Luís I of Portugal

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Luís I
Photograph by Augusto Bobone, 1885
King of Portugal and the Algarves
Reign11 November 1861 –
19 October 1889
Acclamation22 December 1861
PredecessorPedro V
SuccessorCarlos I
Prime Ministers
See list
Born(1838-10-31)31 October 1838
Necessidades Palace, Lisbon, Portugal
Died19 October 1889(1889-10-19) (aged 50)
Citadel of Cascais, Cascais, Portugal
Burial
Pantheon of the Braganzas
SpouseMaria Pia of Savoy
IssueCarlos I
Infante Afonso, Duke of Porto
Names
Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Pedro de Alcântara António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando
HouseBraganza[1]
FatherFerdinand II of Portugal
MotherMaria II of Portugal
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Dom Luís I (31 October 1838 in Lisbon  – 19 October 1889 in Cascais) was a member of the House of Braganza,[1] and King of Portugal and the Algarves from 1861 to 1889. The second son of Maria II and Ferdinand II, he acceded to the throne upon the death of his brother Pedro.

Reign

King Luís I and Queen Maria Pia of Savoy at a masquerade ball, 1865.

Luís was a cultured man who wrote vernacular poetry, but had no distinguishing gifts in the political field into which he was thrust by the deaths of his brothers Pedro V and Fernando in 1861. Luís's domestic reign was a tedious and ineffective series of transitional governments called Rotativism formed at various times by the Progressistas (Liberals) and the Regeneradores (Conservatives – the party generally favoured by King Luís, who secured their long term in office after 1881). Despite a flirtation with the Spanish succession prior to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Luís's reign was otherwise one of domestic stagnation as Portugal fell ever further behind the nations of western Europe in terms of public education, political stability, technological progress and economic prosperity. In colonial affairs, Delagoa Bay was confirmed as a Portuguese possession in 1875, whilst Belgian activities in the Congo (1880s) and a British Ultimatum in 1890 denied Portugal a land link between Portuguese Angola and Portuguese Mozambique at the peak of the Scramble for Africa.

Personal interests

Luís was mostly a man of the sciences, with a passion for oceanography. He invested a large portion of his fortune in funding research boats to collect specimens in the oceans of the world, and was responsible for the establishment of one of the world's first aquariums, the Aquário Vasco da Gama in Lisbon, which is still open to the public with its vast collection of maritime life forms, including a 10 meter long squid. His love for the sciences and advances in knowledge was passed on to his two sons. Luís was also very keen with literature, not only with books in Portuguese but also in English; he was the first to bring fully translated Shakespearean works to Portugal, translating The Merchant of Venice, Richard III and Othello, the Moor of Venice. Best known in all the Kingdom of Portugal is his translation of Hamlet.

Marriages and descendants

On 6 October 1862, Luís married Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (16 October 1847 – 5 July 1911), daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Maria Adelaide of Austria. They both had a deep love at first, but Luis's countless mistresses led Maria Pia to depression. Together they had two sons who survived childhood, and a stillborn son in 1866.

The King also fathered one illegitimate child, born in 1874 in Lisbon, a son named Carlos.

Titles, styles and honours

Royal styles of
King Luís I of Portugal
Reference styleHis Most Faithful Majesty
Spoken styleYour Most Faithful Majesty
Alternative styleSire
Main article: List of titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown

Titles and styles

  • 31 October 1838 - 11 November 1861: His Royal Highness The Duke of Porto and Viseu
  • 11 November 1861 - 19 October 1889: His Most Faithful Majesty The King of Portugal and the Algarves

Luís I's official styling as King of Portugal:
By the Grace of God and by the Constitution of the Monarchy, Luís I, King of Portugal and the Algarves, of either side of the sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, South Africa etc.

Honours

National

Foreign

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ a b "While remaining patrilineal dynasts of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha according to pp. 88, 116 of the 1944 Almanach de Gotha, Title 1, Chapter 1, Article 5 of the 1838 Portuguese constitution declared, with respect to Ferdinand II of Portugal's issue by his first wife, that 'the Most Serene House of Braganza is the reigning house of Portugal and continues through the Person of the Lady Queen Maria II'. Thus their mutual descendants constitute the Coburg line of the House of Braganza"
  2. ^ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Le livre d'or de l'ordre de Léopold et de la croix de fer, Volume 1 /Ferdinand Veldekens
  4. ^ Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 272. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
  5. ^ King Kalakaua's Tour Round the World (Honolulu, 1881) page 72
  6. ^ "Toison Espagnole (Spanish Fleece) - 19th century" (in French), Chevaliers de la Toison D'or. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  7. ^ Wm. A. Shaw, The Knights of England, Volume I (London, 1906) page 62
Luís I of Portugal
Cadet branch of the House of Aviz
Born: 31 October 1838 Died: 19 October 1889
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Portugal and the Algarves
1861–1889 		Succeeded by
Portuguese royalty
Preceded by Duke of Porto
1838–1861 		Succeeded by
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