Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza

Duarte Pio claims the throne as the heir of King Manuel II according to the Constitutional Charter of 1826.

Duarte Pio is widely considered the heir of the abolished Portuguese throne, but a small number of Portuguese monarchists do not recognise him as pretender to the throne or as Duke of Braganza.

However, the Constitutional Charter of 1826 was reinstated in 1842; this constitution (which was in place until 1910 when the monarchy was overthrown) did not bar Miguel's descendants from ascending the throne.

The dispute dates back to 1828 when Duarte Pio's great-grandfather was said to have usurped the throne as King Miguel I, starting the Liberal Wars.

At the time of his birth, Duarte Pio and the rest of the Miguelist Braganzas were banned from entering Portugal, by the laws of exile of 19 December 1834.

Miguel's forces were defeated in 1834 by the forces led by his own brother.

Miguel I was exiled and his niece, Queen Maria II, was restored to her throne.

According to the Law of Banishment (Lei do Banimento) of 1834, Miguel I and all his descendants were forever excluded from the succession to the throne.

Finally, the Law of Banishment of 1834 was repealed in 1950.

This exclusion was reinforced four years later with the approval of the Constitution of 1838, which had a similar provision.

Their marriage was the first marriage of a Portuguese royal to happen in Portuguese territory since the marriage of King Carlos I and Princess Amélie of Orléans, in 1886.

The Duke and Duchess have three children, thus continuing the line of the Braganzas, as neither of the Duke's brothers has married or had children.

The Duke of Braganza holds Portuguese citizenship, by birth, and East Timorese citizenship due to high service to the country.

In 1912 and 1922, Duarte Pio's grandfather, Miguel Januário, Duke of Braganza, reconciled with King Manuel II, but this reconciliation was not accepted by all of their adherents.

There are several monarchist organizations in Portugal (like People's Monarchist Party (Portugal)) which maintain that only the Cortes or the National Assembly could legally determine the rightful claimant if ever Portugal decided to restore the monarchy.

One monarchist group in Portugal that did support Miguel Januário, Duke of Braganza, instead of the deposed King Manuel II was the Integralismo Lusitano.

With the extinction of male-line dynasts descended from Queen Maria II in 1932, King Miguel's descendants became the only male-line Braganzas remaining and the closest male-line heirs to the defunct Portuguese throne.

Duarte Pio is a figure within the European network of royal houses, often being invited to various foreign royal events.

Despite his support for a monarchical government and widespread recognition as pretender to the throne, there are no major movements or parties that support restoration of the monarchy.

Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (Duarte Pio de Bragança, born 15 May 1945) is the current Duke of Braganza and a claimant to the dormant Portuguese throne, as the head of the House of Braganza.

The Miguelist Braganzas, to whom Duarte Pio belongs as great-grandson of King Miguel I, is a cadet branch of the House of Braganza.

Duarte Pio was born on 15 May 1945 in Bern, Switzerland, as the first of three sons of Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, and Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Braganza.

Duarte Pio uses a full name ending with Miguel Gabriel Rafael, a naming tradition of the House of Braganza that honors the three archangels in the Catholic Church.

His name as registered at birth was simply Duarte Pio de Bragança.

His father was the grandson of King Miguel I, while his mother was a great-granddaughter of King Pedro IV (Emperor Pedro I of Brazil), who was Miguel's elder brother.

Through his father, he is a member of the Miguelist branch of the House of Braganza.

Duarte Pio's godparents were Pope Pius XII and Queen Amélie of Portugal (the mother of King Manuel II, the last monarch of Portugal).

The Duke is regarded as a Portuguese national by descent, since his father was Portuguese (and so Duarte Pio's birth was legitimately included in the Portuguese Civil Registry).

On 27 May 1950, the Portuguese National Assembly revoked both the laws of exile from 19 December 1834, which banned the Miguelist Braganzas, and the laws of exile from 15 October 1910, which banned the Legitimist Braganzas.

In 1951, Dom Duarte visited Portugal for the first time, accompanied by his aunt, Infanta Filipa.

In 1952, he moved to Portugal permanently with his parents and brothers.

From 1957 to 1959, Duarte was enrolled in the Colégio Nun'Álvares in Santo Tirso.

In 1960, he entered the Colégio Militar in Lisbon.

He attended the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (now part of the Technical University of Lisbon) and later the Graduate Institute of Development Studies of the University of Geneva.

From 1968 to 1971, Dom Duarte fulfilled his military service as a helicopter pilot in the Portuguese Air Force in Portuguese Angola at the time of the Portuguese Colonial War.

In 1972, he participated with a multi-ethnic Angolan group in the organization of an independent list of candidates to the National Assembly.

This resulted in his expulsion from Angola by order of the Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano.

In 1995, the Duke married Isabel Inês de Castro Curvelo de Herédia, a Portuguese businesswoman and descendant of Portuguese nobility.

In May 2006, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement where it referred to Duarte Pio as Duke of Braganza.

On 5 July 2006, in response to this statement, Nuno da Câmara Pereira, then leader of the People's Monarchist Party, addressed the President of the Assembly of the Republic, asking for a clarification as to the official recognition of Duarte Pio as pretender to the throne and as Duke of Braganza.