House of Braganza great difficulty under the reign of King João II. By the tenure of the third duke, Fernando II, the House of Braganza was undoubtedly one of the greatest noble houses of Portugal and Iberia as a whole. Fernando II continued the House's legacy of acquisition and gained the title of Duke of Guimarães. To the Duke and the House's downfall, however, King João II's reign concerned itself with the royal consolidation of power and the diminishment of the nobility. In his mission to centralize power, the King executed many nobleman of the great houses of Portugal, alongside confiscating their properties
Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza of their son. On 16 July 1981, at Fazenda São Geraldo, Pedro Carlos married Patricia Alexandra Branscombe (22 November 1964 – 21 November 2009). The couple had one son: His second wife died at the Palácio do Grão-Pará in Petrópolis. Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza (born 31 October 1945) is one of two claimants to the defunct Brazilian throne, and head of the Petrópolis branch of the Imperial House of Brazil. Prince Pedro Carlos was born in Petrópolis, the eldest son of six children of Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza and his wife, Princess Maria de la