Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1846-1921) and Prince Gaston of Orléans

[Marengo]

Isabel 'The Redeemer' Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga, Princess Imperial of Brazil, de jure Empress D. Isabel I of Brazil (Rio de Janeiro 29 July 1846 – Eu, 14 November 1921); married in Rio de Janeiro on 15 October 1864 Prince Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston d'Orléans, Prince Imperial-Consort of Brazil, Count of Eu (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 28 April 1842 - on the Atlantic Ocean, 28 August 1922)

Children: Princess Luisa of Brazil; Prince Pedro de Alcântara of Brazil, Prince of Grão Pará; Prince Luíz of Brazil and Prince Antonio of Brazil

Parents Isabel: Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Princess Teresa of the Two Sicilies

Parents Gaston: Prince Louis of France, Duke of Nemours and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary

Siblings Isabel: Afonso Pedro Prince of Grão Pará and Prince Imperial of Brazil; Princess Leopoldine of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary and Pedro, Prince of Grão Pará and Prince Imperial of Brazil

Siblings Gaston: Prince Ferdinand of Orléans; Duke of Alençon; Princess Marguerite Czartoryski and Princess Blanche of Orléans

[Marengo]

Isabel The Redeemer, Princess Imperial of Brazil, de jure Empress D. Isabel I of Brazil (Isabel Cristina Leopoldina Augusta Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga de Bragança; 29 July1846 – 14 November1921), nicknamed the Redeemer, was the heir to the throne of Brazil, with the title of Princess Imperial during the last decades of the reign of her father Pedro II, and sometime Regent. After the end of the monarchy, she became Head of the Brazilian Imperial House and de jure Empress of Brazil.
She acted as regent of Brazil three times while her father was away from the country. In the political history of Brazil she was the first female ruler in the post-colonial period. In 1888 she signed the Law establishing the total abolition of slavery in the Empire. For her pious character and her role in the abolition of slavery in Brazil, Pope Leo XIII bestowed the Golden Rose upon her. In 1889 the Brazilian military overthrew Pedro II along with the monarchy ending her chance at a permanent succession. She died on 14 November1921 while living in Chateau d'Eu, France.

Isabel was born as the eldest surviving child of Emperor Dom Pedro II and Princess Teresa of the Two Sicilies, herself the youngest daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies, in the Paço de São Cristóvão, Quinta da Boa Vista, Rio de Janeiro, on 29 July1846. Her elder brother had died as an infant before Isabel's birth, and a younger brother also died as an infant. As the imperial couple had only daughters living, dom Pedro designated Isabel, the heir presumptive as the official heiress (although she was not heir apparent in the strictest sense of that concept) whereby she received the titles Princess Imperial and Princess of Brazil already in the lifetime of her father.
Isabel married on 15 October1864, Prince Gastão d' Orléans, Count of Eu (1842–1922) - Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston, Prince d'Orleans, comte d'Eu, son of Louis Charles Philippe Raphael, duc de Nemours, a cadet prince of the house of Orleans.
Her only surviving sibling, her younger sister Princess Leopoldina of Brazil married Prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Originally, the two princes were imported to Brazil in order for August to marry Isabel and Gaston to marry Leopoldina, but the girls decided otherwise and the emperor, having himself experienced the unhappiness of an arranged dynastic marriage, agreed to their wishes.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.

[Marengo]

Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston d'Orléans, Prince Imperial-Consort of Brazil, Count d'Eu (28 April 1842-28 August 1922) was the eldest son of Louis Charles Philippe Raphael, duc de Nemours and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary.
On 15 October 1864, at Rio de Janeiro, he married Isabel of Brazil, eldest daughter and heiress (Princess Imperial) of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil. Two months later, the Paraguayan dictator Francisco Solano López declared war on Brazil, and the War of the Triple Alliance began. The Count d'Eu aspired to a military command, but the emperor was reluctant to give his unexperienced son-in-law a prominent position in the army. Only at the last stage of the war, on 20 February 1869, he appointed him commander-in-chief of the Brazilian forces. On 22 March the Count became supreme commander of the allied Brazilian, Argentinian and Uruguayan armies in Paraguay. He turned out to be an able commander and brought the war to a successful end.

When the Brazilian monarchy was overthrown in 1889, the emperor went into exile with his family. But in 1922, as part of the commemoration of the first centennial of the country's independence, the Brazilian government rescinded the exile law imposed by the new Republican government in 1889 and allowed the imperial family to return. Isabel was newly deceased, and her husband Gaston, having embarked on a ship to Brazil, died onboard.
Isabel and Gaston's children and issue use the name Orléans-Braganza, and are the claimants to the Brazilian imperial throne.

Read the entire wikipedia article here.