Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança

Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança was born in Lisbon, Portugal, to Maria Amélia Laredó e Murça, the daughter of a wealthy Brazilian couple who had moved to Europe: Armando Maurício Laredó and Maria Amélia Murça e Berhen. Maria Amélia's parents are sometimes given the title "baron", but they did not actually hold any noble title; their wealth, however, may have allowed them to use such a title unquestioned.

Number 26 Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon, where Maria Pia of Braganza was born.

Maria Amélia Laredó e Murça was not married at the time she gave birth to her daughter on March 13, 1907. Maria Pia of Braganza claimed that, shortly thereafter, she was taken by her mother and grandparents to Madrid, Spain. There, she said, she was baptised in the Church of Saint Fermin de los Navarros on April 15, 1907 and that the baptism was registered at the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and Saint Aloysius. She claimed that her baptismal registration recorded that her father was "D. Carlos de Sassonia-Coburgo y Savoya de la Casa de Braganza de Portugal". This clearly refers to King Carlos I of Portugal, who at the time was married to another woman, Princess Amélie of Orléans.

It has been suggested that Maria Pia of Braganza was, in fact, one Hilda de Toledano, a girl of modest birth adopted by a Brazilian family.

The original baptismal registers of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and Saint Aloysius were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, and no original birth record of Maria Pia of Braganza has ever been made public. In 1939 the Vicar-General of the Diocese of Madrid-Alcalas issued a baptismal certificate to Maria Pia of Braganza with information provided to him at that time by Don Antonio Goicoechea y Cusculluela, a member of the Spanish parliament and the Governor of the Bank of Spain, who had reportedly been present at the baptism. Subsequently Maria Pia of Braganza used this baptismal certificate as evidence for her claim to be the recognised daughter of King Carlos.

The Church of Saint Fermin de los Navarros, in Madrid, where Maria Pia de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança was baptized.

Maria Pia of Braganza also claimed that in the archives of the Diocese of Madrid-Alcalá there was a copy of a document signed by King Carlos March 14, 1907 in which he recognised Maria Pia of Braganza as his daughter and that "she may be called by my name and enjoy from now on the use of this name with the honours, prerogatives, rank, obligations and advantages of the princes of the House of Braganza of Portugal". Like the baptismal certificate, the original of this document did not survive.

Maria Pia of Braganza

In 1925 at the age of eighteen Maria Pia of Braganza married Francesco Javier Bilbao y Batista, a Cuban playboy twenty years her senior. He came from a rich family of cattle breeders. Since Bilbao was divorced, the marriage was a civil one only and took place in the Cuban embassy in Paris. They had one daughter, Fátima Francisca Xaviera Iris Bilbao de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança,[5] in 1932, who became a cloistered nun in a convent.

Maria Pia of Braganza lived briefly with Bilbao in Cuba, before returning to Spain. Bilbao died November 15, 1935. Francisca died unmarried in 1982.

To escape the Spanish Civil War, Maria Pia of Braganza moved with her mother to Rome. In 1939 she married Giuseppe Manlio Blais, a general in the Italian carabinieri. At the time, members of the carabinieri were forbidden from marrying foreigners. The marriage was, therefore, celebrated clandestinely, and was not registered civilly until August 5, 1946. The union proved much happier and together they had a daughter, Maria da Glória Cristina Amélia Valéria Antónia Blais de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança,[5] born in 1946. Maria Cristina Blais de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança (or also called Maria Cristina of Braganza) married the Spanish sculptor Miguel Ortíz y Berrocal (1933–2006) and together they lived in Verona and had two sons: Carlos Miguel Berrocal de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança[5] (born 1976) and Beltrão José Berrocal de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança[5] (born 1978).

General Blais died in 1983. In 1985, Maria Pia of Braganza married António João da Costa Amado-Noivo (January 28, 1952 – December 29, 1996). At the time of the wedding, Maria Pia was 78, Amado-Noivo 33.

Maria Pia of Braganza

Like many society ladies, Maria Pia of Braganza supplemented her income by writing. In the early 1930s she had a number of articles published in two Spanish newspapers Blanco y Negro and ABC.

In 1937, Maria Pia wrote her first book La hora de Alfonso XIII (The Hour of Alfonso XIII) published in Havana, Cuba, by Ucar, Garcia y Companía. This work, written in Spanish and published under the name "Hilda de Toledano", is a defence of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who was living in exile at the time.

In 1954, Maria Pia wrote Un beso y ... nada más: confidencia consciente de una pecadora inconsciente (A Kiss and ... Nothing More: Conscious Confidences of an Unconscious Sinner) published in Madrid by Plenitud. This novel was also written in Spanish and published under the name "Hilda de Toledano".

In 1957, Maria Pia wrote Mémoires d'une infante vivante (Memoirs of a Living Infanta) published in Paris by Del Duca. This work, written in French and published under the name "Maria Pia de Saxe-Cobourg Bragance", is an autobiography. It marks the first attempt of Maria Pia to receive widespread public recognition for her claim that she was the bastard daughter of King Carlos I of Portugal. In the book, however, Maria Pia makes no claim to any dynastic rights. The book closes with the sentence, "I claim no sceptre but my pen, no crown but that bequeathed by my father and mother: my dignity." Instead, Maria Pia of Braganza suggests that the rightful heir to the Portuguese throne should be Princess Isabelle d’Orléans, eldest child of Henri, Count of Paris.

Maria Pia of Braganza died in Verona in 1995. She was buried with her second husband General Blais in the Cimitero Monumentale of Verona.

Maria Pia's claims, and those of Rosario Poidimani, have hinged upon the truth or falsehood of the following:

1. that she was the natural daughter of King Carlos I;
2. that Carlos I had the constitutional power and the political clout (at a time shortly before his death and the overthrow of his son) to alter the line of succession to the Portuguese throne;
3. that Carlos I both recognized Maria Pia of Braganza as his daughter and declared her a legitimate heir, despite her birth from an adulterine union;
4. that Carlos I was able to do the above without causing public scandal or friction within the royal house, particularly in relation to Amelie of Orleans, his wife and their two sons;
5. that Maria Pia of Braganza, supposedly heir-princess, could then marry foreigners and/or commoners (which she did twice), in apparent violation of the Constitution and/or the house laws of the Portuguese royal house;
6. that her daughter Maria Cristina of Braganza , and Maria Cristina's sons, all waived their rights of succession;[9]
7. that she adopted Rosario Poidimani according to Italian laws comparable to those of Portugal; and that this adoption did not violate the house laws and/or Constitution; and
8. that she could alter the succession line in favour of Rosario Poidimani, a foreigner and adopted son unrelated to her by blood.

There are no original documents to support Maria Pia's claims to be both a daughter of Carlos I and an heir to the Dukedom of Braganza and pretense to the throne of Portugal. Maria Pia's baptismal certificate from 1907 was destroyed and there is only a copy of the document in which Carlos I supposedly granted succession rights to Maria Pia. Nonetheless, there exist some records concerning a relationship between Maria Pia's mother Maria Amelia Laredó e Murça and King Carlos I. A biography of Infanta Eulalia of Spain purports to reveal some letters of the Portuguese King and also reveals the existence of Maria Pia of Braganza as King Carlos I's bastard daughter.[10] King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his son Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia seem to have had an ongoing friendship with Maria Pia; her supporters have interpreted this relationship as an affirmation on the part of Alfonso and Jaime de Borbón that they recognised Maria Pia de Bragança as Carlos's bastard daughter. In fact, most of the letters cited by Maria Pia in support of her claim were simply courteous replies by royals to her numerous queries and salutations.

Traditionally, the only way in which a bastard child of a Portuguese monarch could have been made legitimate and take his or her place in the line of succession was if his or her parents subsequently were married. At the time of Maria Pia's birth, Carlos was married to Queen Amelie and had two sons with her. Children born of adultery were specifically excluded from the line of succession.

Carlos I was a constitutional monarch. He did not claim autocratic power, but instead ruled according to the Constitutional Charter of 1826 which stated that the succession to the throne passed only to legitimate descendants. The Constitution, including all matters of succession, could only be amended by the Cortes. Even if Carlos had signed a document granting succession rights to Maria Pia, it would have had no legal value at all.

Just as Carlos could not unilaterally change the Constitutional Charter and grant Maria Pia succession rights, neither could Maria Pia (even if she were rightful queen of Portugal) unilaterally change the Constitution and grant succession rights to Rosario Poidimani above her daughter and grandsons.

Under scrutiny, the claims of Maria Pia of Braganza (or Hilda de Toledano) are similar to those of several Europeans born outside marriage who entertain the idea, or fantasy, of descent from royalty; the late Enrico Vigo, who claimed the Byzantine Crown, is another example.

• Maria Pia de Saxe-Cobourg Bragance; Mémoires d'une infante vivante. Paris: Del Duca, 1957. Maria Pia's own account of the first half of her life.
• Humberto Delgado; Memórias (Colecção "Compasso do tempo"). Lisbon, 1974, pp. 233–234.
• Manuel de Bettencourt e Galvão; Ao Serviço d'El-Rei (Cadernos Políticos), Lisbon: Gama, 1949, pp. 123–129.
• A.H. de Oliveira Marques; História de Portugal – Vol. III'. Lisbon, 1982.
• Jean Pailler; Maria Pia: A Mulher que Queria Ser Rainha de Portugal. Lisbon: Bertrand, 2006. The standard biography of Maria Pia of Braganza (currently only available in Portuguese) written by a man who also wrote a biography of King Carlos I.
• Mariano Robles Romero Robledo & José António Novais; Humberto Delgado : assassinato de um herói. Lisbon, 197-.
• Fernando Luso Soares; Maria Pia, Duquesa de Bragança contra D. Duarte Pio, o senhor de Santar. Lisbon: Minerva, 1983.
• Mário Soares; Portugal amordaçado: depoimento sobre os anos do fascismo. Lisbon: Arcádia, 1974, pp. 274–278.
• Francisco de Sousa Tavares; O caso de Maria Pia de Bragança (13/5/83), in Escritos Políticos I, Porto, Mário Figuerinhas, 1996, pp. 246–251.
• José María Zavala; La Infanta Republicana: Eulalia de Borbón, la oveja negra de la Dinastía. Madrid: Plaza & Janes, 2008.
• José María Zavala; Bastardos y Borbones. Los hijos desconocidos de la dinastía. Madrid: Plaza & Janes, 2011.
• Ronald H. Chilcote; The Portuguese Revolution: State and Class in the Transition to Democracy, page 37. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Reprint edition (August 31, 2012).
• Isabel Lencastre; Bastardos Reais – Os Filhos Ilegítimos Dos Reis De Portugal. Lisbon: Oficina do Livro, 2012.
• Fernando Dacosta; O Botequim da Liberdade. Lisbon: Casa das Letras, 2013, pag. 176–177.

• House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

• Maria Pia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Braganza. Maria Pia's interviews and other appearances on television.
• Maria Pia of Braganza: The Pretender. Maria Pia's biography by the author Jean Pailler.
• Interviews and testimonies about Maria Pia of Braganza claims