 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Afonso, Duke of Porto" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Infante Afonso | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of Porto Prince Royal of Portugal | |||||
.png) | |||||
| Viceroy of the Portuguese State of India | |||||
| Tenure | 1896 | ||||
| Predecessor | Rafael Jácome de Andrade | ||||
| Successor | João António das Neves Ferreira | ||||
| Born | (1865-07-31)31 July 1865 Ajuda Royal Palace,Lisbon,Portugal | ||||
| Died | 21 February 1920(1920-02-21) (aged 54) Naples,Italy | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | |||||
| |||||
| House | Braganza[2] | ||||
| Father | Luis I of Portugal | ||||
| Mother | Maria Pia of Savoy | ||||
InfanteAfonso of Portugal, Duke of Porto (Portuguese pronunciation:[ɐˈfõsu]; 31 July 1865 inPalace of Ajuda, Lisbon – 21 February 1920 inNaples, Italy) was aPortugueseInfante of theHouse of Braganza,[2] the son ofKingLuis I ofPortugal andMaria Pia of Savoy. From 1908 to the abolition of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, he was thePrince Royal of Portugal as heir presumptive to his nephew, KingManuel II.
Dom Afonso had a military career. In fact, he was a general of some considerable competence in the Portuguese Army, where, previously, he had been the inspector-general of artillery. His exemplary military background allowed him to be chosen to command military forces atGoa, at the end of the nineteenth century, when he was, concurrently, Viceroy of India. His performance in India motivated his nomination to beConstable of Portugal. In the early months of 1890, his engagement toArchduchess Marie Valerie of Austria was publicised, but later she refused to marry him, under the influence of her aunt by marriage,Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, of the Miguelist branch of the Braganza Dynasty.
When threats on the life of his brother, Carlos, became known to him, he adopted the habit of arming himself with a revolver, night and day, making himself ready to defend his family whenever it might be necessary. He urged his nephew, the Prince Royal,Luís Filipe, to carry a weapon as well.
Dom Afonso was alady's man, known for his kindness, simplicity, andbon-vivant lifestyle. For instance, he liked to act as a fireman with the Ajuda Fire Corps near thePalace of Ajuda, which he patronized as honorary commander-in-chief. He lived at the Palace of Ajuda with thequeen mother,Maria Pia of Savoy, after King Luis's death (his brotherKing Carlos and, later, his nephewKing Manuel, both lived at thePalace of Necessidades during their reigns).
Dom Afonso was also a lover of automobile races, and he was responsible for the first motor races in Portugal, where he was one of the first drivers. After the proclamation of thePortuguese First Republic in 1910, Afonso went into exile abroad, first atGibraltar with his nephew, the deposed king,Manuel II, and afterwards to Italy with his mother, Queen Maria Pia. He lived with her atTurin, and, after her death, he moved to Rome, and, finally, toNaples.
Suffering, like his mother, the dowager QueenMaria Pia of Savoy, from debilitating mental and emotional health after theRegicide of 1908, Afonso de Bragança married civilly[citation needed] in Rome on 26 September 1917,[citation needed] a twice-divorced and once-widowed, American heiressNevada Stoody Hayes. This was a politically significant event, at least to those Portuguese royalists who clung to the hope of a restoration of theHouse of Braganza: as significant funding for any power grab was urgently needed.
As of 1917, the Portuguesepretender, Manuel II, was living in England with his wife of four years, PrincessAugusta Victoria of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, but they had no children. The royalists were apprehensive about the prospects for a legitimate Braganza heir, and their anxiety redoubled at the news of Afonso's marriage to a commoner, especially one of such a dubious reputation.
In Portugal, amorganatic marriage for aninfant andinfanta was not forbidden, and only the heir of the Portuguese crown, inducted as such, could need the royal consent. So, any legitimate child of Afonso and Nevada could become the lawful heir to the Portuguese throne. Nearly as disturbing was the prospect that both Manuel and Afonso would fail to produce an heir, the claimant to the throne of Portugal could be a descendant ofMiguel I, the absolutist king who, in 1834, lost the PortugueseWar of the Two Brothers and be barred from the line of succession.
.jpg)
Dom Afonso was the fourth husband of Nevada Stoody Hayes. The latter being a commoner and a divorcee, they were unable to marry religiously in Italy, where the validity of their previous civil marriage in September in Rome, yet registered, has been publicly recused by KingVictor Emmanuel III,[citation needed] and in front of some resistance of PopeBenedict XV.[citation needed]
She convinced Afonso to marry her once again in a civil ceremony, performed by a consular officer of thePortuguese Republic: They were thus married for a second time by Dr. Félix de Carvalho, Consul of the Portuguese Legation in Madrid, on 23 November 1917, at theHotel Ritz Madrid,[3] in the presence of Dr. A. Ferreira d'Almeida Carvalho, first secretary, Dr. Vasco Francisco Caetano de Quevedo Pessanha, second secretary, Major Carlos Maria Pereira dos Santos, military attaché, Francisco Mantero y Velarde, Spanish subject and "capitalist", and Humberto L. Lallement, Portuguese citizen and merchant in Madrid.[3] The same day, a religious[citation needed] wedding ceremony was performed by a priest in a church of Madrid.[1]
Some believe that the Portuguese consul in Madrid was as cooperative as he was because the Republican government in power at Lisbon was delighted to see one of the last of the Braganzas do such an unpopular thing.[citation needed]
Dom Afonso had previously tried to get Manuel II's approval for his marriage, but received no response due to the influence of the rest of the royal family, vehemently opposed to it. After his marriage, he was rejected by his other Italian royal family relatives andhis reported allowance of $10,000 per year from KingVictor Emmanuel III was cut off. He then began to live in obscurity until his final days.[citation needed] He fell seriously ill and finally died alone,[citation needed] inNaples, on 21 February 1920. Only one Portuguese servant remained with him until the end.[citation needed]
Even though the marriage of anInfante who is specifically heir to the throne (although awaiting the birth of an heir from his wifeQueen Augusta Victoria, King Manuel II never officially inducted his uncle Dom Afonso asPrince Royal of Portugal, and with the title ofPrince of Beira) would not comply with the specific conditions –i.e. contracted without royal consent, or with royal ban –, and exclude the surviving spouse from inheriting any of the titles or privileges that are the prerogatives of a member of the Portuguese royal family, this do not exclude the widow from inheriting property. In his will, Dom Afonso left his entire estate to his surviving wife[4] Princess Nevada [also calledMaria das Neves] of Braganza, Duchess of Porto, akaDona Nevada de Bragança.
After the death of Manuel II, in July 1932, Dom Afonso's widow demanded that the Portuguese government recognize her rights to a substantial part of theHouse of Braganza's patrimony. Her husband had named her his sole legal heir in his last will. As the marriage, and the will, was legally disputed in Lisbon, Nevada was briefly arrested shortly after she arrived at Lisbon to claim her inheritance. Eventually, however, she proved a substantial portion of her claim, and she was officially granted the right to remove many objects of art and expensive goods from the Portuguese royal palaces.
The Duchess of Porto traveled from Naples to Portugal with the mortal remains of her late husband, and she arranged for its installation in theBraganza pantheon, located in theMonastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.
.png)
He received the following awards:[5][6]
... eventually married a rich American widow, Nevada Stoody Hayes Chapman, twenty years younger than he was; she was his sole benefactor when he died, in Naples, in 1920.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)Afonso, Duke of Porto Cadet branch of theHouse of Aviz andHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Born: 31 July 1865 Died: 21 February 1920 | ||
| Portuguese royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Prince Royal of Portugal 1908–1910 | Title abolished |
| Vacant Title last held by King Luís I | Duke of Porto 1889–1920 | Vacant Title next held by Infante Dom Dinis |
| 1st generation |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd generation | ||
| 3rd generation |
| |
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza was not a recognized house in the formerKingdom of Portugal and monarchs following Maria II and Ferdinand II officially continued to be members of theHouse of Braganza | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
