by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2016
King Luís I of Portugal – source: Wikipedia
King Luís I of Portugal (full name: Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Pedro de Alcântara António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando) was born on October 31, 1838, at the Palace of Necessidades in Lisbon Portugal. Styled Duke of Porto from birth, he was the second of eleven children of Queen Maria II of Portugal and Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Luís had ten siblings:
- King Pedro V of Portugal (1837 – 1861) – married Princess Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, no issue
- Infanta Maria (1840) – stillborn
- Infante João, Duke of Beja (1842 – 1861) – unmarried
- Infanta Maria Ana (1843 – 1884) – married the future King Georg of Saxony, had issue
- Infanta Antónia (1845 – 1913) – married Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, had issue (including King Ferdinand of Romania)
- Infante Fernando (1846 – 1861) – died as a teen
- Infante Augusto, Duke of Coimbra (1847 – 1889) – unmarried
- Infante Leopoldo (1849) – stillborn
- Infanta Maria de Glória (born and died 1851) – died just after birth
- Infante Eugénio (born and died 1853) – died just after birth
Luís and his elder brother Pedro were raised and educated together, dividing their time between several of the royal palaces in Portugal. Very artistic from an early age, Luís was a highly skilled painter and musician, writing his own compositions for piano and cello. He also became fluent in several languages and published several translations of the works of Shakespeare in later life. His career in the Portuguese Navy began when he was still quite young, and he reached the rank of Second Lieutenant at just 13 years of age. Rising quickly through the ranks, in 1858 King Pedro V appointed Luís as commander of the newly commissioned warship, the Bartolomeu Dias. One of Luís’s first missions was to bring Princess Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to Portugal for her marriage to King Pedro V.
In the fall of 1861, Luís was summoned to Lisbon, as his brother, King Pedro V, was dying. While still en route aboard his warship, he was informed of Pedro’s death on November 11, 1861. Luís was now King of Portugal. He arrived in Lisbon to find that another brother, Fernando, had also died just days before Pedro, and another brother, João, died several weeks later. All three died from typhoid or cholera, which was rampant in Lisbon at the time.
The marriage of Luís and Maria Pia. source: Wikipedia
The following year, on October 6, 1862, King Luís married Princess Maria Pia of Savoy at the Church of St. Dominic in Lisbon, Portugal. She was the daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and Archduchess Adelheid of Austria. The couple settled at the Ajuda Palace, and had two sons (along with at least one stillborn child):
- King Carlos I of Portugal (1863 – 1908) – married Princess Amélie of Orléans, had issue
- Infante Afonso, Duke of Porto (1865 – 1920) – married Nevada Stoody Hayes, no issue
His reign saw many advances, both politically and culturally. He oversaw the construction of the port of Lisbon, the extension of the road network and railway throughout Portugal, and the advancement of the arts, founding the Philharmonic Union in 1871. An avid oceanographer, the King also donated much of his fortune to finance research ships and vessels to gather different species of sea creatures from around the world. He also established the Vasco da Gama Aquarium in Lisbon, one of the first aquariums in the world.
King Luís I of Portugal, c1885. source: Wikipedia
King Luís died suddenly on October 19, 1889, at the Citadel of Cascais, in Cascais, Portugal. He was just 50 years old. The King is buried in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza, at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon.
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