Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal

Infanta Maria das Neves of Portugal (5 August 1852 – 15 February 1941) was the eldest child and daughter of exiled Miguel I of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein.

Family and early life Maria das Neves was born in Kleinheubach, an Infanta of Portugal and member of the House of Braganza by birth. She was the eldest daughter of the former Infante Miguel I of Portugal and Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. Like her siblings, she was born in exile in the German Empire, as her father had been deposed and perpetually banished from Portugal following the Liberal Wars and the signing of the Convention of Evoramonte.

Disregarding the claims of her two half-sisters legitimized by Miguel I and born during his effective reign, Maria Assunção de Bragança and Maria de Jesus de Bragança, she assumed the position of heiress to her father's claim to the throne of Portugal until the birth of her brother, Miguel Januário de Bragança. During this time, she claimed the title of "Princess Royal of Portugal" (de jure), though it was a title of pretense given her father's deposition in 1834.

Her family included much of Europe's royalty; her paternal grandparents were King John VI of Portugal and Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain. She was the niece of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, and a first cousin of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Queen Maria II of Portugal. Through her marriage to Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime, the Carlist claimant to the Spanish throne, Maria was also the titular Queen consort of Spain, France, and Navarre.

Marriage

Maria married Infante Alfonso Carlos, Duke of San Jaime, second son of Infante Juan, Count of Montizón and his wife Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria-Este, on 26 April 1871 in Kleinheubach. Alfonso Carlos was her first cousin once removed, as Maria's father (Miguel I of Portugal) and his paternal grandmother (Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal) were siblings. Their union produced only a son who died some hours after his birth, in 1874. They were unable to have more children and died childless. Maria died in Vienna, Austria, aged 88.