Afonso I, Duke of Braganza Afonso I, Duke of Braganza Dom Afonso I of Braganza (; 10 August 1377 – 15 December 1461) was the first Duke of Braganza and the eighth Count of Barcelos. He would start a dynasty, the House of Braganza, that would end up being the most powerful and wealthy in all of Portugal. His descendants would go on to become high-ranking nobles, imperial officials, and even the Kings of Portugal and the Emperors of Brazil. Historians believe he was born in Veiros, Estremoz, Alentejo, as a natural son of Portuguese King John I and Inês Peres. He married the heiress
House of Orléans-Braganza of Orléans-Braganza. On 15 November 1889 a republican coup d'ètat took place in Rio de Janeiro deposing the old Emperor Pedro II and proclaiming the exile of the Brazilian Imperial Family. The imperial family arrived at Lisbon on 7 December 1889. The Orleans-Braganza family moved to southern Spain. Further bad news came from Brazil, as the new government abolished the imperial family's allowances, their only substantial source of income, and declared the family banished. On the back of a large loan from a Portuguese businessman, the imperial family moved into the Hotel Beau Séjour at Cannes. In early 1890, Princess