading the empire to ruin. To put an end to political squabbling it was decided that Pedro II’s majority would be declared before it was due. Doing so, the politicians believed, would allow the emperor to play a mediating role in the constant power struggles of the country’s leading political parties. Soon after Pedro II’s coronation the royal succession once again became an issue. The Braganças had been very good at producing offspring, unfortunately for the dynasty most of these children were little Infantas. According to the laws of succession in Brazil, women would only succeed in the absence of a male prince. This also posed a problem concerning the search for suitable husbands for the emperor’s sisters. For after all, these prospective husbands would have to be brought to Brazil and their children raised as Brazilian princes. In the 1840’s not many European princelings were willing to travel halfway across to world to settle in an empire that at times seemed tittering on the brink of collapse. Hence, Pedro II had to be married off very soon to perpetuate the existence of the dynasty into the future.

Emissaries were sent to Europe. The main royal courts were visited and the results were less than satisfactory. Not only was there an absence of marriageable princesses, but those who remained unmarried were of a less than attractive nature. The Brazilian emissaries, rebuffed by the principal European courts, then headed to those which were not as politically relevant. One of these minor kingdoms was located in the city of Naples, where a branch of the Spanish royal family had ruled for over a century as Kings of the Two Sicilies. In fact, Pedro II’s great-grandfather, King Carlos IV of Spain, was a brother of Ferdinand I of the Two-Sicilies, grandfather of the princess who was chosen as Pedro II’s bride. Princess Theresa of the Two-Sicilies, a quiet and unpretentious soul, did not inherit any of the good looks held by some members of her family. It has been said that upon meeting his bride for the first time, the day before their marriage, Pedro II was simply dismayed at having to share his future with such an unbecoming royal bride. “They deceived me...I can’t make her my wife. She is terrible,” a deeply upset Pedro moaned. One of his tutors is purported to have reminded Pedro of the sad fate of his own mother and of his cavalier obligation towards fulfilling the needs of the imperial nursery. Nonetheless, and regardless of his misapprehension concerning Theresa, Pedro II married his Neapolitan cousin and settled to the procreation of a new generation of Bragança infants.

Pedro’s sisters, Francisca and Januaria, also married European princes at about the same time. Francisca of Bragança was married to Prince Philippe of Bourbon-Orleans, the fourth son of King Louis-Philippe of France; Januaria of Brazil was married to Prince Louis of the Two-Sicilies, Count of Aquila, brother of Empress Theresa.

Within a year of their marriage, Pedro II and Theresa were the parents of a little boy. Prince Afonso of Brazil was born in 1845 and his arrival brought a further closeness to the loveless union of his parents. One year later another child arrived, Princess Isabel. Yet, the imperial couple’s increasing domestic happiness was seriously affected by the untimely death of their firstborn in 1847. The little Prince Afonso was found dead in his crib, without any apparent medical reason for this most unexpected event. the initial sadness caused by Afonso’s death was lifted by the birth of a third child in that same year, Princess Leopoldina. Pedro II’s sadness at the loss of his only male child was relieved by the birth of a second son in 1848, Pedro, Prince Imperial of Brazil. However, within two years of this happy event, death would take the little prince away. Desolate by the death of his son, Pedro II penned a sonnet in which his utter frustration was revealed:

“Twice have I already suffered death,

For the father dies, whose eyes see his son dead.

Mine is the most dismal of fates:

During sweet infancy I lacked father and mother—

And now my own small sons are gone.”

After the loss of their second son, Pedro and Theresa were unable to have any more issue. The emperor resigned himself to having his daughter Isabel created Princess Imperial of Brazil, the official heiress of the empire. His inner sadness was extemporized by the abandoning of former
Court festivities and the transformation of his entourage into a serious and hardworking enterprise.

The emperor gradually abolished many of the ceremonies that had previously demanded great pomp and circumstance, while also opening the imperial family to more contact with a larger number of Brazilian subjects.

Pedro II gained widespread recognition as a liberal ruler. At the time of his enthronement, Brazil was suffering under the evil system of slavery. A large majority of Brazilians were considered the property of their owners. The slave trade also enjoyed a booming business. Pedro II was repulsed by the trading of human beings as property. The slave trade also brought Brazil into open conflict with Great Britain, the world’s dominant power at the time, as well as a sworn enemy of slavery.

Once a slave trading nation herself, great Britain had long ago discovered that this practice did
more harm than good. Besides disrupting ancient tribes in the colonies, the slave trade interrupted the socio-economic advancement of those colonies where it was still in practice. To bring an end to this despicable business, London finally abolished it and tried to force other slave trading nations to follow suit.

In 1826 Great Britain and Brazil signed a pact to bring an end to the slave trade. In exchange for the recognition of Brazil’s independence, Great Britain obtained Pedro I’s promise to abolish the slave trade in his empire. Pedro I tried to keep his promise, although imperial efforts were considerably disrupted by the actions of pirates and bootleg slave traders whole smuggled their human cargo into Brazil. Two decades after signing the pact, Great Britain and Brazil were forced to renegotiate a settlement of the slave trade issue. Given the enormous size of Brazil, many plantations and agricultural enterprises had experienced economic chaos by the disruption of the slave trade. An absence of hired hands had caused the collapse of many crops. Faced with this economic chaos, Pedro II was convinced by some of his advisers not to renew the pact with Great Britain. London’s reaction was swift and a fleet of patrol boats was dispatched to police the Brazilian coastline. Unable to defend its coastline, the Brazilian eventually bowed to London’s demands and in 1850 Pedro II and his government brought about a change in position. Brazilian efforts to interfere with Great Britain maritime policy along the coasts of the empire were abandoned. More than a decade later Pedro II took the momentous decision to personally strike against Brazilian slave owners. Another pact was signed with Great Britain whereby “human traffic from Africa, Asia or any other continent remained forever forbidden.” In 1871, Pedro II sponsored a law liberating the womb of all female slaves. This meant that every child born from a slave from then on would be free from birth. A further strike against slavery was delivered in 1885 when the imperial government declared that all slaves over the age of 60 years were free. Three years later, and acting as regent for her absent father, Princess Isabel finally abolished slavery in Brazil. This act of sublime liberalism gained Isabel the title of “Redeemer,” yet it cost the dynasty its imperial throne.

By the mid-1860’s, Dom Pedro II’s two surviving daughters reached marriageable age. The crown needed to secure the imperial succession and suitable consorts were in great demand for the Brazilian princesses. Not wanting to pass up this opportunity to ally his family to yet another great dynasty, King Leopold I of Belgium played an important role in securing that two of his nephews would find future, careers and happiness in Brazil. The two young princes were also grandsons of King Louis-Philippe of France and his wife Marie-Amelie of Bourbon-Sicilies, an aunt of Dom Pedro’s wife. Thus it was with great trepidation that Duke Louis-Augustus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Prince Gaston of Bourbon-Orleans arrive at the end of 1864 in Rio de Janeiro. The royal matchmakers had chosen Louis-Augustus as the future husband of the Imperial Princess Isabel, while Gaston would marry Princess Leopoldina. In the end no amount of intervention from the parents made the two sisters change their mind, Isabel fell in love with Gaston, while Leopoldina happily chose Louis-Augustus. Dom Pedro himself was rather satisfied knowing that his two daughters would marry for love and not for reasons of state, which had been the case between him and his wife.

The two marriages turned out successfully, for both Isabel and Leopoldina were very happy with their respective consorts. Within a year of their wedding Leopoldina and Louis-Augustus became the parents of a healthy boy. And even though Leopoldina of Brazil died unexpectedly in 1871 at the age of twenty-four years, she and her husband had four little sons by then. Louis-Augustus was devastated by the loss of his wife, as were her grief-stricken parents, and the widower never again married. Louis-Augustus eventually settled in Brazil with his dynastic children. When the Brazilian throne was overthrown, Louis-Augustus and his sons returned to Europe, settling in Austria where their family had large properties from their Kohary inheritance.

Imperial Princess Isabel and Prince Gaston of Bourbon-Orleans remained childless for the first decade of their marriage. Their first child, Luiza Victoria was born in 1874. A very weak baby, the little princess only survived birth by a few hours. In October of 1875 Isabel gave birth to a healthy boy who was baptized with the name of Pedro de Alcantara. It was this little prince who guaranteed the direct line of succession for yet another generation, for if his parents had remained childless the crown would have passed to the descendants of Leopoldina. Nevertheless, the imperial nursery rapidly filled with the arrival of two more healthy sons, Luis born in 1878, and Antoine born in 1881. The birth of seven grandsons provided Pedro II with a large degree of satisfaction, while it also served to smooth his unhappiness at being unable to father a son.

The placid existence of the Brazilian imperial family came to an end in the late 1880’s. Although initially a conservative ruler, Pedro II eventually recognized the inherent unfairness of the slavery system affecting so many millions of his subjects. As mentioned before, Pedro gradually passed laws that liberated his subjects. By the late 1880’s it was just a matter of time before the emperor abolished slavery in Brazil altogether. Unfortunately for the Crown, Brazilian landowners and the country’s military leadership were not keen on the liberalizing policies of Pedro II. The abolition of slavery subjected landowners to higher capital investment in manpower, and since these conservative groups were the mainstay of the military, the armed forces were predisposed to side with the land owning classes. Dom Pedro was travelling in Europe when Princess Isabel, acting as regent in her father’s stead, passed a law abolishing slavery in Brazil on May 13, 1888. This law, commonly known as the Golden Law, not only brought international praise to the Brazilian imperial family, but also condemned the Crown. The landowners quickly organized and built opposition to the monarchy. Revolts broke out in different regions of the country. In many instances these revolts were helped by Brazil’s republican neighbours, countries that had always resisted  having an emperor in Latin America.

Princess Imperial Isabel’s decree eventually led to the proclamation of the Brazilian republic on  November (15) 16, 1889, the Coup actually happen in the 15 to overthrow the Government and not the Emperor, however by a junior military figure lying to Marshall Deodoro da Fonseca that his an old foe of his (who apparent had stolen Deodoro’s old girl-friend) was about to be appointed Prime Minister, it was decided to depose the Emperor. Pedro II and his family were unceremoniously  exiled to Europe. The Brazilian exiles first settled in Portugal, where Dom Pedro’s nephew King Carlos I reigned. It was not long after the their arrival in Portugal, that Pedro II and his family suffered the loss of Empress Dona Theresa. The Empress was devastated by their exile from the land where she had settled almost  half a century before. She died unexpectedly, some have argued that she died of grief, on December 28, 1889. Dom Pedro II followed his wife two years later, when he died living  Paris on December 5, 1891.

While Princess Leopoldina’s children settled in Austria, Princess Imperial Isabel and Prince Gaston established themselves in France. Gaston, a grandson of King Louis-Philippe, had properties in France. The Chateau d’Eu, located in Normandy, became their primary residence.

The couple also possessed properties in Paris, where they became leading members of among royalist groups. Upon Dom Pedro II’s death, Isabel became titular Empress of Brazil and her eldest son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara received the title of Prince Imperial of Brazil. In 1908, two weeks prior to his wedding, Dom Pedro renounced his rights to the Brazilian crown, as well as those of any future descendants. This he did in order to marry Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz, a Czech aristocrat. The Imperial Brazilian succession was passed then to Isabel and  Gaston’s second son, Prince Dom Luis, who in 1908 married his cousin princess Maria-Pia of Bourbon-Sicilies.

Dom Pedro de Alcantara and his wife were the parents of five children. Isabelle, their eldest child, married her cousin Prince Henri of Bourbon-Orleans, Count of Paris, and present Head of the House of Bourbon-Orleans. The other children are: Dom Pedro Gastão, married to Princess Maria-Esperanza of Bourbon-Orleans, an aunt of King Juan Carlos I of Spain; Donna Francisca, who married her cousin Dom Duarte of Bragança, Duke of Bragança; Dom Joao, a businessman in Brazil; and Dona Teresa who married a Portuguese commoner.

Prince Imperial Dom Luis of Brazil and his wife were the parents of three children: Dom Pedro-Henrique, who married Princess Maria of Bavaria; Dom Luis who died unmarried; and Donna Pia-Marie, who married Count René de Nicolaÿ. Prince Imperial Dom Luis died in Cannes, on March 26, 1920. His younger brother, Prince Dom Antoine, an officer in the Austrian Imperial Army, had died at the end of the Great War in November of 1918. Prince Dom Antoine died unmarried.

The deaths of her two youngest sons saddened the last years of Princess Isabel and Prince Gaston.

Isabel died in 1921 never having seen Brazil since her family were exiled three decades earlier.

Prince Gaston of Bourbon-Orleans survived his wife by less than a year. He died on board a ship destined to Brazil in 1922. By then, the Brazilian government had abrogated to banishment of the Imperial Family, and Gaston, accompanied by his only surviving son and his family, decided to return to the land of his wife. Already in frail health, for by then Gaston was in his eightieth year, he did not survive the journey.

The abrogation of the law of exile not only allowed the Orleans-Braganças to return to Brazil, but it also restored ownership of many of their properties. Since then, many of the descendants of Isabel and Gaston have settled in Brazil. They continue to hold leading positions among the country’s ruling elite, as well as deriving great respect from many of their former subjects.

In fact, a few years ago Brazil held a referendum to select the country’s form of government. The restoration of the imperial crown was one of the choices offered to the Brazilian people. Many of the Orleans-Bragança actively campaigned in favour of the monarchy, which in the end received almost 20% of the popular vote. After one century of republicanism, this result was nothing short of impressive for the heirs of Dom Pedro I.

Today, the Brazilian Imperial Family remains divided in two opposing branches. On the one side are the descendants of Dom Pedro de Alcantara, particularly Dom Pedro Gastão, who refuse to recognize their ancestor’s renunciation of his rights in 1908. On the other side are the grandchildren of Prince Imperial Dom Luis, most o whom have retained and preserved  their dynastic rights.

Experts in succession of issues have argued that the document signed by Dom Pedro de Alcantara in 1908 was irrevocable. Even Princess Isabel, before her death, refused to allow the revocation of her son’s renunciation. Thus, it accepted that the descendants of Dom Luis have a solid dynastic hold on their Brazilian inheritance.