House of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza

The House of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza (Portuguese: Casa de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança), often referred to as Saxe-Coburg and Braganza branch, is a cadet branch of the Imperial House of Brazil and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, itself a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The house was founded with the marriage of Princess Leopoldina of Brazil to Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1864. Two of the first four princes of the house were recognized as Princes of Brazil due to the apparent infertility of the Princess Imperial, their aunt, which placed them as heirs presumptive to the throne and made their offspring a junior branch of the Imperial House of Brazil, behind the senior branch that is the House of Orléans-Braganza.

Origin
In 1864, the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil was looking for a match to his daughters. The Emperor's sister, Princess of Joinville suggested her nephews, Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Prince Gaston, Count of Eu, both grandsons of King Louis Philippe of France, as suitable choices for the imperial princesses. The two young men traveled to Brazil in August 1864 so that the prospective brides and grooms could meet before a final agreement to the marriage. Isabel and her younger sister Leopoldina were not informed until Ludwig August and Gaston were mid-Atlantic. At first, Leopoldina was to marry Gaston, and Isabel to marry Ludwig August, but ultimatelly they changed, as Ludwig August fell in love for Leopoldina and Gaston thought better of Isabel. The two couples: Gaston and Isabel; August and Leopoldina; were engaged on 18 September. On 15 December 1864 at Rio de Janeiro, Prince Ludwig August married Princess Leopoldina.

It was from that marriage the Saxe-Coburg and Braganza branch was formed. Traditionally and following the agnatic rule, the couple's children are members of the father's house, in this case the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and therefore a new house or branch would not be created from this marriage. However, as this couple had four children much earlier than Isabel and Gaston, who seemed incapable of having children and would only having it 11 years after the wedding, Ludwig August's and Leopoldina's older sons, Prince Pedro Augusto and Prince Augusto Leopoldo, were recognized as Princes of Brazil (in an act sanctioned by the constitution, which does not prohibit the transmission of titles by women) and presumptive heirs to the Brazilian throne, and were taken to be raised in Brazil - where they were born - by their maternal grandfather Pedro II, following an accordance between the Emperor of Brazil and Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Thus, the princes, who were baptized bearing both their father's Saxe-Coburg and their mother's Braganza as surnames, began to form a cadet branch of the Imperial House of Brazil which, from 1875 onwards, had at its head in the succession to the throne the House of Orléans-Braganza, formed by the children of Princess Imperial Isabel, Leopoldina's older sister, and Prince Gaston.

Ludwig Gaston and Leopoldina's Brazilian offspring became known as Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, making reference to Brazil's reigning House of Braganza, while those who were not considered natural Brazilians used their Ludwigs name, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Exile
On 15 November 1889 a republican military coup d'ètat deposed Emperor Pedro II, proclaiming the First Brazilian Republic, and ordering the exile of the Brazilian Imperial Family. By that time Prince Pedro Augusto was the only Saxe in Brazil, since his brother Prince Augusto Leopoldo, who served in the Imperial Brazilian Navy since 1882, was in a circunavigation travel. The Imperial Family arrived at Lisbon on 7 December 1889. During the travel, Prince Pedro Augusto suffered bouts of schizophrenia, believing the ship's crew would kill them, and had to be contained in his quarters. Meanwhile the news of the coup in Brazil only arrived at Prince Augusto Leopoldo when he was in Ceylon, in 17 December 1889. He was dicharged from the navy and left there, taking a boat and a train to meet his family recently-arrived in Europe. Pedro and Augusto remained in France, next to their grandfather, until his death in 1891. Then they both moved to Ebenthal, in Austria, where their father lived along with their younger brother, Prince Ludwig Gaston of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1891 Prince Augusto Leopoldo obtained a special permission from Emperor Franz Josef to serve in the Austro-Hungarian Navy without prejudice to his status as a Brazilian prince, eventually becoming Sea Captain. In 1893, however, his older brother Prince Pedro Augusto had a breakdown when he read in the news that his cousin Pedro de Alcântara - and not him - had been acclaimed Emperor of Brazil. His father and brothers then chose to commit him to a psychiatric asylum, where he lived, between a suicide attempt and moments of lucidity, until his death in 1934.

In 1894 Prince Augusto Leopoldo married Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria, granddaugther of Ferninand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The marriage was attended the Emperor and Empress of Austria. The couple had 8 children, all registered as Brazilian nationals at the Brazilian embassy in Vienna. Among the 8 siblings, only Princess Teresa Cristina kept her Brazilian citizenship, while the others resigned (thus why she came to be known as Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, instead of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as her siblings, even though she was a Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). In 1930 Princess Teresa Cristina, who was named after the Brazilian Empress Teresa Cristina, married Lamoral, Baron Taxis di Bordogna and Valnigra. The couple had 4 children, including Prince Carlos Tasso of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, the current Head of the House.