View source for Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará

{{Infobox royalty
| name            = Prince Pedro de Alcântara
| title           = [[Prince of Grão-Pará]]
| image           = Pedro_de_Alcântara_portrait_–_edited.jpg
| spouse          = {{marriage|[[Countess Elisabeth Dobrženský von Dobrženitz]]|1908}}
| issue           = [[Princess Isabelle, Countess of Paris]]<br>[[Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza|Prince Pedro Gastão]]<br>[[Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza|Princess Maria Francisca, Duchess of Braganza]]<br>[[Prince João Maria of Orléans-Braganza|Prince João Maria]]<br>Princess Teresa
| full name       = Pedro de Alcântara Luiz Filipe Maria Gastão Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orleans e Bragança
| house           = [[House of Orléans-Braganza#Petrópolis line|Orléans-Braganza]]
| father          = [[Prince Gaston, Count of Eu]]
| mother          = [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]]
| birth_date      = 15 October 1875
| birth_place     = [[Petrópolis]], [[Empire of Brazil]]
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|1940|01|29|1875|10|15|df=y}}
| death_place     = Petrópolis, Brazil
| burial_place    = [[Cathedral of Petrópolis|Cathedral of São Pedro de Alcântara]], Petrópolis
| signature    = Prince Pedro de Alcântara de Orléans e Bragança signature 1928.jpg
}}
''[[Dom (title)|Dom]]'' '''Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza, Prince of Grão Pará''' (15 October 1875 &ndash; 29 January 1940) was the first-born son of ''[[Dom (title)|Dona]]'' [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]] and [[Gaston, Count of Eu|Prince Gaston of Orléans, Count of Eu]], and as such, was born second-in-line to the imperial throne of Brazil, during the reign of his grandfather, [[Pedro II of Brazil|Emperor ''Dom'' Pedro II]], until the [[abolished monarchy|empire's abolition]]. He went into [[exile]] in Europe with his mother when his grandfather was deposed in 1889, and grew up largely in France, at a family apartment in [[Boulogne-sur-Seine]], and at his father's castle, the [[Château d'Eu]] in [[Normandy]].<ref>{{cite book |author= Montjouvent, Philippe de|title= Le comte de Paris et sa Descendance|year= 1998|publisher= Éditions du Chaney|location= Charenton|language= fr|isbn= 2-913211-00-3|page= 50}}</ref>
==Early life==
[[File:Gaston d’Orléans, comte d’Eu01.jpg|thumb|right|Painting of the Prince of Grão-Pará with his parents, 1877]]
[[File:D. Pedro - Príncipe Grão Pará.jpg|thumb|upright|The Prince of Grão-Pará in Austro-Hungarian [[uhlan]] officer uniform]]
Pedro was born on 15 October 1875 in the [[Imperial Museum of Brazil|Imperial Palace of Petrópolis]]. He was the first son of [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]] and her husband [[Prince Gaston, Count of Eu]]. As first son of the heiress-presumptive, he was [[Prince of Grão-Pará]] and second in line to the Brazilian throne.{{cn|date=June 2020}}
Pedro was educated by preceptors, headed by the Baron of Ramiz, and lived in the Isabel Palace, in Rio de Janeiro with his younger brothers until The [[Proclamation of the Republic (Brazil)|proclamation of the republic]], on 15 November 1889, when he was fourteen years old.<ref  name="Villon"/> One of his most poignant gestures on the occasion of the departure of the [[Brazilian imperial family]] to exile was when he suggested to his grandfather Emperor [[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]] "the idea of letting go a white dove on the high seas, which would take the last missive of the Brazilian imperial family." The family signed a message and then attached it to a dove, which was released at the highest point of [[Fernando de Noronha]]. However, the dove ended up falling to the sea without fulfilling its purpose.<ref>''The last goodbye of the Imperial Family: The Prince of Grão-Pará try to send a dove carrying a message "miss of Brazil" to the mainland but the bird fell in the sea, for his wings were cut off, and drowned'' DEL PRIORE, Mary: O Príncipe Maldito, 2007. p.206</ref>
===Exile===
[[File:Antônio, Luís and Pedro.jpg|thumb|Prince Pedro (right) riding a triple [[tandem bicycle]] with his brothers (from left) [[Prince Antônio Gastão of Orléans-Braganza|Prince Antônio]] and [[Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza (1878–1920)|Prince Luís]], 1891]]
[[File:Princesa Isabel com a Família (cropped).jpg|thumb|Prince Pedro (standing, right) with his parents, wife and other members of the imperial family in exile in France, 1905]]
During the exile in 1890, Pedro moved along with their parents to the outskirts of [[Versailles]].{{sfn|Barman|2002|pp=210–212}} He reached the age of majority in 1893, and without desire to assume the monarchist cause,{{sfn|Barman|2002|p=218}} he left for [[Vienna]], capital of the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], to study in the military school at [[Wiener Neustadt]].{{sfn|Barman|2002|p=220}} According to his own mother it was "clear that he must do something and a military career seems to us the only one he should follow".{{sfn|Barman|2002|p=220}} His younger brothers Luís and Antônio followed him at the same military school. Pedro was formed as [[Lieutenant]] of the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] at the 4th Regiment of Uhlans and was later Captain on the reserve.{{cn|date=June 2020}}
In 1900 Pedro met [[Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]] (at this time a baroness), a noblewoman of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, daughter of Johann-Wenzel, Count Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz (at this time a baron), who came from a former noble family of [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]],<ref name="count">Johann-Wenzel Count Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz ''Johann-Wenzel was head of the house of barons of Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz since 4 November 1877; was elevated to the title of count on 21 February 1906.''Cf.: MONJOUVENT, Philippe de: Le Comte de Paris, Duc de France et ses ancêtres. Charenton: Éditions du Chaney,2000.p.22</ref> and Countess Elisabeth Kottulinsky, Baroness von Kottulin und Krzischkowitz.<ref>''Elisabeth, previous baroness, was elevated to the title of countess along with her husband'' MONJOUVENT, Philippe de: Le Comte de Paris, Duc de France et ses ancêtres. Charenton: Éditions du Chaney,2000.p.22</ref> Baron Johann-Wenzel Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz was elevated to the nobility title of [[count]] on 21 February 1906, by [[Franz Joseph I of Austria]], at the request of Princess Isabel, until then his ancestors had been barons.<ref name="count"/> After eight years of courtship and engagement, they married in Versailles, France, on 14 November 1908. The couple had five children.
==Restoration attempts==
With the deposition of Pedro II of Brazil and the departure of the [[Brazilian Imperial Family|imperial family]] to the exile, rumors and even initiatives for the restoration appeared, occasionally. In 1893, the republic staggered with the [[Revolta da Armada|second revolt of the navy]] and the [[Federalist Riograndense Revolution|federalist revolution]] in the south of the country. The leader of this last movement, [[Gaspar da Silveira Martins]], avowedly monarchist, was engaged in conspiracies to restore the [[parliamentary monarchy]] in Brazil. He had already insisted in vain that Pedro II should return to the country, after [[Deodoro da Fonseca|Marshal Deodoro]] had closed the [[National Congress of Brazil|National Congress]]. With the advance of the revolution, he proposed to [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil|Princess Isabel]] to allow the soldiers linked to the Army Revolt to take their eldest son, Pedro, Prince of Grão-Pará, to be acclaimed ''Dom Pedro III''. He heard from the princess that "first of all she was a Catholic, and as such she could not leave the Brazilians with the education of her son, whose soul he had to save".<ref>CARVALHO, José Murilo de. D. Pedro II. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007. Pg. 236</ref> Outraged, Silveira Martins replied: "So, madam, his fate is the convent."
The [[House of Orléans-Braganza]] did not prepare itself to the risks of a bloody adventure in the south of Brazil. If, on the one hand, the Prince Imperial had given a revolution that had men and arms a soul, on the other hand, he spared himself the sad end of [[Custódio José de Melo]], [[Gumercindo Saraiva]], and so many others who measured forces against the republic.
==Renunciation==
In 1908 ''Dom'' Pedro wanted to marry [[Countess Elisabeth Dobržensky de Dobrženicz]]<ref  name="Villon">{{cite journal | last =Villon | first =Victor | title = Elisabeth Dobrzensky "Empress of Brazil" | journal =[[Royalty Digest|Royalty Digest Quarterly]]| url =http://pt.scribd.com/doc/231754509/Elisabeth-Dobrzensky-Von-Dobrzenicz-Empress-of-Brazil-PDF-2}}</ref> (1875–1951) who, although a [[nobility|noblewoman]] of the [[Kingdom of Bohemia]], did not belong to a royal or reigning [[dynasty]]. Although the [[Brazilian Constitution of 1824|constitution]] of the Brazilian Empire did not require a dynast to marry equally,<ref name=sainty>{{cite web | last =Sainty | first =Guy Stair | author-link =Guy Stair Sainty | title =House of Bourbon: Branch of Orléans-Braganza | publisher =Chivalric Orders | url =http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/bourbon/brazil/orl-brag.htm | access-date =2009-01-07 | url-status =dead | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20081025083025/http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/bourbon/brazil/orl-brag.htm | archive-date =2008-10-25 }}</ref> his mother ruled that the marriage would not be valid dynastically for the Brazilian succession,<ref name=sainty/> and as a result he renounced his rights to the throne of [[Brazil]] on 30 October 1908.<ref>BARMAN, Roderick J., Princesa Isabel do Brasil: gênero e poder no século XIX, UNESP, 2005</ref><ref>VIANNA, Hélio. Vultos do Império. São Paulo: Companhia Editoria Nacional, 1968, p.224</ref><ref>FREYRE, Gilberto. Ordem e Progresso. Rio de Janeiro: José Olympio, 1959, p.517 and 591</ref><ref>LYRA, Heitor. História de Dom Pedro II - 1825-1891. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 1940, vol.III, p.300</ref><ref>Enciclopaedia Barsa, vol. IV, article "Braganza", p.210, 1992</ref><ref>JANOTTI, Maria de Lourdes. Os Subversivos da República. São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1986, p.255-7</ref><ref>MALATIAN, Teresa Maria. A Ação Imperial Patrianovista Brasileira. São Paulo, 1978, p.153-9</ref> To solemnize this, ''Dom'' Pedro, aged thirty-three, signed the document translated here:
{{cquote|I Prince ''Pedro de Alcântara Luiz Filipe Maria Gastão Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga of Orléans and Braganza'', having maturely reflected, have resolved to renounce the right that, by the Constitution of the Empire of Brazil, promulgated on 25 March 1824, accords to me the Crown of that nation. I declare, therefore, that by my free and spontaneous will I hereby renounce, in my own name, as well as for any and all of my descendants, to all and any rights that the aforesaid Constitution confers upon us to the Brazilian Crown and Throne, which shall pass to the lines which follow mine, conforming to the order of succession as established by article 117. Before God I promise, for myself and my descendants, to hold to the present declaration.
''Cannes  30 October 1908 signed: Pedro de Alcântara of Orléans-Braganza''<ref>{{cite book |author= Montjouvent, Philippe de|title= Le comte de Paris et sa Descendance|year= 1998|publisher= Éditions du Chaney|location= Charenton|language= fr|isbn= 2-913211-00-3|page= 97}}</ref>}}
This renunciation was followed by a letter from Isabel to [[monarchism|royalists]] in Brazil:
{{cquote|
''9 November 1908, [Castle of] Eu''
Most Excellent Gentlemen Members of the Monarchist Directory,
With all my heart I thank you for the congratulations upon the marriages of my dear children Pedro and Luiz. Luis's took place in Cannes on the 4th with the brilliance that is desired for so solemn an act in the life of my successor to the Throne of Brazil. I was very pleased. Pedro's shall take place next on the 14th. Before the marriage of Luis he signed his resignation to the crown of Brazil, and here I send it to you, while keeping  here an identical copy. I believe that this news must be published as soon as possible (you gentlemen shall do it in the way that you judge to be most satisfactory) in order to prevent the formation of parties that would be a great evil for our country. Pedro will continue to love his homeland, and will give all possible support to his brother. Thank God they are very united. Luis will engage actively in everything with respect to the monarchy and any good for our land. However, without giving up my rights I want that he be up to date on everything so that he may prepare himself for the position which with all my heart I desire that one day he will hold. You may write to him as many times as you may want to so that he shall be informed of everything. My strength is not the same as it once was, but my heart is still the same to love my homeland and all those who are so dedicated to us. I give you all my friendship and confidence,
''a) Isabel, comtesse d'Eu''}}
Nonetheless, a few years before his death Prince Pedro de Alcântara told a Brazilian newspaper:
:"My resignation was not valid for many reasons: besides, it was not a hereditary resignation."<ref  name="Bodstein">{{cite journal | last =Bodstein | first =Astrid | title =The Imperial Family of Brazil | journal =[[Royalty Digest|Royalty Digest Quarterly]] | issue =3 | year =2006 | url =http://www.brasilimperial.org.br/atualidades.htm | access-date =2007-12-28 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071016155352/http://brasilimperial.org.br/atualidades.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-10-16}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=November 2008}}
But years later he had rectified his position:
It is there that I intend to recover the rights of eventual succession to the throne of Brazil, with prejudice to d. Pedro Henrique, my nephew, denying my resignation in 1908. My resignation in 1908 is valid, although many monarchists ... understood that, politically and by the Brazilian laws in force in 1889, it must be ratified by the should the monarchy be restored. In fact, in my family there will never be dissensions or disputes over imperial power.
==Death of the Princess Imperial==
After the death of the Princess Imperial in 1921, the deceased ''Dom'' Luiz's son, [[Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza]], assumed the position of [[pretender|claimant]] to the Brazilian throne and was recognized as such by many of Europe's dynasties.<ref name="Bodstein"/> After ''Dom'' Pedro de Alcântara's death in 1940 his eldest son, [[Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza]], asserted a counter-claim as the proper successor (garnering the support of his brothers-in-law, the [[pretender]]s to the thrones of [[Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)|Orléanist France]] and [[Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza|Miguelist Portugal]]), and some Brazilian legal scholars subsequently argued that his father's renunciation would, indeed, have been constitutionally invalid under the monarchy.<ref name="Bodstein"/> Although Pedro de Alcântara's daughter, [[Isabelle, Countess of Paris|Princess Isabel]], is said to have referred to ''Dom'' Pedro Gastão as "My brother, the Brazilian Emperor",<ref name = Bodstein/> she acknowledged in her memoirs that their father nonetheless regarded his renunciation as binding, and treated it as effective.<ref>''Tout m'est bonheur'', ''tome'' 1 (Paris: R. Laffont, 1978), page 445 (French)</ref>
==Return to Brazil==
[[File:Obituario D.Pedro de Orleans e Braganca (Jornal do Brasil - 30.1.1940).png|thumb|150px|right|Dom Pedro's obituary, published on the ''[[Jornal do Brasil]]'' on 30 January 1940]]
Dom Pedro, after the decree exiling the imperial family was rescinded, came to [[Brazil]] to make hunting excursions in the Brazilian backlands. Accompanied by his secretary, he made between 1926 and 1927 one of the best-known trips of the time: the "auto-raid" from [[Bolivia]] to [[Rio de Janeiro]], traveling four thousand kilometers by car on practically impassable roads. From this expedition there are reports published by Mario Baldi in Brazilian and European illustrated newspapers and magazines. Many photographs were made at the time; The images are part of the collection Mario Baldi, the secretary of culture of [[Teresópolis]], city where the Austrian lived. Another expedition was made by the prince and his secretary, this time with the children of D. Pedro, in 1936.
On this occasion the expeditionaries visited indigenous villages of the Brazilian backwoods. The magazine ''A Noite Illustrada'' published several reports and photographs of Mario Baldi, who did the documentation of the adventure again. D. Pedro de Alcântara returned to Brazil in the decade of 1930, establishing itself in the [[Palácio do Grão-Pará|Grão-Pará Palace]], in [[Petrópolis]]. He became an obligatory figure in local celebrations and achievements, being greatly admired by the warm and friendly manner in which he always addressed his compatriots. In that same city the prince died, at 64 years of age, the victim of a respiratory illness, and was buried in the local cemetery with honors of [[head of state]]. In 1990, his remains were transferred along with his wife to the Imperial Mausoleum in the [[Cathedral of Petrópolis|Cathedral of St. Peter of Alcantara]] in Petropolis, where they lie next to the tombs of their parents and grandparents in a simple vault.
==Honors==
Prince Pedro de Alcântara was a recipient of the following Brazilian [[dynastic order]]s:<ref name=":0">Smith de Vasconcelos, Rodolfo. Archivo Nobiliarchico Brasileiro. Lausanne: La Concorde, 1918, p.20</ref>
*[[File:Imperial Order of Pedro I.gif|60x60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of Pedro I]]
*[[File:436px ribbon bar of the Order of the Rose (Brazil).svg|60x60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Rose]]
*[[File:BRA - Order of the Southern Cross - Grand Cross BAR.svg|60x60px]] Grand Cross of the [[Order of the Southern Cross]]
He was a recipient of the following foreign honors:<ref name=":0" />
*[[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|60x60px]] Grand Cordon of the [[Order of the Rising Sun]] ([[Empire of Japan|Japan]])
==Issue==
Pedro and Elisabeth married on 14 November 1908 in [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]], [[France]], and had 5 children :
* [[Princess Isabelle of Orléans-Braganza]] (1911–2003) married [[Henri, Count of Paris (1908–1999)|Henri, Count of Paris]] – they are the grandparents of [[Prince Jean, Duke of Vendôme]] (born 1965), the current [[Orleanism|Orleanist]] pretender to the throne of France.
* [[Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza]] (1913–2007) married Princess Maria de la Esperanza of Bourbon-Two Sicilies – they are the parents of Princess Maria da Gloria, Duchess of Segorbe, the last Crown Princess of Yugoslavia.
* [[Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza, Duchess of Braganza|Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza]] (1914–1968) married [[Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza]] – they are the parents of [[Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza]], the current pretender to the throne of Portugal.
* [[Prince João Maria of Orléans-Braganza]] (1916–2005) married Fatima Sherifa [[Ismail Chirine|Chirine]] (1923–1990), widow of Prince Hassan [[Muhammad Ali dynasty|Toussoun]] of Egypt.
* Princess Teresa of Orléans-Braganza (1919–2011) married Ernesto António Maria Martorell y Calderó (1921–1985).
After his death his son [[Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza|Prince Pedro Gastão]] assumed the headship of the Petrópolis branch of the [[Imperial House of Brazil]].
==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará'''
|2= 2. [[Prince Gaston, Count of Eu]]
|3= 3. [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil]]
|4= 4. [[Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours]]
|5= 5. [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]]
|6= 6. [[Pedro II of Brazil]]
|7= 7. [[Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies|Princess Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies]]
|8= 8. [[Louis Philippe I|Louis Philippe I of France]]
|9= 9. [[Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily|Princess Maria Amalia Naples and Sicily]]
|10= 10. [[Ferdinand, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry]]
|11= 11. [[Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya]]
|12= 12. [[Pedro I of Brazil|Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal]]
|13= 13. [[Maria Leopoldina of Austria|Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria]]
|14= 14. [[Francis I of the Two Sicilies]]
|15= 15. [[Maria Isabella of Spain|Infanta Maria Isabella of Spain]]
}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Sources==
*[http://pt.scribd.com/doc/231754509/Elisabeth-Dobrzensky-Von-Dobrzenicz-Empress-of-Brazil-PDF-2 Article about Elisabeth Dobrzensky published in Royal Digest]
{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Orléans-Braganza]]|15 October|1875|29 January|1940|[[House of Orléans]]}}
{{s-roy|br}}
|-
{{S-vac|last=[[Maria II of Portugal|Princess Maria da Glória]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Prince of Grão-Pará]]|years=15 October 1875 – November 15, 1889}}
{{s-non|reason=Monarchy abolished}}
{{S-pre|}}
|-
{{s-non|reason=Republic declared}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Prince of Grão-Pará]]|years=November 15, 1889 – 5 December 1891}}
{{S-vac|next=[[Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza|Prince Pedro Henrique]]}}
|-
{{S-bef|before=[[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil|Princess Isabel]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Prince Imperial of Brazil]]|years=5 December 1891 – 9 November 1908}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Prince Luís of Orléans-Braganza (1878–1920)|Prince Luiz]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Brazilian imperial family}}
{{Princes of Orléans-Braganza}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedro De Alcantara Of Grao Para, Prince}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:House of Orléans-Braganza]]
[[Category:Princes of Grão-Pará]]
[[Category:People from Petrópolis]]
[[Category:Burials at the Imperial Mausoleum at the Cathedral of Petrópolis]]