Infanta Maria Adelaide of Portugal

Infanta Dona Maria Adelaide, Mrs Nicolaas van Uden, (Maria Adelaide Manuela America Michael Rafaela de Bragança, born 31 January 1912) is a Infanta of Portugal from the royal House of Braganza,^[1] daughter of Miguel (II), Duke of Braganza and Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. She was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France. She is the last surviving granddaughter of a Portuguese monarch, King Miguel I of Portugal and his wife Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Her godparents were King Manuel II, the last reigning king of Portugal, and Amélie of Orleans.

Dona Maria Adelaide's siblings were Dona Isabel Maria of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal and Princess consort of Thurn und Taxis (1894–1970) who married Franz Joseph, 9th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Dona Maria Benedita of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1896–1971), Dona Mafalda of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1898–1918), Dona Maria Anna of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal and Hereditary Princess of Thurn and Taxis (1899–1971) who married Karl August, 10th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Dona Maria Antónia of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1903–1973) who married Sidney Ashley Chanler, Dona Filippa Maria of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal (1905–1990) and Dom Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza (1907–1976).

From her father's first marriage with Princess Elisabeth of Thurn and Taxis, she was a sister of Infante Dom Miguel of Braganza, Duke of Viseu (1878–1923) who married Anita Stewart, Dom Francis Joseph of Braganza, Infante of Portugal (1879–1919) and Dona Maria Teresa of Braganza, Infanta de Portugal (1881–1945) who married Prince Karl Ludwig of Thurn und Taxis.

Infanta Maria Adelaide is a cousin (among others) of Elisabeth Amalia, Princess of Liechtenstein, Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians, Marie Gabrielle, Crown Princess of Bavaria, Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Antoinette, Crown Princess of Bavaria, Xavier, Duke of Parma, Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Felix of Bourbon-Parma. She has inherited the longevity of her grandmother Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg.

She was educated in the Sacre Coeur College in Riedenburg. Married in Vienna, 13 October 1945, to Dr. Nicolaas van Uden (Venlo, 5 March 1921 – Lisbon, 5 February 1991) a Dutch and since 1975 a naturalized Portuguese medical biochemist and a great scientific authority in the field of yeast development.

Children

She lived in Vienna, Austria, working as a nurse and social assistant. During World War II, when there were bombardments, she was travelled at night to the place to provide aid to the victims. She was part of the Nazi resistance movement, and the Gestapo sentenced her to death. The Portuguese President of the Council of Ministers, António de Oliveira Salazar intervened with the Germans, claiming that Infanta Maria Adelaide was a national heritage. This intervention of the Portuguese diplomacy resulted in the release and her immediate deportation, which settled in Switzerland. It was there that her brother Dom Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza and sister-in-law Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza lived. After the war, the family finally returned in Austria.

In 1949, Dona Maria Adelaide returned to Portugal. Meanwhile, her husband was graduated in medicine from the University of Vienna and had a specialization in diseases of skin. But when Dr. Nicolaas van Uden arrived in Portugal his qualifications were not recognised as equivalent to the Portuguese ones, and therefore he could not practice medicine. As there was no other solution, he went to work for a small research laboratory at the Faculty of Science and stayed there for several years, until the opportunity to work in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation arose. Due to such a collaboration the Gulbenkian Science Institute was born and it promotes scientific research in various areas since the 1950s to date.

Ancestry

The van Uden family originally lived in the Quinta do Carmo, in Almada. Infanta Maria Adelaide began working as a social assistant in some initiatives, because that area of Trafaria in Monte da Caparica, was very poor. She developed an intensive career, especially in the area whereby newborn poor or orphaned children were collected and then taken to the D. Nunes Alvares Pereira Foundation, of which she was President.

Her nephew D. Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, is the present head of the House of Braganza and, therefore, the first in the line of succession to the former Portuguese throne.

Titles:

HH Princess Maria Adelaide of Braganza

HRH Infanta Maria Adelaide of Portugal

HH Princess Maria Adelaide of Braganza, Mrs. Nicolaas van Uden

References