Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal

Luís Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal, Regent of Portugal (1907; Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiʃ fɨˈlip(ɨ)]; Dom Luís Filipe Maria Carlos Amélio Francisco Víctor Manuel António Lourenço Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis Bento de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha; 21 March 1887 – 1 February 1908) was the eldest son of King Carlos I of Portugal. He was born in 1887 while his father was still Prince Royal of Portugal, and received the usual style of the heirs to the heir of the Portuguese crown: he was then at birth 4th Prince of Beira, with the subsidiary title of 14th Duke of Barcelos, private to the heir of the Dukedom of Braganza; and after his grandfather king Dom Luís I died, he became Prince Royal of Portugal, with the subsidiary titles of 21st Duke of Braganza, 20th Marquis of Vila Viçosa, 28th count of Barcelos, 25th count of Ourém, 23rd count of Arraiolos, 22nd count of Neiva; he was later creted Knight Commander of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, Knight of the Order of the Garter, and Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Early life

Dom Luís was born in Lisbon, the elder son of Carlos, Prince Royal of Portugal, (later King Carlos I of Portugal) and the Princess Amélie d'Orléans. Dom Luís Filipe was granted when born the titles of Prince of Beira and Duke of Barcelos, traditionally held by the heir apparent of the Prince Royal of Portugal (Príncipe Real).

Two years later, Dom Luís Filipe inherited all his father's royal princely titles when Charles became king, being himself restyled Prince Royal, and inheriting at the same time the Dukedom of Braganza (21st Duke), the biggest private fortune in Portugal at that time, who was at the disposal of the heir to the Portuguese crown. In English, he is sometimes, but inaccurately, called Crown Prince of Portugal.

In 1907 the Prince Royal acted as regent of the Kingdom while his father was outside the country. The same year he made a very successful official visit to the Portuguese colonies in Africa, being the first royal ever to go there.

Dom Luís was the pupil to the African War Hero Mouzinho de Albuquerque, and like all the Braganza, showed many aptitudes to the arts, besides his military education. Negotiations were being held when he was assassinated for him to marry his cousin Princess Patricia of Connaught, granddaughter to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the daughter of British Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. She was sister to Princess Margaret of Connaught, wife Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.

Lisbon Regicide

On 1 February 1908 Dom Luís Filipe and his family were returning to Lisbon from Vila Viçosa Palace, in Alentejo, private head to the House of Braganza. Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buiça, two members of a revolutionary society called the Carbonária, shot at all the royal family, hitting Luís Filipe, his father king Carlos, and his younger brother Infante Manuel, Duke of Beja. Carlos I died immediately, while Dom Luís lived for another twenty minutes. Manuel survived the attack, having only been shot in the arm, while his mother Amelia was unharmed. Manuel would succeed Carlos as Manuel II. Some genealogists used to refer to Dom Luís as king Luís II. However, although he survived his father for twenty minutes, he cannot be considered a king because the Portuguese monarchy lacked the rule of automatic succession. That rule did not apply in Portugal, where the heirs apparent had always needed to be acclaimed by Parliament before legally becoming sovereigns.

Dom Luís is buried next to his father and forefathers in the Royal Pantheon of the Braganza Dynasty in Lisbon. His younger brother, Manuel II of Portugal, and his mother, Queen Amélie of Orléans, are buried opposite.

On 5 October 1910, the monarchy under the reign of his surviving younger brother, Manuel II, was overthrown in a military coup and the Portuguese First Republic was established. That would have been very difficult to do at the time if Luís Filipe had not died, as he inherited his father's stronger popularity among the Portuguese Army officers, who despised the lack of military sensibility of his younger brother.

Titles and Styles

• 21 March 1887-19 October 1889 - His Royal Highness The Prince of Beira, Duke of Barcelos
• 19 October 1889-1 February 1908 - His Royal Highness The Prince Royal of Portugal, Duke of Braganza

Arms

The heraldic arms shown above are not the arms of the dead Prince Royal, but those present in the Windsor chapel of the Garter, in England, as knight of that Order.

Born heir to the throne, Dom Luís Filipe used full arms of Portugal, with royal mantelpiece, no military orders around it, not even the three Portuguese band Orders (as it is not the Portuguese custom) and the Royal Prince crown over it, with just two golden arms less in the closed royal crown than his father the King. No difference, except in the crown, to his father full royal arms: and so no threefolded bank of an infante could be there, as he was superior in rank to the infantes, being born a Prince of Portugal and a Royal Highness (Infantes are styled in Portugal Highnesses, not Royal Highnesses, style reserved to the Princes heir apparent to the crown).

Ancestry