Pedro Carlos, Prince of Brazil

Pedro Carlos, Prince of Brazil (born 31 October 1945) is the head of the Petrópolis branch of the House of Orléans-Braganza, thus a pretender to the throne of the Empire of Brazil as Pedro V. The Petrópolis branch claims the throne in opposition to the Vassouras branch of the Orléans-Braganzas, headed by his cousin Luiz, Prince of Brazil. Though both Pedro Carlos and Luiz are great-great-grandchildren of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, of the House of Braganza, they dispute leadership over the Brazilian Imperial Family due to a dynastic dispute concerning their fathers, who were cousins.

A retired forest engineer, Pedro Carlos does not actively pursue his claim to the defunct throne and is mainly dedicated to defending the historical and cultural heritage of the Brazilian monarchy and managing the Petrópolis Real Estate Company, which he owns alongside his siblings. Owning the Palace of Grão-Pará, he is the last royal to live in a royal palace in the Americas.

Early life
Pedro Carlos was born in Petrópolis, the eldest son of six children of Pedro Gastão, Prince of Brazil and his wife, Princess Maria de la Esperanza of the Two Sicilies. He was baptised with the names Pedro de Alcântara Carlos João Lourenço Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga, following a House of Braganza tradition inaugurated by the first Emperor of Brazil of being named after the archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel and Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Upon his birth, he was the first member of the Brazilian Imperial Family to be born in Brazil since the deposition and exile of the family in 1889 (and since the birth of his great-uncle Luís, Prince Imperial of Brazil, in 1878). Paternally, Pedro Carlos is a first cousin once removed of Prince Jean, Count of Paris (born 1965), Orléanist pretender to the French throne, and first cousin of Duarte Pio, Duke of Braganza (born 1945), pretender to the throne of Portugal and uncle of Peter, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia, eldest son of Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia and Pedro's sister Princess Maria da Glória of Brazil. On the maternal side, he is also a first cousin of King Juan Carlos I of Spain (born 1938).

Education and career
Pedro Carlos graduated at forest engineering by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and became a realtor in Seville, Spain, where his mother owned the Palace of Villamanrique-de-la-Condessa which she inherited from her father, a Infante of Spain. Following his father's death in 2007, he assumed the headship of the Companhia Imobiliária de Petrópolis, a real state in the town of Petrópolis through which he collects the laudemy, a 2.5% tax on the value of all real estate negotiations made in downtown Petrópolis. This is because the Brazilian justice understands that the territory now corresponding to the center of Petrópolis have been a private property of the Brazilian Imperial Family, although this is under question by some politicians.

In 2017 Pedro Carlos held an auction on several Imperial Family items, including the golden pen used by his great-grandmother Empress Isabel I of Brazil, to sign the Golden Law which abolished slavery in Brazil, which was bought by the Ministry of Culture to be displayed at the Imperial Museum of Brazil. The last member of royal to reside in a royal palace in the Americas, Pedro Calros moved from the Grão-Pará Palace to a smaller penthouse in Itaipava, and rented the back of the palace for a parking lot.

Dynastic position
Pedro Carlos is considered to be a pretender to the Brazilian throne by the monarchists who believe the 1908 renunciation to dynastic rights of his paternal grandfather Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, was illegal and invalid. Nonetheless, a Spanish newspaper has reported that Pedro Carlos subscribes to a republican point of view. Although his position as pretender to the throne is not recognized by most Brazilian monarchists, it finds great support among intellectuals, jurists and law professors from the most prestigious universities in the country. Since the death of his father he is genealogically the senior representative of the House of Orleans-Braganza.

Marriages and family
Pedro Carlos has been married and widowed twice. Each marriage has resulted in one son.

He married Rony Kuhn de Souza (20 March 1938 – 14 January 1979) on 2 September 1975, at Petrópolis. Together, they had one son:
 * Pedro Thiago, Prince Imperial of Brazil (born 12 January 1979 at Petrópolis) – On 26 May 1992, Pedro Thiago was kidnapped while on his way to school and held for a ransom reported at $5 million. He was freed on 2 June after police raided a house in a Rio de Janeiro suburb. In January 2002, he was indicted on charges relating to the theft and then sale of a set of porcelain dishes from the Palace of the Grão-Pará belonging to his aunt Princess Cristina.

Pedro Carlos's first wife died two days after the birth of their son.

On 16 July 1981, at Fazenda São Geraldo, Pedro Carlos married Patricia Alexandra Branscombe (22 November 1964 – 21 November 2009). The couple had one son:
 * Filipe Rodrigo of Orléans-Braganza (born 31 December 1982).

His second wife died at the Palácio do Grão-Pará in Petrópolis.

Titles and styles

 * 31 October 1945 – 27 December 2007: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Prince Imperial of Brazil
 * 27 December 2007 – present: His Imperial and Royal Highness The Prince of Brazil

Honours
As Head of the House of Orléans-Braganza, Pedro Carlos held the following positions:
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of Christ
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of St. Benedict of Avis
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of Saint James of the Sword
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of Emperor Pedro I
 * Flag of Empire of Brazil (1870-1889).svg Grand Master and Sovereign of the Imperial Order of the Rose

He has also been decorated with a number of other honours:
 * Flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816).svg Calabrian Royal Family of Two Sicilies: Bailiff Grand Cross of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George

Ancestry
Three of his great-grandparents (#8, #14, #15) were grandchildren of King Louis Philippe of France, while another three (#9, #12, #13) were grandchildren of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies.