King Carlos & Queen Amelie of Portugal

[frederika]

 I always wanted to no somthing about this queen. I think she was a french princess?

she had quite a tragic life her husband and son were murdered her daughter died in childhood and her last son died young and childless leaving her on her own.

[Eurohistory]

We actually had a marvelous article on her in The European Royal History Journal some issues ago.

Princess Amélie d'Orléans was one of the daughters of the Count of Paris and his wife, née Isabelle de Montpensier (aka Infanta Isabel of Spain), who happened to be the eldest daughter of the Duc de Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain.

She is responsible for preventing the assassination of her son Manuel!

Arturo Beéche

[kmerov]

Does anyone have a picture of her?
That sounds very interesting Art...How did she do that, and who wanted to kill him?

[PrinceEddy1864]

Amelie's mother was also the eldest sister of Queen Mercedes of Spain, the first wife of King Alfonso XII.

Amelie's father was Louis Philippe, Count of Paris (as Art said earlier). Louis Philippe was the elder brother of Robert d'Orleans who was the father of Princess Marie of Denmark (Waldemar's wife). Amelie's younger sister Helene was involved with Prince Albert Victor.

She was married in 1886 to Carlos I of Portugal. Their first child Luis Felipe was born the following year. He was likely named in honor of his maternal grandfather as well as his paternal Gf, King Luis I of Portugal, whos father was I believe a first cousin to both Victoria and Albert. As a note Amelie's husband was also a first cousin to the future King Ferdinand I of Romania.
The couples third child Manuel was born in 1889.

[PrinceEddy1864]

There are quite a few nice pictures of her on the Glittering Abyss and Glittering Crowns groups. Here is one of she and Carlos around the time of their marriage.

I know ella is a big fan of hers. Perhas she has a picture of Amelie when she was a child. Or a group photo with her sisters and brothers when they were young. There is one of she and some of her siblings in the Crown and Camera book. It was clearly taken before her marriage. I dont have the book at home here with me  though.

[grandduchessella]

Yes PEddy is right--I'm an Amelie devotee.  

She is another one of those fascinating Orleans women who deserve a book.

She was actually in the carriage with her husband and 2 sons when the assassin attacked. She saved her younger son's life by using her parasol or bouquet (depending on account) to thwart another attempt.

In the Last Courts of Europe book there is a great picture of her sitting on a bull--that was the one which caught my attention!  

She was quite an accomplished woman and actually had an MD (a real one not an honorary degree).

Her husband had been a good friend to Edward VII going back to early years (as the Portuguese royal family were also Coburgs) and Amelie became good friends with Queen Alexandra. The couple made a few visits to England and that's where Amelie spent much of her time in exile.

I'll work on moving some photos to my photobucket account and posting some.

[PrinceEddy1864]

I am sorry I do not know much about this assasination attempt, other than the fact that it took place. So.. How exactly were they assasinated? What was the type of weapon I mean. It must have been obvious to her that they were attempting to kill everyone (I mean her husband and both sons). They must have been trying to wipe out the entire family and severly endanger or extinguish the monarchy for good.

I remebered how you said you liked that picture of her on the bull ella. Now everytime I pass that page in TLCOE, I think about how that helped spark your interest in her  .

[Eurohistory]

The royal family had been on vacation.  Upon returning to Lisbon they debarked the royal barge climbed on a coach and started their way through the city and on to the royal palace.  Soon afterwards, assassins broke away from the crowd and opened fire on the unsuspecting royal family.  The bullet that killed Carlos, also hit Luiz Filipe, who died about a quarter of an hour after his father....thus becoming the "king" for all of 15 minutes.

Amélie managed to hit one of the assassins with her parasol, thus saving the liufe of her youngest son Manuel, who escaped with minor gunshot wounds.

Arturo Beéche

[PrinceEddy1864]

The story of the assasination is fasinating. I can almost picture it in my head. I can just see her being flustered and then just doing whatever she could to prevent the men from getting at Manuel. She was quite a women indeed.

In the illustrations it looks like someone outside the carriage is shooting a man. Were the assasins shot on the spot by the families guards? Or were they prosecuted and tried for the crime?

[Grand_Duke]

Were the assasins shot on the spot by the families guards? Or were they prosecuted and tried for the crime?

The police shot the 2 assassins on the spot and also killed an innocent man during the confusion.

[grandduchessella]

They apparently did kill 3-4 on the scene but others were apparently allowed to flee and escape punishment because the plot went high up the chain. The papers even named the conspirators. Even allowing for mistakes made the basic facts seem to be sound. One assassin was killed by the King's bodyguard who was then stripped of his rank and exiled for this. Sorry I just have the abstracts.

Here's what was in the papers re: the assassins.

ASSASSIN AN ABBE'S SON.; Schoolmate of Slayer of King and Prince Tells Life Story.
The Washington Post Feb 8, 1908.
The life story of Buissa, the leader of the band that assassinated King Carlos and Crown Prince Luiz, at Lisbon last Saturday, has been obtained in this city from a Portuguese clerk in a commercial house, who was a schoolmate of the regicide.

FAVOR TO REGICIDES; London Hears Lisbon Protects Slayers of King Carlos. ASSASSINS KNOWN; HIDDEN Subscriptions Raised for Families of Murderers, and Competition for Adop- tion of Their Children -- Carlos and Luiz Buried with Formal Ceremony. Dead King's Mother to Visit Italy.
Feb 11, 1908
A special dispatch to the Standard from Lisbon asserts that the public acquiesce in the assassination of the King and crown prince as a justifiable political act, and that no effort will be made to bring to justice the accomplices of the murders, although they are numerous and in many cases known.

REGICIDES NOT PROSECUTED.; Too Many of High Station Implicated in Death of King Carlos.
May 5, 1908

REGICID'S SLAYER SEND INTO EXILE
No more striking illustration of the extraordinary condition of affairs prevailing at Lisbon could be furnished than the fact that the government has been virtually compelled to exile Lieut. Francesco Figuiera, the orderly officer of the late King Carlos, owing to his action in cutting down with his sword one of the assassins of his royal master and of the Crown Prince.

QUEEN AMELIA GUARDS THE SECRET OF THE MURDER OF KING CARLOS
Jul 12, 1908
THE fiery words of denunciation launched by Jose d'Alpoim in the Portuguese camara dos pares on July 2, were not unexpected. His revelation of a progressive-regenerador plot aided by republicans who would have murdered the entire royal family astonished no one in Lisbon. Nor did his declaration that the regicides, Buica and Costa, were to receive respectively $20,000 and $10,000 for slaying King Carlos and ...

REGICIDE IN CUSTODY; Portugusse Authorities Arrest "ex-Detec- tivs for Killing King and Son.
Dec 19, 1908.
Lisbon, Dec. 18 -- A former detective, implicated in the plot that resulted in the assassination last February of King Carlos of Portugal and his son, Crown Prince Luiz, has been arrested.

[grandduchessella]

Newspaper abstracts from immediate months leading up to assassination. Of course the problems went on long before this but this was the most immediate.

BOMB PLOTS IN PORTUGAL.; People Excited by Absolutism and King's Tutor Turns Republican.
Nov 22, 1907.
The investigation of the explosion of an infernal machine here November 18, when two anarchists who were manufacturing bombs were killed, a third being arrested, has revealed the existence of a far-reaching plot against the dictatorship. More than 700 bombs have been seized and the police have made eighty arrests. The machine which exploded was intended for use in the San ...

KING BANISHES HIS SON; Carlos Angry at Crown Prince for Opposing Policies. REVOLT FEARED IN PORTUGAL Popular Antagonism to Dictatorship of Prime Minister Growing Dangerous. King Must Abdicate or Be Deposed, Says Conservative Leader -- Troops Are Prepared, but Loyalty Is Doubted.
Nov 23, 1907
According to the Madrid correspondent of the Standard, the King of Portugal has banished Crown Prince Louis to the villa Vicoso, a royal residence in an isolated part of Portugal, a hundred miles from Lisbon.

ARMY LOYAL TO CARLOS; Reports of Crises in Portugal Vigorously Denied. OUSTED MINISTERS' TACTICS Dictator Franco Supported by Commercial Community and Priesthood -- Peasantry Is Indifferent -- French Creditors Support Present Regime, Which Has Reduced Deficit $20,000,000.
Nov 24, 1907.
According to a letter from a correspondent at Lisbon, the puzzle of the Portuguese news dispatches that have appeared abroad is to be explained by the campaign tactics of the: former cabinet ministers, who have to face a prolongation of their exclusion from constitutional politics under the decree of May 12, by which Premier Franco dissolved the Cortes without announcing new ...

THRONE IN DANGER; King Carlos Sets Up a Star Chamber in Portugal.
Nov 25, 1907
The government decree issued yesterday, in addition to extending the life of the decrees against the press until the Cortes assembles, under which eight papers of Lisbon and Oporto were suppressed, creates an extraordinary tribunal to judge, without juries, persons concerned in conspiracies or attempts, public or nonpublic, to provoke risings against social order and the security of the state.

PREDICTS KING'S FALL; Republican Leader Says the Portuguese Are Aroused. MACHADO'S VIEW OF CRISIS Carlos, by Supporting Premier Franco in a Restoration of Absolutism, Has, in Opponent's Opinion, Alienated the People -- Army Not Big Enough to Quell a Revolt -- Malcontents Have Arms.
Dec 4, 1907
Bernadino Machado, who is regarded as the inevitable choice of the republicans for president in the event of a change of regime in Portugal, declared to-day that the tranquility of the country was superficial rather than real. He asserted that instead of being indifferent to the political struggle now in progress the masses had been profoundly moved.

[grandduchessella]

KING AND PRINCE KILLED BY ASSASSINS' VOLLEY; Portuguese Monarch and His Son Shot to Death While Driving in Streets of Lisbon. INFANTE MANUEL WOUNDED Three Murderers Killed by Police and Fourth Ends His Life in Prison-Queen Tries to Shield Princes. Prince Manner Will Rule with Queen as Regent -- City Is in Wild Terror.
Feb 2, 1908.
King Carlos, of Portugal, and the Crown Prince Luiz Phillipe were assassinated to-day. The city is in a state of uproar. The King's second son, the Infante Manuel, was slightly wounded, but Queen Amclie, who strove to save the Crown Prince's life by throwing herself upon him, was unhurt.

KING CARLOS' DEATH.
Feb 3, 1908
The world is shocked at the fate of Portugal's King, Carlos I, and of his son, the Crown Prince Luiz Filippe. Whatever may have been the weaknesses and the faults of the dead monarch, the world will have nothing ill to say of him new. It will remember him only as a man, not as a ruler, and recall that he was kind and cheerful ...

MIGUEL'S CLAIM TO THRONE.; Portuguese Pretender's Title Based on Act of Usurpation.
Feb 3, 1908.
Dom Miguel, of Braganza, pretender to the throne of Portugal, until recently was content to live in relative obseurity in Austria, where his ties of kinship with the Hapsburgs caused him to be treated as a relative of the imperial family -- al- most as one of its members. In fact, he has received the coloneley of a crack Hussar regiment, and the Order of ...

PRETENDER HAS NO CHANCE.; Portuguese Minister at Vienna Absolves Miguel of Complicity.
Vienna, Feb. 2 -- The statement was made at the Portuguese legation today that the assassins of the King were anarchists, and not subjects of the Portuguese monarchy.

WOUNDED BOY KING; Manuel II, Aged Eignteen, on Portugese Throne. NO UPRISING IN LISBON Rumor Republic is Declared at Oporto Not Confirmed. Republicans Express Execration of the Assassins, Who Tried at One Stroke to Kill Queen and Second Son with Sovereign and Prince -- Amelie Fought Regicides with Bouquet Given Her by a Girl -- Franco Retained in Power. NEW KING'S PLEDGES.
Lisbon, Feb. 2 -- A boy King, who henceforth will be known as Manuel II. is to-night the ruler of the kingdom of Portugal, and the revolution into which the instigators of the bloody events of yesterday had hoped to plunge the country has not yet, at least, engulfed the nation.

BRITISH WAR SHIPS OFF; England Bound by Treaty to Support Manuel's Throne. INTERFERENCE NOT PLANNED Spain Sends Cruiser to Lisbon to Be at Minister's Disposal -- Talk of Joint Action by Spain and Britain in Case of a Crisis -- Powers Advised that Order Will Be Maintained in Portugal.
Gibraltar, Feb. 3 -- The second British cruiser squadron left here this morning, steaming to the west. It was at first reported that the vessels were going to Lisbon, but it is understood now that the squadron will not go to the Tagus unless the situation in Portugal takes an unexpected turn, jeoparding the lives or property of British subjects.

NEW RULE IN LISBON; Dictator Franco Gives Way to a Coalition Ministry. IN HIDING OR A FUGITIVE Parties He Opposed Furnish Government for Portugal. Police Learn that Murders of King and Crown Prince Were Planned with the Greatest Care -- Manuel II Places Himself Unreservedly in Hands of His Cabinet -- All Reports Agree that Capital Is Quiet, but Hunt for Plotters Goes On. PORTUGAL'S NEW CABINET.
Lisbon, Feb. 3 -- Under a new regime, with a new King, and the establishment of a new Cabinet, Portugal seems to be for the moment at peace. There is an underlying current of revolution, however, and the strictest measures are being taking to preserve order. At noon today an official statement was given out that perfect order existed throughout Portugal.

FRANCO FLEES IN FEAR; Threats of Assassination Drive Ex-Premier Out. TWO OF HIS CABINET VANISH Murder Suspects and Political Prisoners Set Free by New Government -- Widowed Queen Said to Contemplate a Journey to England to Leave Manuel Free Hand -- Lisbon Populace Quiet.
Lisbon, Feb. 6 -- The secret and sudden flight of Senor Franco, the former premier, from Lisbon across the frontier into Spain, accompanied by his wife and son, was caused by the threats of death. After the murder of the King, Franco received many letters threatening vengeance. Already Franco as dictator had been plotted against and had gone about protected by armed guards, who also ...

PREDICTS A REPUBLIC; Portuguese Leader Says King Cannot Stem Tide. DECLARES PEOPLE ORGANIZED Republican Group in Every Town, with Doctors, Lawyers, and Priests as Mem- bers -- Bankers Call Financial Situation Worse Than Political -- Plot Involved Murder of Whole Royal Family.
Lisbon, Feb. 7 -- via Badajos, Spain, Feb. 8 -- Republican leaders in Portugal are in high spirits. They assert confidently that a republic is now a matter of months, not of years. An opinion on the situation and an outline of the republican plan of campaign were given to-day by perhaps the most competent spokesman of the party.

KING MAY LOSE HIS ARM.; Wound Received by Manuel of Portugal Has Not Healed.
Mar 23, 1908

[Grand_Duke]

They apparently did kill 3-4 on the scene but others were apparently allowed to flee and escape punishment because the plot went high up the chain.

The police killed 3 persons: 2 assassins and 1 innocent man.
Today historians know that there were ca. 10 conspirators at the spot ready to kill the Royal Family but only 2 made the move.
This assassination still have some unkown questions!

The republican anti-monarchy feeling was very high at the time. On 5th October, 1910 (2 years, 8 months and 5 days after the assassination) Portugal became a Republica!

[Agneschen]

For those who can read French, I recommend the excellent bio by Laurence Catinot-Crost Amélie de Portugal, Princesse de France. I have never heard of any bio of her written in English.
Eduardo Nobre's Familia real - Album de Fotographias contains some wonderful pics of her as well as of the whole Portuguese royal family from Maria II da Gloria onward.