Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza

Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza (23 August 1902 – 24 January 1990) was a Princess of Brazil and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, member of the the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, a colateral branch of the Imperial House of Brazil. She was the 6th child of Prince Augusto Leopoldo of Brazil to his wife Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria, and his only child to conserve the Brazilian nationality.

Early life
She was born Princess Teresa Cristina Maria Josefa Inácia Benicia Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza at the Thüringen in Austria-Hungary, the sixth child of Prince Augusto Leopoldo of Brazil and Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria. Her father was the son of Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, after whom she was named. Teresa Cristina was the only grandchild of Leopoldina to retain Brazilian nationality. Through her mother she was also a great-granddaughter of Leopold II, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany. Upon her birth, she was registered as a Brazilian national at the Brazilian Embassy in Vienna, as all of her siblings.

Princess of Brazil
Even though Teresa Cristina's father, Prince Augusto Leopoldo, had agnatically been a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and thus a Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he was formally recognized as a Prince of Brazil, alongside his older brother, due to the apparente infertility [later proven wrong] of his aunt and heiress to the throne Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil. Furthermore, there was no constitutional provision preventing the transmission of the Brazilian royal titles through female line (which sometimes occurred purely by force of tradition), and thus the recognition of his position as a Brazilian royal was a mere formality.

Thanks to this, having been registered as Brazilian at birth, Teresa Cristina was Princess of Brazil and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, just like her father. During her adult phase, she was the only one of Augusto Leopoldo's children not to renounce and retain Brazilian citizenship, thus maintaining her right to the title of Princess of Brazil. She was also the only one among her siblings to visit her father's homeland, for the first time in the 1930s at the invitation of her cousin Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará. With the Second World War, she left Europe, repatriating to Brazil, where she raised her children and where her youngest was born. Later, she returned to Austria with her husband, starting to make constant visits to her children in Brazil.

Marriage and family
Teresa Cristina married in Salzburg on 6 October 1930 to Lamoral, Baron Taxis di Bordogna e Valnigra. Their descendants assumed the surname Tasso de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança. They had four children:


 * 1) Carlos Tasso de Saxe-Coburg e Bragança (born 16 July 1931); married firstly Denise Pais de Almeida and secondly Archduchess Walburga of Austria (born 23 July 1942).
 * 2) Alice Tasso de Saxe-Coburg e Bragança (7 June 1936 – 29 August 2013); Michele Formentini, Count di Tolmino e Biglia.
 * 3) Felipe Tasso de Saxe-Coburg e Bragança (born 3 January 1939); married Anna Maria Duarte Nunes.
 * 4) Maria Cristina Tasso de Saxe-Coburg e Bragança (born 31 January 1945); married Raimondo Dettori.

She died on 24 January 1990 in Villach, Austria, aged 87, being the last living child of Prince Augusto Leopoldo.

Titles and styles

 * 23 August 1902 – 24 January 1990: Her Highness Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza