Prince Miguel Januário of Braganza (full name Miguel Maria Carlos Egídio Constantino Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga Francisco de Paula e de Assis Januário de Bragança; 19 September 1853 – 11 October 1927) was the Miguelist claimant to the throne of Portugal from 1866 to 1920. He used the title Duke of Braganza.

Early life

Miguel Januário was born in Castle Kleinheubach, near Miltenberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, on 19 September 1853 during the exile in Germany of his father, former King Miguel I of Portugal and the Algarves. His mother was Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. He was a grandson of King John VI of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and his wife, Queen Carlota Joaquina. By the Portuguese law of banishment of 1834 and the constitution of 1838, King Miguel was forbidden to enter Portugal. Therefore, he was educated in the German Confederation and in Austria-Hungary.

Career

He was a member of the staff of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and took part in the Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878. His second son, Prince Francisco José of Braganza, was named after the Austrian Emperor, who was his godfather. Miguel Januário held the rank of a colonel in the 7th Austrian Regiment of Hussars. During World War I, he held the rank of Lieutenant General (Feldmarschalleutnant) in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He resigned in 1917 when Portugal entered the conflict on the opposite side, and spent the rest of the war as a civilian in the Order of Malta. After the end of Austria-Hungary, Miguel Januário and his family were thrown into relative poverty. On 31 July 1920, after quarrels with his eldest son (who contracted a controversial marriage to an American heiress), Miguel Januário renounced his claims as King of Portugal in favour of his third son, Duarte Nuno, who was 13 years old at the time.

Marriages and children

Miguel Januário was first married to Princess Elisabeth of Thurn and Taxis (May 28, 1860 – February 7, 1881), the niece of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, on 17 October, 1877 in Regensburg. They had three children: After the death of his first wife, he married for a second time to his first cousin Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1870–1935), on 8 November 1893 at Kleinheubach. They had eight children: Miguel Januário died in Seebenstein, on October 11, 1927. He is buried at Kloster Maria Himmelfahrt in Bronnbach.

Honours

In film

In the 1968 film Mayerling, "Michel de Bragance" is a small character played by Jean-Claude Bercq.

Ancestry