The head of the Imperial House of Brazil, Prince Dom Luiz de Orleans e Bragança, died this Friday (15th) at the age of 84. With that, his brother, Prince Dom Bertrand of Orleans and Bragança, takes over as head of the Imperial House.
With Dom Bertrand taking over, the line of succession to the throne, had the country lived under a monarchy, includes five members of the Brazilian Imperial Family who are still alive.
No member of the Imperial House of Orleans and Bragança ever reigned over Brazil. The family is the result of the marriage between Princess Isabel, daughter of Dom Pedro II, and Prince Gastão de Orleans, Count d’Eu, a member of the French royal family.
As Pedro II was deposed after the Proclamation of the Republic on November 15, 1889, there was no opportunity for a member of the House to assume a reign.
President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) decreed one-day official mourning for the death of Luiz Gastão Maria José Pio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orleans e Bragança. He was the great-grandson of Princess Isabel and claimed the title of “gift” for being a descendant of the former Brazilian royal family.
Imperial Family
Dom Bertand
Dom Bertrand Maria José Pio Januário Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga of Orleans and Bragança Imperial Prince of Brazil, assumed the dynastic rights of his brother, Prince Dom Luiz of Orleans and Bragança, and became the Head of the Imperial House of Brazil from this Friday, with the death of Dom Luiz.
Born on February 2, 1941, in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, a resort in the south of France, he is the third of twelve children of Prince Dom Pedro Henrique of Orleans and Bragança. He had his birth registered at the Consulate General of Brazil in Paris.
With the end of the Second World War in Europe, in May 1945, the Brazilian Imperial Family returned to Brazil.
He studied at Colégio Coração Eucarístico and Santo Inácio, in Rio de Janeiro, and at Colégio Cristo Rei, in Jacarezinho. In 1964, he completed a bachelor’s degree in Law from the Faculty of Largo de São Francisco, University of São Paulo.
Don Antonio
Dom Antonio João Maria José Jorge Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga of Orleans and Bragança he is third in line in an alleged succession to the throne and Crown of Brazil, according to the Imperial Family website.
He is the brother of Dom Luiz and Dom Bertrand. He was born on June 24, 1950, in Rio de Janeiro, and is the seventh of Prince Dom Pedro’s twelve children.
He studied at Colégio Cristo Rei, in Jacarezinho, and Colégio de Vassouras (RJ). In 1976, he graduated in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of Barra do Piraí (currently Centro Universitário Geraldo Di Biase), in the south of Rio de Janeiro.
As an engineer, he worked at Construtora Adolpho Lindenberg and at NUCLEN, a mixed capital company formed by Nuclebrás and the German company KWU. He was part of the advisory board for the presidency of Varig Agropecuária SA and worked in the commercial area of different companies of the Belga-Mineiro Group. He is currently retired and lives in an apartment in the Botafogo neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.
Don Rafael
Bishop Rafael Antonio Maria José Francisco Miguel Gabriel Gonzaga of Orleans and Bragança is fourth in the line of succession.
Aged 36, Dom Rafael was born on April 24, 1986 and is the third of four children born to Prince Dom Antonio and Princess Christine de Ligne de Orleans and Bragança.
He graduated in Production Engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 2010. He is currently a partner in a consulting firm with offices in London and New York (United States).
Dona Maria Gabriela
Dona Maria Gabriela Josefa Fernanda Yolanda Micaela Rafaela Gonzaga de Orleans e Bragança is the youngest in the line of succession to the Imperial Family. She was born on June 8, 1989, in Rio de Janeiro, and is the youngest of Prince Dom Antonio’s four children.
In 2012, he graduated in Social Communication from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He currently lives in Brussels, Belgium, where he works in the advertising field.
Dona Eleonora
Dona Eleonora Maria Josefa Rosa Philippa Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga de Orleans e Bragança de Ligne was born on May 20, 1953, in Jacarezinho, Paraná, being the eighth of twelve children of Prince Dom Pedro Henrique of Orleans and Bragança and Princess Maria of Bavaria of Orleans and Bragança.
He studied at the Colégio das Irmãs da Imaculada Conceição, in Jacarezinho, and at the Colégio Sacré-Coeur de Marie, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1978, she completed the Licentiate in History at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
He worked at the Secretary of Agriculture of the State of Rio de Janeiro.
Prince Henri
Henri Antoine Gabriel Wauthier Marie Lamoral de Ligne is seventh in line to the Imperial Family Throne.
Born on March 1, 1989, in Brussels, Belgium, he is the second child of the Belgian nobleman Michel, 14th Prince of Ligne, and Princess de Ligne, Dona Eleonora de Orleans and Bragança.
He was registered at the Consulate General of Brazil in Brussels, having dual nationality, Brazilian and Belgian.
He graduated in Law in 2013 from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. In 2014, she completed her Masters in Corporate Law, also at Maastricht University.
Source: CNN Brasil
