Because the handsome Rafael de Orleans-Braganza, destined to take over the Head of the House in the near future, has chosen love and in return will see his blood diluted, turning from blue to red like that of commoners born of plebeian descent. In other words, the 40-year-old Prince Rafael will lose his succession rights, as he is determined to marry the somewhat insipid Italian countess Margherita delle Piane.
This past weekend, the current head of the Imperial House of Brazil, his uncle Prince Bertrand (85 years old), made it very clear. There was great anticipation as the weeks went by and he did not make a final decision on what would happen with Rafael, who had informed his circle months ago about his engagement to Margherita. Although the young woman belongs to a well-established centenary dynasty from Genoa, let's say for simplicity from minor nobility, her rank is below that of royalty members. The Imperial House of Brazil still operates today under the dynastic principle that requires all its members to marry individuals of noble blood to maintain their succession rights. It is an archaic tradition no longer upheld by reigning dynasties of almost any country or by most royal families recognized as heirs to extinct Crowns. But in Brazil, it is an immovable principle of the Orleans-Braganza House.
Don Bertrand did not show mercy towards his nephew, nor did he yield an inch on the weight of tradition. During the 36th annual general assembly of the Brazilian monarchist movement held this weekend in São Paulo, a statement from Don Bertrand was read - who was present, unmoved - warning that a morganatic marriage (i.e., unequal) would result in exclusion from the line of succession.
Surely Prince Rafael expected this. He himself explained some years ago in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that any change regarding succession "would require the consent of the entire family to modify our dynastic rules." Therefore, in recent years, Rafael, who devotes much of his time to his business in London, had become a rarity in international royalty, a prince desperately seeking a princess to become the head of an extinct Crown. Whether because he had grown tired of searching, because he had become fed up with the old-fashioned monarchs, or because his passion for Margherita is unstoppable, the forty-something has put his personal desires above the heavy burdens imposed by the institution.
However, recent meetings that Don Bertrand had with several princes from the Vassouras branch - the one currently holding the title of the Imperial House, in dispute with the Petrópolis branch - including Rafael himself and his cousins Pedro Alberto, Gabriel, and Luis Felipe of Orleans and Braganza, had raised hopes that the family could reach an agreement to modernize the dynastic rules. Apparently not.
The fact that Prince Rafael is excluded from the succession will put the imperial dynasty of Brazil in a very complicated position. Because the bench is not exactly strong.
Don Bertrand has no children. His heir was Rafael's father, Antonio de Orleans-Braganza, but he passed away in November 2024 at the age of 74. This made our protagonist the first in line of succession. This came about due to another terrible twist of fate. Because Rafael was not the eldest of the children of Don Antonio and Princess Cristina de Ligne. The eldest was Prince Pedro Luis. But he tragically died in 2009 in the fatal accident of Air France flight 447.
With Rafael removed from the succession, the next in line would be Princess María Gabriela (37 years old), who remains unmarried. Another sister, Amelia, renounced for herself and her descendants her dynastic rights in 2014 when she married British Alexander James Spearman. Rumor has it that María Gabriela has no interest in dedicating her life to representing the historical legacy of the Crown that Pedro I founded in the 19th century. Well..., things are looking grim for the Orleans-Braganza family.
Now, the trip that Don Bertrand took to Portugal at the beginning of June with Rafael and María Gabriela becomes particularly relevant. In the chapel of Jesus de Pancas, in Lisbon, they presided over the investiture of new crosses of the Imperial Order of the Rose. And the head of the House honored his niece with the rank of Grand Cross in recognition of her position in the imperial family and her dedication to the monarchist cause. Who knows if they were not preparing her for what may come. Also present at that ceremony were the head of the Portuguese Royal House, Don Duarte Pío de Braganza, and his wife Isabel, the Duke and Duchess of Braganza. They are more modern than their Brazilian relatives and are delighted to be preparing the grand royal wedding of their youngest son, Infante Dinis, who has just become engaged to Countess Anna Schaffgotsch. In their case, even though she is not of royal blood, she does not risk losing anything, unlike poor Rafael.