Prince Luiz of Orléans-Braganza


Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza is the head of the Vassouras branch of the House of Orléans-Braganza and a claimant to the defunct Brazilian throne. The Vassouras branch claims the throne in opposition to the Petrópolis branch of the Orléans-Braganzas, headed by Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza. Though both Prince Luiz and Prince Pedro Carlos are great-great-grandchildren of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, of the House of Braganza, they dispute leadership over the Brazilian Imperial Family due to a dynastic dispute concerning their fathers, who were cousins.
Prince Luiz actively claims the throne and participates in matters concerning Brazil's imperial past.

Early life

Luiz Gastão Maria José Pio was born on 6 June 1938 in Mandelieu-la-Napoule, France, as the oldest son Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza, the Vassouras great-grandson of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, and his wife, Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria, granddaughter of King Ludwig III of Bavaria. Through his father, he is a member of the Vassouras branch of the House of Orléans-Braganza, a cadet branch of the House of Braganza and the House of Orléans. Through both of his parents, Luiz is a cousin to many heads of royal families throughout the world, including: Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza; Henri Antoine, Hereditary Prince of Ligne; Archduke Leopold Franz of Austria; and Henri, Count of Paris. Luiz's godparents were Princess Maria di Grazia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, his paternal grandmother, and Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, his maternal uncle.
Although Prince Luiz was born after revocation of the exile that had been imposed on the Imperial family by Brazil's first Republican government, the aftermath of World War I and World War II detained the entire family in Europe until 1945, when the Vassouras branch of the family was finally repatriated, settling first in the town of Petrópolis, then to Jacarezinho.
In 1957, Luiz returned to Europe to finish his studies, where he graduated in chemistry at the University of Munich. Returning to Brazil in 1967, his family having already moved to Vassouras, Prince Luiz became a member of the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, a traditionalist Catholic organization which opposes socialistic land reform and supports conservative politics based on Catholic social doctrine and the principles promoted by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. Alongside Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza, his Portuguese counterpart he opposes same-sex marital unions, as of a 2015 declaration.

Succession

On 1981, he succeeded Prince Pedro Henrique as the claimant to the Brazilian throne in the Vassouras branch. According to Brazilian legitimist claims, he is de jure Emperor of Brazil.
He and two of his younger brothers, Prince Bertrand and Prince Antônio, have engaged in monarchist proselytism in Brazil. They played major roles during the campaign for the 1993 plebiscite, which represented the first official opportunity for a return of the monarchy to Brazil since the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889. In it, the people were asked to choose which form of government, presidential or parliamentary, and which form of state organization, republic or constitutional monarchy, Brazil should have. The monarchist cause was not successful, receiving 13.2% of the vote against 66% for the republic.
Currently, Dom Luiz resides in a house with "no luxury nor splendor" in Higienópolis, a borough of São Paulo, Brazil.

Titles and honours

Titles

Prince Luiz assumed these titles of Brazilian royalty throughout his life. Officially Brazil has not recognized hereditary titles since 1891.

Honours

As Head of the House of Orléans-Braganza, Luiz Gastão holds the following positions:
Luiz has also been decorated with a number of other honours: