Prince Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza (born 2 February 1941, Mandelieu, France) is a member of the Imperial House of Brazil. According to the disputed claims of the Vassouras branch of the family, he is first in the line of succession to the defunct Brazilian throne, and consequently the current Prince Imperial of Brazil

Prince Imperial of Brazil

Prince Imperial of Brazil is the title created after the proclamation of independence of the Empire of Brazil, in 1822, to designate the heir apparent to the Brazilian imperial throne...

.

Biography

The third son of Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza

Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza

Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza , was a great-grandson of the last emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, and one of two claimants to the abolished throne.-Early life in Europe:...

 and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria

Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria

align=right|Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria was the eldest daughter of Prince Franz of Bavaria, third son of King Ludwig III of Bavaria.-Early life:...

, his elder brothers are, in order, Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza who is the present Head of the Brazilian Imperial Family and Prince Eudes of Orléans-Braganza, who renounced his dynastic rights to the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian Throne

Throne

A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...

 in order to marry a commoner.

According to the Pró Monarquia Brazilian monarchist

Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

 website, his full title is "His Imperial and Royal Highness, The Prince Imperial of Brazil, Dom Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza (in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

: "Sua Alteza Imperial e Real, Princípe Imperial do Brasil, Dom Bertrand de Orléans e Bragança").

As with his two elder brothers, Prince Bertrand was born in France, even though the exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

 imposed to the Imperial Family had already been revoked, due to the Second World War. He came to Brazil only after the end of the conflict.

In Brazil, the Imperial Family settled in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 and later in Paraná

Paraná (state)

Paraná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...

, where Prince Bertrand spent his childhood. When he was 18 years old, he went to São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, where he achieved a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo in 1964. He still lives in São Paulo.

He is a Traditionalist Catholic

Traditionalist Catholic

Traditionalist Catholics are Roman Catholics who believe that there should be a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council...

 and a member of Tradition, Family and Property

American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property is a civic organization of traditional Roman Catholic inspiration...

. He is not married and has no issue, so his dynastic heir is his younger brother, Prince Antonio of Orléans-Braganza

Prince Antonio of Orléans-Braganza

Prince Antônio of Orléans-Braganza , whose baptismal name is Antônio João Maria José Jorge Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança e Wittelsbach, is a member of the Imperial House of Brazil...

, who is married to a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 princess, Princess Cristina of Ligne, with issue.

Both he and his elder brother, Prince Luiz, are engaged in monarchist proselytism in Brazil. They both played main roles during the campaign for the 1993 plebiscite, which represented the hitherto only real opportunity for a return of the monarchy since the Proclamation of the Republic, in 1889. In it, the people were asked to choose which form of government (presidential

Presidential system

A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not responsible and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....

 or parliamentary

Parliamentary system

A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch get their democratic legitimacy from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined....

) and which form of State organization (Republic or Constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy

Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...

) Brazil should have. The monarchist cause was not successful, receiving only 10% of the vote.

Prince Bertrand is also related to the Royal House of Portugal

House of Braganza

The Most Serene House of Braganza , an important Portuguese noble family, ruled the Kingdom of Portugal and its colonial Empire, from 1640 to 1910...

 and the Royal House of France

Members of the French Royal Families

This is a list of non-ruling members of the French royal family. It includes royal consorts, children, and some grandchildren, as well as more recent members of the French Royal House....

 (Orleanist

Orléanist

The Orléanists were a French right-wing/center-right party which arose out of the French Revolution. It governed France 1830-1848 in the "July Monarchy" of king Louis Philippe. It is generally seen as a transitional period dominated by the bourgeoisie and the conservative Orleanist doctrine in...

 claimants), both by his father's lineage, and to the Royal House of Wittelsbach, by his mother's lineage.

Ancestry

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