He would be the great-grandson of Princess Isabel and Count D’Eu – great-great-grandson of d. Pedro II, the last emperor to rule Brazil. His name is Dom Luiz de Orleans e Bragança and he currently lives in São Paulo (SP). If the Republic had not been proclaimed, Isabel, the daughter of Pedro II, would have succeeded him, being our first empress. She had two brothers, but they died as babies and she was the older of the two women. Isabel’s direct heir would be her eldest son, Dom Pedro de Alcântara (1875-1940). He fell in love with Countess Maria Elizabeth Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz of Bohemia (in the Czech Republic) – a noblewoman who, despite being a countess, was not heiress to any kingdom in Europe. Therefore, Princess Isabel was against the marriage.
If he wanted to keep her, Pedro de Alcântara would have to renounce his rights to the throne. With no hope of seeing the monarchy restored, Pedro de Alcântara preferred to marry for love, in Versailles, France, in 1908. The resignation passed the inheritance rights of the dynasty to Princess Isabel’s second son, Dom Luiz. But he would never assume the throne, as he died a year and eight months before his mother.
When Isabel died, in 1921, Prince Dom Pedro Henrique became the head of the Brazilian Imperial House, aged 12. He went from there for the better in 1981. From then on, Dom Luiz de Orleans e Bragança won the “right” to the throne, in an eventual (and unlikely) monarchical restoration.
THE BRAZILIAN ROYAL FAMILY
There are at least eight people in the line of succession to the throne (if it comes back)
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
D. PEDRO II (1825-1891)
The last man to govern the Empire of Brazil stayed in power for a long 49 years, from 1840 to 1889. He ended up deposed with the Proclamation of the Republic, in 1889, and went into exile in France, dying in Paris in December 1891
PRINCESS ISABEL (1846-1921)
She would have been our first empress, had the monarchy not been overthrown in 1889. Even without a crown, she had already secured her name in history by signing the abolition of slavery in 1888, freeing around 700,000 slaves.
D. LUIZ DE ORLEANS AND BRAGANÇA (1878-1920)
He was a gentleman, went to the First War and married Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Sicilies. But he died young, at the age of 42, and never enjoyed the right to the Brazilian Empire for one day.
D. PEDRO HENRIQUE (1909-1981)
eldest son of d. Luiz, Pedro Henrique would have been Pedro III for a long 60 years, from 1921 to 1981. He married Maria Elizabeth, Princess of Bavaria, in 1937, and had 12 children with her
– (Alexandre Camanho/)
1st in line of succession D. LUIS OF ORLEANS AND BRAGANÇA (1938-)
Current head of the Imperial House of Brazil, d. Luiz was born in the city of Mandelieu, France, on June 6, 1938. He only got to know Brazil when he came here at the end of the Second World War. He later returned to Europe to study chemistry at the University of Munich. Since 1967, he has lived in São Paulo. The rest of the people in the line of succession are his brothers, sisters and nephews:
2nd in line of succession D. Bertrand of Orleans and Bragança (1941 – )
3rd in line of succession D. Antônio João de Orleans e Bragança (1950 – )
4th in line of succession D. Rafael Antônio Maria of Orleans and Bragança (1986 – )
5th in line of succession D. Maria Gabriela Fernanda of Orleans and Bragança (1989 – )
6th in line of succession D. Isabel Maria of Orléans and Bragança (1944 – )
7th in line of succession Eleonora Maria Josefa of Orleans and Bragança (1953 – )
– (Alexandre Camanho/)