Bertrand, Prince of Brazil

Dom Bertrand, Prince of Brazil (born 2 February 1941, Mandelieu, France) is the head of the Vassouras branch of the House of Orléans-Braganza and claimant to the Brazilian throne as Bertrand I. The Vassouras branch claims legitimacy over the throne in opposition to the Petrópolis branch of the Orléans-Braganzas, headed by Pedro Carlos, Prince of Brazil. Though both Prince Bertrand and Prince Pedro Carlos are great-great-grandchildren of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, of the House of Braganza, they disputed leadership over Brazilian Imperial Family due to a dynastic dispute concerning their fathers, who were cousins.

Prince Bertrand was born in Mandelieu, Vichy France, the second son of Pedro Henrique, Prince of Brazil, and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria. He was the third and last son of the couple to be born abroad, and came to Brazil when he was four years old. In Brazil, he graduated in law by the University of São Paulo and became a pupil of Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira and a devout member of the TFP and later of the IPCO, Prince Bertrand is an avid ultramontane traditionalist conservative, neo-reactionary, anti-communist and avowedly advocate of right-wing Christian policies. Chaste, the Prince succeeded his brother as Head of the Imperial House of Brazil and it is the main activist and spokesman for the restoration of the monarchy, having gained prominence in the national media and, on some occasions, international media. He is frequently invited by public and private institutions, including the Federal Government, to participate in official events, in addition to participating in monarchical events and meetings and traveling the country in campaigns to promote the monarchy.

A member of the House of Orléans-Braganza, Prince Bertrand is closely related to the Royal House of Portugal and the Royal House of France (Orleanist claimants), both by his father's lineage, and to the Royal House of Bavaria, by his mother's lineage. He is a great-gradson of both Empress Isabel of Brazil and King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

Early life
Prince Bertrand was born in Mandelieu, Vichy France, after his mother's family had been forced to leave Bavaria escaping Nazi persecution. He is the third son of Pedro Henrique, Prince of Brazil and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria, and the last of the couple's twelve children to be born abroad. His godparents were his great-uncle Prince Gennaro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his aunt Princess Pia Maria, Countess of Nicolaÿ. His elder brothers are, in order, Luiz, Prince of Brazil, who is the present Head of the Brazilian Imperial Family according to the Vassouras branch claim and Prince Eudes of Brazil, who renounced his dynastic rights to the Brazilian Throne. By his father's side he is a great-grandson of Empress Isabel of Brazil while by his mother's side he is a great-grandson of King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

Even though the exile imposed to the Imperial Family had already been revoked, in 1920, Bertrand's father had remained in Europe to complete his studies and find a proper wife. It was only after the Second World War that Prince Pedro Henrique, Princess Maria Elisabeth and their children were able to come to Brazil. Prince Bertrand was four years old by then.

In Brazil, where the Petrópolis branch of the Imperial Family had already been living since the 1920s, the Vassouras branch settled first in the Grão-Pará Palace in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where Bertrand carried out part of his secondary studies in the jesuit St. Ignatius College. Later his family moved to Paraná, where his father bought a farm and Prince Bertrand spent his childhood. When he was 18 years old, he went to São Paulo, where he achieved a bachelor's degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of São Paulo in 1964, eventually remaining in the city where he still lives.

Education and positions
From a very young age he received Catholic formation, being guided by his father to the taste for the doctrinal study and the analysis of the national and international events. He participated with enthusiasm in the academic banks of the ideological struggles that marked Brazil in the first half of the sixties. His formation was completed with frequent trips to Europe, one of which took place during the entire First Session of the Second Vatican Council, when the young prince took close contact with the Catholic intelligentsia to Rome for the great event. Trained in civil piloting, Prince Bertrand became a reservist of the Brazilian Air Force.

He is a Traditionalist Catholic and a member of Tradition, Family and Property, of traditionalist Catholic inspiration, founded and directed by the intellectual conservative leader Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira until his death. There it diffuses from the catholic and monarchical ideals, seen by him as "distinct and harmonious facets of the same ideal." His older brother, Prince Luiz, is also part of the organization. After the spin-off occurred in the entity, the prince and his brother began to collaborate with members linked to the Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira Institute (IPCO) and the Founders' Association. Both, in separate statements, oppose same-sex marriage, land reform, and Bertrand often displays prejudice against Protestantism.

Besides Portuguese, his native language, Bertrand is fluent in French and comprehends German, English and Spanish.

Later life
Having chosen to remain chaste, Prince Bertrand is not married and has no issue, so his dynastic heir is his younger brother, Antônio, Prince Imperial of Brazil, who is married to a Belgian princess, Princess Christine of Ligne, with issue.

Both he, his younger brother, Prince Antônio, are engaged in monarchist proselytism in Brazil. They both played main roles during the campaign for the 1993 plebiscite, which represented the hitherto only real opportunity for a return of the monarchy since the republican coup d'état, in 1889. In it, the people were asked to choose which form of government (presidential or parliamentary) and which form of state organization (republic or constitutional monarchy) Brazil should have. The monarchist cause was not successful, receiving only 13.4% of the vote.

In 9 July 2022, upon the death of his elder brother Luiz, Prince Bertrand became Head of the Imperial House of Brazil, a role he had already been perfoming de facto in a while.

Roles
In recent years, Prince Bertrand is coordinator and spokesman of the movement Paz no Campo (Peace in the fields), and has traveled all over Brazil lecturing for farmers and entrepreneurs in defense of private property and free enterprise. On 2012, Prince Bertrand wrote a book called Psicose Ambientalista (Environmentalist Psychosis), dealing of what he calls "the hoaxes created by radical environmentalists and by eco-terrorists".

Main activist and spokesman of the Brazilian Imperial House for the restoration of the monarchy, Prince Bertrand has gained prominence in the national media and, on some occasions, international media, with the rise and spread of monarchist movements throughout the country. The Prince Imperial participates annually in public meetings with monarchists, in addition to attending other meetings and conducting lectures, often at the invitation of private and public institutions such as the Brazilian Army, municipal governments, legislative assemblies and even the federal government, mainly for public events related to Brazil's monarchical past. On 2016 he gave an interview to Mariana Godoy on her program on RedeTV!, gaining notoriety with the general public. On 22 September 2017 Prince Bertrand participated in the program The Noite com Danilo Gentili, currently the largest talk show in the country, breaking the program's record of audience. In 2019 Prince Bertrand was the frontpage of the country's top newspaper, the O Estado de S. Paulo,, On speaking of tradition, conservatism and the relation between his branch of the family, the Bolsonaro clan and government. Despite the campaign, politically the monarchist movement is politically irrelevant and has between with 11% and 32% of support among the population, according to surveys.

Titles and styles

 * 2 February 1941 – 5 July 1981: His Highness Prince Bertrand of Brazil
 * 5 July 1981 – present: His Imperial Highness The Prince Imperial of Brazil
 * 9 July 2022 – present: His Imperial Highness The Prince of Brazil

Honors
As member of the House of Orléans-Braganza, Prince Bertrand hold the following positions:
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Commander-Major of the Imperial Order of Christ
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Commander-Major of the Imperial Order of St. Benedict of Avis
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Commander-Major of the Imperial Order of Saint James of the Sword
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Dom Pedro I
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Cross & Grand Dignitary-Major of the Imperial Order of the Rose

He has decorated by the republican Brazil:
 * Flag of Brazil.svg: Commander of the Order of Military Merit (19 April 2013)
 * Flag of Brazil.svg: Commander of the Order of Naval Merit (11 June 2015)
 * Flag of Brazil.svg: Commander of the Order of Military Judicial Merit (1 April 2009)

He received the following foreign honors:
 * Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816).svg Castroan Royal Family of Two Sicilies: Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
 * Flag of the Order of St. John (various).svg Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
 * Flag of the Vatican City.svg Vatican: Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Ancestry