Maria Confident, Portuguese Cool

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30677, 17 February 1965, Page 2

Maria Confident, Portuguese Cool

Pretenders, that is claimants, to the various existent and non-existent thrones of the world are not uncommon. But a woman pretender is a

rarity. It is quite possible that the woman who calls herself Princess Maria Pia of Bra-ganza-Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and who claims to be the rightful monarch of republican Portugal, is the only one of her kind. Not that she herself finds her situation extraordinary. “Certainly I think I should be a good queen,” she says. “After all, many natural sons and daughters became kings and queens. What about England’s Queen Elizabeth I?” By natural, the princess means illegitimate. She says her father was King "Carlos I, of Portugal, who was assassinated in 1908. But her mother was not the king’s wife, Amalia, but “the Brazilian Baroness dos Amazonas.” Not Convinced

She claims to have a document certifying that she is the daughter of Carlos, as well as other documents proving her claim to the Portuguese throne. Unfortunately for her, the Portuguese authorities are far from convinced. Last week, when she arrived in Portugal from her home in Rome and placed flowers on the king’s monument, on the 57th anniversary of his assassination, she was arrested and questioned by police. When she was released later, a Portuguese Foreign

Ministry spokesman made the dampening statement: “Her departure was delayed for questioning in view of her illegal activities as pretender to the Portuguese throne, 1 wearing decorations and using a title she does not possess.” The princess, who is married to an Italian, has the support of a number of Portuguese exiles. But their hopes of establishing her claim cannot be held to be high. Even if the princess’s claim is established, what then? The possibilities of a restoration of the monarchy in Portugal are, to put it mildly, extremely remote.