Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal


Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal was Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Guillaume IV and the country's regent in the name of their daughter, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde. She was a member of the House of Braganza.

Family

Born at Schloss Bronnbach in Bronnbach, Wertheim am Main, Kingdom of Württemberg, Infanta Marie Anne was the fifth child and second-youngest daughter of the deposed King Miguel of Portugal and his wife Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. As such, she would have normally been titled and styled from birth as an infanta of Portugal however the treason of her father stripped him and his future children of any Portuguese royal titles and styles. At the time of her birth, her father had been exiled, and the family lived as guests in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In spite of their straitened circumstances, the daughters of Princess Adélaïde and Miguel made good marriages, some to reigning monarchs and deposed heads of Roman Catholic European dynasties.

Marriage and children

Before her marriage with William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, she was considered by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria as a suitable bride to his only son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolf, but Rudolf did not like her and she would remain single for the next years. Maria Ana was married on 21 June 1893 at Schloss Fischhorn, Zell am See, to the Protestant Wilhelm, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the son and heir apparent of Adolf, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, head of the House of Nassau. It was agreed that the children would be raised in their mother's Catholic faith, the religion of the overwhelming majority of Luxembourg's population.
The couple had six daughters.
Wilhelm IV became grand duke on the death of his father on 17 November 1905, and Marie Anne became grand duchess.
Because Wilhelm was the last agnate of the House of Nassau, he had Marie-Adelaide confirmed and proclaimed heir presumptive on 10 July 1907. Upon her father's death, she became the first reigning Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. Following her abdication on 14 January 1919, her sister Charlotte succeeded her on the throne.
Grand Duchess Marie Anne was regent for her husband during his terminal illness from 19 November 1908 to 15 February 1912, and then regent for her daughter, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde, during her minority from 25 February 1912 to 18 June 1912.
During World War II the grand ducal family left Luxembourg shortly before the arrival of Nazi troops, settling in France until their capitulation, in June 1940. Subsequently, the family and the Grand Duchess Charlotte’ ministers received transit visas to Portugal from the Portuguese consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, in June 1940. After travelling through Coimbra and Lisbon, the family first stayed in Cascais, in Casa de Santa Maria, owned by Manuel Espírito Santo, who was then the honorary consul for Luxembourg in Portugal. By July they had moved to Monte Estoril, staying at the Chalet Posser de Andrade. The Dowager stayed in Monte Estoril with her daughter, the Grand Duchess Charlotte, until 3 October 1940. On the same day, the two Duchesses boarded the Pan Am Yankee Clipper headed for New York City, from where they then left for Canada. With them travelled Prince Félix’s aide de camp Guillaume Konsbruck, his wife Nelly and their sons, Guy and Carlo.
Dowager Grand Duchess Marie Anne died in exile in New York on 31 July 1942.

Ancestry