The end of the Braganzas: Peter III dies before 1760

Joseph I of Portugal didn't have male heirs, and in order to secure the throne of Portugal to his dynasty he arranged the marriage of his eldest daughter (Mary I) to his brother (Peter III), which happened in 1760.

However, WI Peter had died before this marriage? There would be no Braganzas left to find a husband to Mary and continue the rule of the family.* So, given that it would be happening under the context of the Seven Years War, who could be a possible candidate to be king consort of Portugal and founder of the new dynasty?

*Well, there was Infante Manuel of Portugal, but would be over 60 at the time, and doesn't seem likely that the would have agreed to it anyway.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Its an interesting idea. I always thought it was a little odd how the Braganzas descended into Habsburgesque levels of unlce-niece, aunt-nephew marriages in the later 18th century. But finding Maria a husband would be hard. Much harder than I thought initially. There simply aren't that many Catholic royals of suitable age, who aren't already married and whose candidacy for the marriage wouldn't automatically provoke another power into war. The Bourbons would be out unless they could obtain the throne by force (against Britain who would surely start a succession war against a Bourbon candidate) so that eliminates the ruling families of France, Spain, Sicily and Parma. The Duke of Modena has no sons and the Este are facing their own succession issues. Same goes for the various branches of the Wittelsbachs. There are no Archdukes young enough for her, so Austria is out.

The two best possibilities from foreign royal houses would be the Duke of Chablais, Prince Benedetto of Savoy or Karl Christian of Saxony, the Duke of Courland. Savoy at the time is neutral but was well connected. Karl Christian was Duke of Courland but Catherine the Great eventually forced him out. So its possible that the Portuguese marriage provides him a graceful exit from Poland.

The other route is some Portuguese noble. The problem there is that elevating one family above their peers may provoke some ire among the rest of the nobility. So another possibility is to find some second son of a minor family in southern Germany, some nobody who doesn't matter to anyone and there for can not upset anyone. This is basically the route Maria II went with her marriages, though her husbands were perhaps of a more intermediary pedigree than what would be available to Maria I.
 
The two best possibilities from foreign royal houses would be the Duke of Chablais, Prince Benedetto of Savoy or Karl Christian of Saxony, the Duke of Courland. Savoy at the time is neutral but was well connected. Karl Christian was Duke of Courland but Catherine the Great eventually forced him out. So its possible that the Portuguese marriage provides him a graceful exit from Poland.

The other route is some Portuguese noble. The problem there is that elevating one family above their peers may provoke some ire among the rest of the nobility. So another possibility is to find some second son of a minor family in southern Germany, some nobody who doesn't matter to anyone and there for can not upset anyone. This is basically the route Maria II went with her marriages, though her husbands were perhaps of a more intermediary pedigree than what would be available to Maria I.

I thought about Benedetto and Karl too. However, as Karl is from the House of Saxony probably Britain and Prussia would be against him. So we are only left with Benedetto. However, considering that Charles Emmanuel III wanted to keep Savoy neutral, he might not push the union in order to not atract the anger of the Bourbons and the Habsburgs.

A local Portuguese noble would be actually very unlikely at the time. That was the period when the Marquis of Pombal was concentrating all the governemnt power, and one of the his policies was exactly cut and reduce the privileges and powers of the nobility. Surely he would do anything possible to convince Joseph I to not accept a local noble as the husband of his daughter, as it probably would give political strenght to the family chosen and the ones connected to them.

How likely is to have a Protestant prince from the nations allied to Britain (that would be the power that Portugal needs to keep on his side) accepting convertion to Catholicism in order to become a king? Who could possible accept such deal?
 
One interesting idea might be the Duke of Zweibrucken. There's a bit of an age difference, but not a large one, and I don't think it'd be an obstacle, considering Mary's eldest son married his aunt when he was 17, and she was already in her 30s. This German Prince originally courted one of Maria Theresa's daughters, but maybe something could be force him to consider marriage to Maria instead. This branch of the family was not as closely aligned to France and Austria as the main branches of Bavaria and the Palatine, so he might be acceptable to Britain given his somewhat lowly position.
 
One interesting idea might be the Duke of Zweibrucken. There's a bit of an age difference, but not a large one, and I don't think it'd be an obstacle, considering Mary's eldest son married his aunt when he was 17, and she was already in her 30s.

Maybe it's an obstacle not to her, but to him.;)

Anyway, I agree that under this situation any marriage plan would be postponed to after the end of the war. However, even then, I doubt that any Bourbon or Habsburg would be accepted, in order to not upset the balance of power.
 
Maybe it's an obstacle not to her, but to him.;)

Anyway, I agree that under this situation any marriage plan would be postponed to after the end of the war. However, even then, I doubt that any Bourbon or Habsburg would be accepted, in order to not upset the balance of power.

Yeah, I agree that no Bourbon or Habsburg would be allowed to take the heiress' hand. One interesting idea is Margraves of Ansbach or maybe even the Swabian branch of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who were Catholic. They'd be lowly enough not to provoke any ire. Not sure if there are any suitable Princes, however.
 
Yeah, I agree that no Bourbon or Habsburg would be allowed to take the heiress' hand. One interesting idea is Margraves of Ansbach or maybe even the Swabian branch of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who were Catholic. They'd be lowly enough not to provoke any ire. Not sure if there are any suitable Princes, however.

Just an idea, could a Protestant noble convert to Catholicism in order to marry Mary and become king? I thought about some possibilities, but I don't know how likely would they be:

Frederick Augustus of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel;
Prince Edward, Duke of York
 
Just an idea, could a Protestant noble convert to Catholicism in order to marry Mary and become king? I thought about some possibilities, but I don't know how likely would they be:

Frederick Augustus of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel;
Prince Edward, Duke of York


Well, the last two Austrian Emperors, Joseph I and Charles VI, both married Brunswick Princesses, who presumably had to convert. Iirc Joseph married a Brunswick-Luneburg (Hanoverian) and Charles a Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
I thought about Zweibrucken. But there is the age difference. And of course down the road it would be a big problem when Zweibrucken inherits Bavaria after the Sulzbach line dies out. I looked at Pfalz-Gelnhausen as well but the age difference is even more extreme. That leaves some minor Catholic house in Swabia. Unfortunately it seems like most potential husbands are 10-15 years too old or 10-15 too young. Too old and they've probably married by 1760 and too young and Maria will be thirty before they could have children.

There isn't anyone eligible among the three branches of Hohenzollern (Hechingen, Haigerloch and Sigmaringen) Ansbach is Lutheran and wouldn't work. There's still the various branches of Waldburg and Furstenburg and at least one branch of Hohenlohe. But I can't find the info on them (because they're so obscure) to see if anyone there might work.

So I suppose a protestant might have to do. I think he would have to be Lutheran (rather than Calvinist, though if he's converting maybe it won't matter) and a second son because he can't create a personal union of a protestant German state and Catholic Portugal. I think Louis Eugene of Wurttemberg might work. His father had converted to Catholicism and married a Catholic and while his brothers became Lutheran when they married Prussian princesses he could easily remain Catholic for sake of the marriage. He married late OTL, 1762, so he's still available, And while Wurttemberg would pass to him OTL he could easily abdicate it in favor of his younger brother who actually did inherit OTL. While Wurttemberg was officially on the Franco-Austrian side in the Seven Years War there was a strong pro-Prussian sentiment and Louis' younger brother actually fought in the Prussian army so it may be possible to appease both sides with some slick diplomacy.

I also started to think about a non-dynastic French candidate. Namely one of the Foreign Princes. Camille of Lorraine was the younger brother of the Prince of Lambesc, who was of a cadet branch of the House of Guise, by way of the Duke of Elbeuf. He's pretty obscure but his family has an impeccable lineage and while French is ironically a branch of the now ruling family of Austria the House of Lorraine. Though I admit its pretty unlikely.
 
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