Dom CARLOS I - (28.11.1863-1.2.1908)

Carlos Fernando Luís Maria Vítor Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis José Simão de Bragança. Son of Dom Luís I and Dona Maria Pia de Saboia. On 22 May 1886, he married Dona Maria Amélia Luísa Helena de Orléans and ascended the throne on 19 October 1889.

He was nicknamed The Diplomat because of the many trips he made to Madrid, Paris and London, which were reciprocated with visits to Lisbon by Kings Alfonso XIII of Spain, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Kaiser William II of Germany and the President of the French Republic, Émile Loubet. His contemporaries considered him a very intelligent monarch, although constant political crises and widespread popular dissatisfaction characterised his reign. As early as 1890, the United Kingdom presented the Ultimatum, by which Portugal was ordered to vacate the territories between Angola and Mozambique (Pink Map) to avoid a conflict between the two states. The appointment of General João Franco as prime minister, without any prior elections, had a decisive influence on the spread and consolidation of republican ideals.

Dazzled by the new emerging technologies, Dom Carlos installed electric lighting in the Palace of Necessidades. He drew up plans for the electrification of Lisbon's streets and was one of the pioneers of modern oceanography. He was also a photography lover and a talented watercolourist who simply signed himself Carlos or Carlos Fernando. When he visited Mafra for the summer or to attend military exercises, events at the Practical School of Infantry and Cavalry, or to preside over a gymnastics, shooting or fencing session, he would take every opportunity to enjoy his favourite pastime: hunting, which he shared with his wife, Dona Amélia. In his time, Tomás de Mello Breyner reports, an expeditious method was introduced to hunt the wild pigeons that nested in the vents of the Convent of Mafra: the smoke from torches, placed at the level of the drains, forced the birds to leave in flocks, and all Dom Carlos and the other hunters, who stood on the terraces, had to do was aim well. The idea that royal visits boosted local trade stands out from the regional press in Mafra, which obviously pleased the town's merchants, who saw them as good business prospects.

Dona AMÉLIA
(28.9.1865-25.10.1951)
Maria Amélia Luisa Helena of Orléans. Daughter of Louis Philippe Albert, Count of Paris and Duke of Orléans, and his wife, Maria Isabella Frances of Assisi, Infanta of Spain. Married Don Carlos I on 22 May 1886. She left for exile from Ericeira on 5 October 1910.