Where and who is the Brazlian Royal family?

Question

Where and who is the Brazlian Royal family?

Answer 1

Brazil  started as an independent nation under its own monarch in 1822.

The first Brazilian Emperor, Dom Pedro I, led the movement against Portugal and declared independence, despite being a member of the Portuguese royal family. He ruled Brazil for only a few years before returning to Lisbon to be King of Portugal. His five-year-old son, Emperor Dom Pedro II, stayed in Brazil, was educated by a group of intellectuals far from his parents, and was crowned at only fourteen years old. Dom Pedro II ran the country for more than 50 years and became a legend. He is still revered to the dismay of republicans.

Dom Pedro II was a model of good governance. He was a sage, science enthusiastic and compassionate man. He was a militant of good causes, such as freedom of the press and abolition of slavery. His daughter, Princess Isabel, during one of her interim tenures as regent of the Empire signed the so-called Golden Law abolishing slavery. This law was one of the major reasons for the military coup against the monarchy that was initiated by rich landlords and the army. With the victory of the oligarchs one year later (in 1889), he was ousted and banned from the country along with his family. Living in exile until his death in 1891 Dom Pedro refused the pension offered by the republican government.

Today the Imperial Family of Brazil is known as Orléans-Bragança and descend of Crown Princess Isabel of Bragança and her French born husband, Prince Gaston of Bourbon-Orléans, and is split in two rival factions. The so-called "Petropolis"  branch of the Brazilian Imperial family, led by Dom Pedro Gastão de Orléans Bragança e Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz, Principe de Orléans e Bragança, which does not recognise the voluntary renunciation in 1908 of his father, Dom Pedro de Alcántara d'Orléans e Bragança, Principe de Grão Pará, due to his marriage with the Bohemian Countess Elizabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz. And the "Vassouras" branch, headed by Dom João de Orléans e Bragança. Both branches are called after their main residence in Brazil.

In a referendum in 1993, more than 6 million Brazilian citizens voted for a restoration of the Monarchy, after a century of republican rule.

Answer 2

The Royal House of Braganza is the name of a royal dynasty, which ruled Portugal from 1640 to 1910 and the Empire of Brazil from 1822 to 1889.

After the revolution of 1910, King Manuel II settled in England till his death in 1932. He was childless, and there were descendants of Miguel, the usurper of 1826, who claimed the throne. In 1920-22, the two branches of the House of Braganza negotiated a pact under which Manuel named as heir Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, grandson of Miguel. Duarte Nuno remained the Braganza pretender till his death in 1976. In 1942, he married a great-granddughter of Pedro II of Brazil, uniting the two lines of the House.

In 1950, Portugal repealed the law of exile against the Braganzas, and Duarte Nuno moved to the country in 1952. Then-dictator Salazar briefly considered restoring the monarchy, but did not.

Duarte Nuno was succeeded as pretender by his son, Duarte Pio (born 1945). Duarte Pio served in the Portuguese Army, and took the customary oath of allegiance to the Republic, but is still recognized as the pretender by most Portuguese monarchists. In 1995, he married Isabel de Herédia, a Portuguese businesswoman, in a ceremony attended by the President and Prime Minister. He has been active in support of the independence of East Timor from Indonesia.

Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Br...