A disabled heir

[Kristallinchen]

The ones I had to think about, almost immediately, where some of the children of Henri, Count of Paris, Duke of France (Prince Henri Philippe Pierre Marie d'Orléans)(14 June 1933 – 21 January 2019) and  Duchess Marie Thérèse of Württemberg (German: Marie Therese Nadejda Albertine Rosa Philippine Margarethe Christine Helene Josepha Martina Leopoldine Herzogin von Württemberg)(12 November 1934). Their eldest son and 2nd daughter:

Prince François, Count of Clermont (7 February 1961 - 30 December 2017), severely disabled from toxoplasmosis.
Princess Blanche d'Orléans (10 September 1962), severely disabled from toxoplasmosis.

Francois was the Dauphin of France in Orleanist reckoning. However, his mother had been infected with toxoplasmosis during her second and third pregnancies, and the pre-natal exposure left both Prince François and his younger sister, Princess Blanche, developmentally disabled.

François was about two or three months old, according to his father (then styled Count of Clermont as Orleanist heir-apparent), before the family realized that he had a disability. During his early childhood the family dwelt in Haute-Savoie, although his father was often away on military assignment or business. When he was 13, his parents separated and François spent weekdays in a facility at Beaumont-sur-Oise and, from the early 1980s, in a L'Arche community, rejoining his mother and siblings at the Orléans estate in Dreux on weekends, while sometimes vacationing with his paternal grandmother at the Chateau d'Eu where she taught him to walk when he was four or five. In 1981 his grandfather, the Count of Paris, having declared Clermont deprived of his dynastic rights for an unauthorized civil remarriage after divorce, publicly announced that he would be succeeded as claimant to the French throne by Prince Jean, younger brother of François, in light of the latter's incapacity. Although the Count subsequently relented and declared Clermont restored in his rights as the first-born son, when Clermont succeeded as Count of Paris in 1999, he reinstated François as the next heir on the grounds that his father's act had been ultra vires. He established a council of regency to exercise the dynastic prerogative on François's behalf, to become effective upon the succession of François as claimant. In 2016 Jean declared that his father's appointment of a regency council was invalid and, having become his elder brother's legal guardian, promised to continue to care for him while also called for François "to be left in peace and not used." On 31 December 2017 Prince Jean reported that after suffering a bad fall the previous day, François had died. Henri subsequently recognized Jean as "the Dauphin", father and son publicly embracing at the interment of François at the Chapelle royale de Dreux on 6 January 2018 following a funeral service attended by his parents, siblings and other members of family, as well as members of reigning and deposed dynasties.


Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii.Infections with toxoplasmosis usually cause no obvious symptoms in adults.Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or months of mild, flu-like illness such as muscle aches and tender lymph nodes. In a small number of people, eye problems may develop. In those with a weak immune system, severe symptoms such as seizures and poor coordination may occur. If infected during pregnancy, a condition known as congenital toxoplasmosis may affect the child.


Sources: among others Wikipedia

Well, nowadays the mother's blood is tested for toxoplasmososis at least two times. And you're advised not to stroke unknown dogs or cats.

I guess back in the 60ies that wasn't the norm.

[fairy]

Interesting information Principessa.   All that useless argument over that poor young man. 

Whenever I see this topic come up I think of Alexandrine (1915-1980), the first daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.   She was born with Down's Syndrome.   It must have been a severe shock to the parents, as so little was known about the syndrome at that time.  Happily, she was not shut away in some awful "care home" but was a beloved member of the family. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/...russia_(1915%E2%80%931980)
       

Well she was a full and beloved member of the family, but what surprised me is that there are no pictures of her in later years. She lived till 1980 in Starnberg, yet there are no immediate google hits when you look up pictures of her...

[Principessa]

Interesting information Principessa.   All that useless argument over that poor young man. 

Whenever I see this topic come up I think of Alexandrine (1915-1980), the first daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.   She was born with Down's Syndrome.   It must have been a severe shock to the parents, as so little was known about the syndrome at that time.  Happily, she was not shut away in some awful "care home" but was a beloved member of the family. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/...russia_(1915%E2%80%931980)
       

In the case of Alexandrine I was very happy to see her being a beloved member of the family. Especially while in that time many (mental) disabled children were hidden and/or put away in an institute or such.

[Principessa]

Interesting information Principessa.   All that useless argument over that poor young man.  

Whenever I see this topic come up I think of Alexandrine (1915-1980), the first daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.   She was born with Down's Syndrome.   It must have been a severe shock to the parents, as so little was known about the syndrome at that time.  Happily, she was not shut away in some awful "care home" but was a beloved member of the family.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/...russia_(1915%E2%80%931980)
        

Well she was a full and beloved member of the family, but what surprised me is that there are no pictures of her in later years. She lived till 1980 in Starnberg, yet there are no immediate google hits when you look up pictures of her...

Indeed....no pictures of her in later years. The following ones were the only ones I could find which are past childhood.

[Principessa]

Not an heir, but the disabled sister (and only sibling) of Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (June 10, 1976) ( = current head of the Prussian branch of the princely House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia):

Princess Cornelie-Cécile (January 30, 1978), born posthumously.  Her father, Louis Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen, died in an accident in July 1977. Cornelie-Cecile is developmentally delayed. She's single and has no children.

[Kristallinchen]

Interesting information Principessa.   All that useless argument over that poor young man.  

Whenever I see this topic come up I think of Alexandrine (1915-1980), the first daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.   She was born with Down's Syndrome.   It must have been a severe shock to the parents, as so little was known about the syndrome at that time.  Happily, she was not shut away in some awful "care home" but was a beloved member of the family.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/...russia_(1915%E2%80%931980)
        

Well she was a full and beloved member of the family, but what surprised me is that there are no pictures of her in later years. She lived till 1980 in Starnberg, yet there are no immediate google hits when you look up pictures of her...

Indeed....no pictures of her in later years. The following ones were the only ones I could find which are past childhood.

Luckily she was a princess and an important enough person, otherwise I don't want to think about it what might have happened to her in the 1940ies.

Princess Maria Karolina of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1899-1941) was such a tragic example. She was the daughter of Prince August and Archduchess Karoline (from the Tuscany line).

She was mentally disabled, interned by the Nazis and later on gased (in Hartheim in Austria) and cremated. Her mother (she died in 1945) afterwards received a condolence letter (how sick).

Appearantly Duke Charles Edward of SCG had tried to save her too, but sadly with no success.

[fairy]

I am quite torn about this idea of "generally hidden away".
While I think that mental illnesses in some way have frightened people into shunning many of those poor patients, I also know from many accounts that as long as those suffering from mental or physical handicaps did not pose a threat to the family and/or village and did not take up too much time and effort to care for (there simply wasn't enough of both for the average family to spare for someone who could not attribute to the family's livelihood) they just lived with their families. In a time in which natal care was brutal and minimal at best, a lot more families had a member who suffered a mental or physical handicap either due to a botched birth, accidents/illnesses to the mother during pregnancy, ill-health/old age of the mother etc.
I remember some research during uni about this: and a quick check into my own family showed that we had up until medicine and prosperity kicked up a handicapped or challenged person in very generation - as did every other of my research partners.
Birthing 10 children in quick succession, often being pregnant every year simply is not really beneficial to a woman, even if she was the emporers wife or daughter and therefor at the top of the supply chain. Now imagine all the other countless women in far worse sanitary, health and work conditions...

What I think also helped Alexandrine was
A) she was lovely, she was pretty and apparently a sweet and lovable person, so that her siblings simply loved and adored her. Would it have been different with a different kind of mental illness? Also Down syndrome is not ONE fixed set of disabilities. it ranges from fairly mild to severe. From looking at the pictures I'd say Adini was not a severe case, but able to function fairly well.
B) All her siblings were extremely attractive, so the idea that the family might be tainted simply didn't come up. Not with such a bunch of hunks.
C) it was before Hitler brought up the idea that the German race should be purer than pure.

[Principessa]

Interesting information Principessa.   All that useless argument over that poor young man.  

Whenever I see this topic come up I think of Alexandrine (1915-1980), the first daughter of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.   She was born with Down's Syndrome.   It must have been a severe shock to the parents, as so little was known about the syndrome at that time.  Happily, she was not shut away in some awful "care home" but was a beloved member of the family.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/...russia_(1915%E2%80%931980)
        

Well she was a full and beloved member of the family, but what surprised me is that there are no pictures of her in later years. She lived till 1980 in Starnberg, yet there are no immediate google hits when you look up pictures of her...

Indeed....no pictures of her in later years. The following ones were the only ones I could find which are past childhood.

Luckily she was a princess and an important enough person, otherwise I don't want to think about it what might have happened to her in the 1940ies.

Princess Maria Karolina of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1899-1941) was such a tragic example. She was the daughter of Prince August and Archduchess Karoline (from the Tuscany line).

She was mentally disabled, interned by the Nazis and later on gased (in Hartheim in Austria) and cremated. Her mother (she died in 1945) afterwards received a condolence letter (how sick).

Appearantly Duke Charles Edward of SCG had tried to save her too, but sadly with no success.

According to the Wiki:

"..Maria Karoline (b. Pola, 10 January 1899 - d. Hartheim bei Linz, 6 June 1941). She had been living in an institution for the mentally disabled in Schladming, but was taken away and executed by gassing along with her fellow patients as a result of the Nazi eugenics policy, Action T4, in the concentration camp at Schloss Hartheim..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/...0at%20Schloss%20Hartheim.

Further more: https://royalcentral.co.u...ssed-by-the-nazis-126641/

[Principessa]

Not an heir, but the disabled sister (and only sibling) of Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (June 10, 1976) ( = current head of the Prussian branch of the princely House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia):

Princess Cornelie-Cécile (January 30, 1978), born posthumously.  Her father, Louis Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen, died in an accident in July 1977. Cornelie-Cecile is developmentally delayed. She's single and has no children.

[Principessa]

Haemophilia, a disease which can cause severe disability. Several royals & nobility, both heirs and non-heirs were affected by it:

"...Alexei Nikolaevich (Russian: Алексе́й Никола́евич) (12 August 1904 [O.S. 30 July] – 17 July 1918) of the House of Romanov, was the last Tsesarevich and heir apparent to the throne of the Russian Empire. He was the youngest child and only son of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. He was born with haemophilia, which his parents tried treating with the methods of faith healer Grigori Rasputin. Alexei inherited hemophilia from his mother Alexandra, a hereditary condition that affects males, which she had acquired through the line of her maternal grandmother Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. It was known as the "Royal Disease" because so many descendants of the intermarried European royal families had it (or carried it, in the case of females.) In 2009 genetic analysis determined that Alexei had suffered from hemophilia B....."


"...Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (10 May 1907 – 6 September 1938), was heir apparent to the throne of Spain from birth until he renounced his rights in 1933. He was the eldest son of Alfonso XIII and his wife Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg.He died at the age of 31 as a result of a car accident. Alfonso's renunciation of his rights as heir to the throne of Spain in order to marry Cuban commoner Edelmira Sampedro caused controversy at the time. Though appearing to have sustained minor injuries, his haemophilia, inherited by him from his great-grandmother Queen Victoria, led to fatal internal bleeding...."

"..Infante Gonzalo of Spain (Gonzalo Manuel Maria Bernardo Narciso Alfonso Mauricio de Borbón y Battenberg) (24 October 1914 – 13 August 1934) was the fourth surviving son and youngest child of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. The infante was educated privately. Because he inherited hemophilia from his mother's family (a fact not widely known in Spain during his life), he suffered some ill health, although he was an active sportsman. In August 1934 Gonzalo was spending the summer holidays with his family at the villa of Count Ladislaus de Hoyos at Pörtschach am Wörthersee in Austria. On the evening of 11 August, Gonzalo and his sister Infanta Beatriz were driving from Klagenfurt to Pörtschach. Near Krumpendorf, Beatriz, who was driving, was forced to swerve to avoid a cyclist (the retired jockey Baron Neimans). The car crashed into a wall. Neither Gonzalo nor Beatriz appeared badly hurt, and so they returned to their villa. Several hours later it became clear that Gonzalo had severe abdominal bleeding. Because he had a weak heart, an operation was ruled out. He died two days later. He was the king and queen's second child to die...."

"...Lord Leopold Mountbatten GCVO (Leopold Arthur Louis; 21 May 1889 – 23 April 1922) was a British Army officer and a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family.His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (née The Princess Beatrice), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known as Prince Leopold of Battenberg from his birth until 1917, when the British Royal Family relinquished their German titles during World War I, and the Battenberg family changed their name to Mountbatten.Leopold was a haemophiliac, a condition he inherited through his mother.Lord Leopold died on 23 April 1922 (aged 32), during a hip operation..."

"...Prince Maurice of Battenberg KCVO, (Maurice Victor Donald; 3 October 1891 – 27 October 1914) was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, and the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. He was known as Prince Maurice of Battenberg throughout his life, since he died before the British Royal Family relinquished their German titles during World War I and the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten.His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (née The Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort. The Prince served in World War I as a Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and was killed in action at Zonnebeke,[5] in the Ypres Salient on 27 October 1914...."

"...Prince Waldemar William Louis Frederick Victor of Prussia (German: Waldemar Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Viktor Heinrich)(20 March 1889 – 2 May 1945) was the eldest son of Prince Henry of Prussia and his wife, Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine. Waldemar married Princess Calixta of Lippe-Biesterfeld (14 October 1895 – 15 December 1982) on 14 August 1919. They had no children. Waldemar, like his maternal first cousin, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia; maternal uncle Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine; and youngest brother Heinrich, suffered from haemophilia. He died in a clinic in Tutzing, Bavaria because of the lack of blood transfusion facilities. He and his wife fled their home in light of the Russian advance, arriving in Tutzing, where Waldemar was able to receive his last blood transfusion.The U.S. Army overran the area the next day, on 1 May 1945, and diverted all medical resources to treat nearby concentration camp victims, preventing Waldemar's doctor from treating him. Waldemar died the following day, on 2 May..."

"..Prince Heinrich of Prussia (German: Heinrich Viktor Ludwig Friedrich)(9 January 1900 – 26 February 1904), was the haemophiliac third son and youngest child of Prince Henry of Prussia and Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, and thus a grandson of Frederick III, German Emperor on his father's side and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through both his mother and father. He died aged four. On 25 February, Princess Irene left Heinrich unsupervised for a few minutes while she went to fetch something. The playful Prince climbed a chair, and then he climbed onto the table. As he heard his mother approaching, he attempted to quickly come down but stumbled while attempting to climb down the chair and fell on the floor headfirst. He started to scream, which immediately attracted the Princess' attention. By the time she reached him, the child was almost unconscious. The doctor said the fall had not been that bad and the child would have survived had he not been a haemophiliac. However, suffering from this condition, it was certain the young Prince would die. He was suffering from a brain haemorrhage. He lingered for a couple of hours, but died the following day, on 26 February. He was four years old...."


"...Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (Friedrich Wilhelm August Victor Leopold Ludwig)( 7 October 1870 – 29 May 1873) was the haemophiliac second son of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, one of the daughters of Queen Victoria.His haemophilia was first diagnosed in February 1873, a few months before his death, when he cut his ear and bled for three days. Bandages could not stanch the flow of blood. In late May 1873, Friedrich and his older brother Ernst were playing together in their mother's bedroom. Ernst ran to another room, which was set at right angles to Alice's bedroom and peered through the window at his younger brother. Alice ran to get Ernst away from the window. When she was out of the room, Friedrich climbed onto a chair next to an open window in his mother's bedroom to get a closer look at his brother. The chair tipped over and Friedrich tumbled through the window, falling twenty feet to the balustrade below. Friedrich survived the fall and might have lived had he not been a haemophiliac. He died hours later of a brain hemorrhage..."


"...Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, KG, KT, GCSI, GCMG, GCStJ (Leopold George Duncan Albert)(7 April 1853 – 28 March 1884) was the eighth child and youngest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Leopold was later created Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron Arklow. He had haemophilia, which led to his death at the age of 30. Leopold inherited the disease haemophilia from his mother, Queen Victoria, and was a delicate child. There was speculation during his life that Leopold also suffered mildly from epilepsy. Due to his haemophilia, he had difficulty finding a wife. On 27 April 1882 Leopold married Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Leopold and Helena enjoyed a happy (although brief) marriage. In 1883, Leopold became a father when his wife gave birth to a daughter, Alice. He died shortly before the birth of his son, Charles Edward...."


"...Rupert Alexander George Cambridge, Viscount Trematon (24 August 1907 – 15 April 1928) was an English-born great-grandson of Queen Victoria. Originally Prince Rupert of Teck, he and his family relinquished their German titles in 1917. As heir apparent to the Earldom of Athlone, he was known as Lord Trematon, but he died before he could inherit the title.His parents were Prince Alexander of Teck and the former Princess Alice of Albany, great-grandson and granddaughter of King George III and Queen Victoria respectively. Prince Rupert was a haemophiliac, a condition he shared with many descendants of Queen Victoria, including his maternal grandfather, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, who died because of it.Viscount Trematon died on 15 April 1928 from an intracerebral hemorrhage as a result of a car crash in France. His death, following the death of his baby brother Maurice in 1910, meant that the title of Earl of Athlone became extinct in 1957 when his father died...."

[Gemsheal]

Haemophilia, a disease which can cause severe disability. Several royals & nobility, both heirs and non-heirs were affected by it:


"...Lord Leopold Mountbatten GCVO (Leopold Arthur Louis; 21 May 1889 – 23 April 1922) was a British Army officer and a descendant of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the British Royal Family.His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (née The Princess Beatrice), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A grandson of Queen Victoria, he was known as Prince Leopold of Battenberg from his birth until 1917, when the British Royal Family relinquished their German titles during World War I, and the Battenberg family changed their name to Mountbatten.Leopold was a haemophiliac, a condition he inherited through his mother.Lord Leopold died on 23 April 1922 (aged 32), during a hip operation..."

"...Prince Maurice of Battenberg KCVO, (Maurice Victor Donald; 3 October 1891 – 27 October 1914) was a member of the Hessian princely Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, and the youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. He was known as Prince Maurice of Battenberg throughout his life, since he died before the British Royal Family relinquished their German titles during World War I and the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten.His father was Prince Henry of Battenberg, the son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julie Therese née Countess of Hauke. His mother was Princess Henry of Battenberg (née The Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom), the fifth daughter and the youngest child of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort. The Prince served in World War I as a Lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and was killed in action at Zonnebeke,[5] in the Ypres Salient on 27 October 1914...."

Histories often mention Maurice as suffering from hemophilia, but I don't think there's a clear consensus on whether he did or not.  Maybe it was a very mild case (if there is such a thing).  I can't imagine he would have been allowed to serve in action, if he did suffer from hemophilia.   (His older brother Leopold was a staff officer during WWI.)   Leopold was very severely affected by hemophilia (particularly in the hips and joints, like Tsarvitch Alexis).   I've also seen it mentioned that Leopold died during an appendicitis operation, or a hip operation.             

[Gemsheal]

I am quite torn about this idea of "generally hidden away".
While I think that mental illnesses in some way have frightened people into shunning many of those poor patients, I also know from many accounts that as long as those suffering from mental or physical handicaps did not pose a threat to the family and/or village and did not take up too much time and effort to care for (there simply wasn't enough of both for the average family to spare for someone who could not attribute to the family's livelihood) they just lived with their families. In a time in which natal care was brutal and minimal at best, a lot more families had a member who suffered a mental or physical handicap either due to a botched birth, accidents/illnesses to the mother during pregnancy, ill-health/old age of the mother etc.
I remember some research during uni about this: and a quick check into my own family showed that we had up until medicine and prosperity kicked up a handicapped or challenged person in very generation - as did every other of my research partners.
Birthing 10 children in quick succession, often being pregnant every year simply is not really beneficial to a woman, even if she was the emporers wife or daughter and therefor at the top of the supply chain. Now imagine all the other countless women in far worse sanitary, health and work conditions...

What I think also helped Alexandrine was
A) she was lovely, she was pretty and apparently a sweet and lovable person, so that her siblings simply loved and adored her. Would it have been different with a different kind of mental illness? Also Down syndrome is not ONE fixed set of disabilities. it ranges from fairly mild to severe. From looking at the pictures I'd say Adini was not a severe case, but able to function fairly well.
B) All her siblings were extremely attractive, so the idea that the family might be tainted simply didn't come up. Not with such a bunch of hunks.
C) it was before Hitler brought up the idea that the German race should be purer than pure.

Also, I believe Alexandrine was kept at home, not a nursing home or a home for mentally disabled - this would have protected her during Hitler's cleansing programme, a little anyway.

I have a soft spot for her life story, as my cousin has Down's syndrome - he is the sweetest person, and almost self-sufficient, though he lives in an assisted living residence.  His birth was a big shock to my aunt and uncle, as she was only 32, so not exactly on the radar as someone who would have a Down's child, though we know now it can happen at any age.       

[Principessa]

Prince Peter August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Portuguese: Pedro Augusto Luís Maria Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 19 March 1866 – 6 July 1934), known in Brazil as Dom Pedro Augusto, was a prince of the Empire of Brazil and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. The favorite grandson of Emperor Pedro II, he was known as "the Preferred" (Portuguese: O Preferido).

The eldest son of Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and of Dona Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, Princess of Brazil, Dom Pedro Augusto was also the first grandson of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil and Empress Teresa Cristina. His paternal grandparents were Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clémentine of Orléans (daughter of King Louis Philippe of France)

Due to the lack of heirs by the Princess Imperial and the miscarriage suffered by Dona Leopoldina in her first pregnancy, there were high expectations surrounding the birth of Dom Pedro Augusto.e entire diplomatic corps were alerted to the big event. Pedro Augusto was born at 16:10 of March 19, 1866, at the Leopoldina Hall; his birth was announced with three rockets fired from the Imperial Palace of São Cristóvão, followed by volleys of guns of the forts and ships anchored in the bar. The baptism was held in April in the Imperial Chapel. In the Speech from the Throne on May 3 of that year, the emperor made reference to the happy event.

The apparent infertility of Princess Dona Isabel meant that Pedro Augusto was considered the heir apparent since the day of his birth. However, at nine years of age, the prince found himself sliding down in the line of succession, due to the birth of his cousin Dom Pedro de Alcântara, who held the title of Prince of Grão-Pará.

This change of circumstances is said to have affected the behaviour of Pedro Augusto considerably. After the birth of his cousin and throughout his adolescence, the prince suffered from insomnia, intense headaches, palpitations, and hand tremors. His recurring fear of death (fearing to be infected with the same disease that killed his mother) became a source of concern for his father

Dom Pedro Augusto learned of the military coup that resulted in the Proclamation of the Republic hours after the incident, when returning from a horseback ride. Forced by the provisional government to go into exile, on November 17, at dawn, all members of the Imperial family - with the exception of Dom Augusto, who was in circumnavigation with the Imperial Navy in the East - boarded the steamer Alagoas and were escorted by the battleship Riachuelo up to the limits of the Brazilian territorial waters.

It was aboard the Alagoas that Prince had his first psychotic break-down: he tried to strangle the captain, accusing him of having taken a bribe in order to kill everyone on board.Restrained and locked in his cabin, he was stricken with persecutory delusions, and ended up wrapping his body in a lifeguard buoy, fearing that the ship was being bombed. With alternating phases of excitement and lethargy, Pedro Augusto threw bottles overboard with requests for help. There are records of at least one of these messages, found in a bottle on Maragogi beach.

Having arrived in his European exile, Pedro Augusto was taken for psychiatric treatment in Graz (Austria). A few weeks later he was discharged and met with his grandparents when they received the news of the death of Dona Teresa Cristina, the only family ally in his pretensions to the throne. With the move of the family to Cannes, he contacted old supporters and tried to plan the monarchical restoration in Brazil. However, his psychological situation deteriorated further, and the few monarchists still active soon withdrew their support from the prince.

Having been abandoned by the "pedristas", Pedro Augusto's psychiatric symptoms progressively worsened. His nights were sleepless, he did not eat, and he began babbling incomprehensible words or ranting against imaginary enemies. Often the servants of the Coburg Palace found him huddled in a corner with a glazed look and foaming at the mouth.

The few remaining friends tried in vain to help him. At the request of the physician Jean Charcot, the young man was examined by the famous Sigmund Freud, as evidenced by Augusto Leopoldo in a letter to the Baron de Santa Vitória.

Although his health showed signs of recovery, monarchists ended up investing their hopes and support in his brother as pretender to the throne. With the death of Dom Pedro II, on December 5, 1891, melancholy and mania returned. Pedro Augusto accused his aunt and uncle, Princess Isabel and the Count d'Eu, of spreading rumours about his sanity; and he accused journalists of casting doubts on his masculinity.

In October 1893, articles published in French and Argentine newspapers recognized the status of his cousin Dom Pedro de Alcântara as the rightful claimant to the imperial throne. This led Pedro Augusto to the brink of collapse, and his old delusions returned. After being restrained and sent to the Coburg Palace again, he attempted suicide by throwing himself through one of the windows of his room.

Admitted by his father to a sanatorium in Tulln an der Donau, "The Preferred" spent the rest of his life believing that he would one day become Emperor of Brazil. On April 25, 1900, all of his personal belongings were auctioned off in Vienna. The prince died on July 7, 1934, at the age of 68 and after over four decades of hospitalization. His body was buried in the crypt of the Sankt-Augustin-Kirche in Coburg.

[Principessa]

Maria Karoline Philomena Ignatia Pauline Josepha Michaela Gabriela Raphaela Gonzaga (10 January 1899 – 6 June 1941), had been living in an institution for the mentally disabled in Schladming; in 1941, under the Nazi Action T4 euthanasia policy, the patients were removed to the concentration camp of Schloss Hartheim and gassed.

Maria Karoline was the daughter of Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria (German: Carolina Maria Immakulata Josepha Ferdinanda Therese Leopoldine Antoinette Franziska Isabella Luise Januaria Christine Benedikta Laurencia Justiniana, Erzherzogin von Österreich, Prinzessin von Toskana) (5 September 1869– 12 May 1945) and Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (December 6, 1867 – October 11, 1922), known in Brazil as Dom Augusto Leopoldo.

Prince August Leopold was a prince of the Empire of Brazil and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was the second of four sons born to German Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Leopoldina of Brazil.

[Principessa]

Duke Siegfried in Bavaria,(full German name: Siegfried August Maximilian Maria, Herzog in Bayern) (10 July 1876– 12 March 1952) was a Duke in Bavaria and member of the House of Wittelsbach. Siegfried August was the first of three sons of Duke Maximilian Emanuel in Bavaria and his wife Princess Amalie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Siegfried August was the brother of Christoph Joseph Clemens Maria, Duke in Bavaria and Luitpold Emanuel Ludwig Maria, Duke in Bavaria.

While staying with Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Siegfried met his host’s unmarried half-sister, Archduchess Maria Annunciata, fell in love with her, and their engagement was to be announced in due course. They would have made a comely couple, for the Princess had inherited much of the brilliance as well as good looks of her mother, the beloved Archduchess Maria Theresa, while Duke Siegfried was probably the best looking Prince of his house, a dashing cavalier, and one of the few scions of old world royalty and who had achieved distinction as a steeplechase rider.

Two months later, the engagement was broken off by the Archduchess, owing to her sudden discovery of the stormy antecedents of her fiancé, which she had been ignorant of at the time when she had promised to become his wife. The breaking off of the engagement was a matter which was arranged between the young people themselves, and that they had been deeply in love with each other was shown by the appeal immediately afterward by the Archduchess to the Emperor for permission to enter Holy Orders and to take the vows of a Benedictine nun, while the Duke became prey to melancholia, which in due course developed into insanity, rendering it necessary for his confinement.

It may be remembered that the origins of the insanity of the Duke’s cousin, the crazy King Otto of Bavaria, was due to unfortunate love affair which he took too deeply to heart, and that the first blow to the reason of the late King Ludwig II of Bavaria was given by the Court intrigue which brought about the breaking off of his engagement to his cousin, Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, on the eve of the date appointed for the wedding. King Ludwig, after being placed under restraint as a lunatic, died a violent death in the waters of Lake Starnberg in 1886, while his former fiancée, after a far from happy marriage with the French Duke of Alençon, perished in the flames of the charity bazaar conflagration at Paris in 1897.