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Once upon a time there was a Princess...

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[My attempt at the flag of the Kingdom of Portugal (1143-1910). I could've done it more detailed but StarDesign has a piece limit.]

Once upon a time there was a princess...

....Called Infanta* Maria Adelaide Manuela Amélia Micaela Rafaela de Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg Bragança, born on the 31 of January, 1912 in exile in France.

*[Infante/Infanta is an exclusive title to the monarchies of Portugal and Spain and given to the youngest children of a monarch.]

She was born a Princess of Portugal, daughter of the King Miguel II and Princess Maria Theresa Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and was a granddaughter of King Miguel I. Portugal was a republic, so she and her family did not reign. But that didn't mean they threw it all over. She had the proper education of a princess and knew from a very young age that her duty, acording to her son's words was "to serve, not to be served." Her role as Princess wasn't obsolete, she felt her role came with obligations and responsibilities.

At some point in her life, she moved to Austria with her family, and as she grew up, it was clear that she hated the spotlight, she rarely attended society or royal events, prefering to spend her time with her family or helping the needy. 

She eventually became a nurse for the Red Cross and on the break out of the World War II, she joined the Austrian Resistance to the Nazi party, and at night she would go in aid of the wounded soldiers. Not only that, but she also helped lots of Jews and other condemned people to escape death and helped them flee. 

One day, she was caught by the Nazis and the man whose name starts with an H and isn't worth mentioning, condemned her to death. This news made its way to the Portuguese Ambassador in Germany, and our dictator at the time, Prof. Oliveira Salazar contaced him and said, "A Princess of Portugal is national heritage so, she can't be condemned to death." H immediately released the Princess and gave her a diplomatic passaport and evicted her out of the country. He had intentions to bring her back to Portugal, but she couldn't, because members of the Royal family of Portugal were banned and the moment they touch Portuguese territory, they would be arrested. So she was sent to Switzerland, where her older brother, the Duke of Braganza was with his family. [He was the claimant to the throne at the time, and currently it's his son, D. Duarte Pio.]

Anyways, despite all that, she didn't give up. She kept helping as she could and a few months later, she went back to Austria again, joining the O5, the Austrian Resistance group, but this time it was serious. She kept a code name, Mafalda so that she couldn't be traced. Unfortunately the Nazis caught her again, and she again was condemned to death.

She didn't die because of a miracle. The Russian communists invaded Austria and the Nazis left. In the midst of the chaos, a bomb fell onto the prision she was in, but her cell was kept intact. She remained there hiding but was caught by the Russians. They were already deporting her to Siberia to be killed (because they stated that Catholics would be condemned, and she was Catholic), but soon the soldiers read on her records at the prision where she was, that she saved a Russian Communist from being killed by the Nazis, and they immediately released her. 

She went back to help the needy and the wounded and It was during her service there that she met her future husband Nicolaas Johannes Maria van Uden, a Dutch medical student at the time who as helping at the Red Cross. They quickly fell in love and after the Duke of Braganza granted her permission to marry him, they married a few months later on the 13th of October, 1945 and had 6 children. 

In 1949, the Banishment Law that forbade every member of the royal family to come to Portugal was revoked and she and her family and the rest of the royal family came back to Portugal. For many of them, it was the first time seeing the country, as they were born in exile. They loved Portugal even thought they only knew it through stories and photos. 

[Interesting fact, our dictator Prof. Salazar actually made an exception to Queen Amélia of Portugal during the war, inviting her to stay in Portugal to be sheltered from the war, since it was a neutral country at the time. But she refused stating that France welcomed her in her misery (when the monarchy fell and she was expelled out of the country) and as such, she would remain in her home country when it was in need of her. But after the war she did accept the invitation to come to Portugal and she visited all the places that marked her life, incluiding her husband and her two sons' tombs.]

D. Maria Adelaide settled in Trafaria, Almada, and kept doing her charity. Her brother the Duke, gifted her many things like blankets, bed sheets, precious objetcs, etc., but she always donated everything because she used to say "we have more than most people, they need it more than us." She kept a modest life in general, leaving the pomp to her brother and his family. She founded the Nuno Álvares Pereira foundation that helped pregnant women and helped raise the children. 

Even thought we live in a republic, she was very well known by the population. Her son recalls two funny stories about her:

For the first one, he said she went to a Tasca (a sort of Portuguese style tavern) to eat and the people there looked at her with shock, with many whispers of, "Look, a Princess eating here!" She heard it and replied, "I'm always criticized for this or that, so I'm better off doing what I want!" tThe people eating then stood up and applauded her for her courage to break the social norms. 

The other story included a boy who broke into her house at 2 am to steal. She turned on the lights and recognized him. She kept calm and said: "Wait for me in the kitchen. "The boy, terrified when he noticed who she was, obeyed. She prepared a coffee for him and finally broke the silence. "Do you even know what you're doing? it's 2 am! Were you stealing me?" She looked at the things he had in his hands and said "Well, that you can't take, it was my mother's, but the rest is fine." 

The boy left and on the way home he stole money from a grocery store. The next day the police came into her house and announced that the boy stole some of her money. She quickly realized that he probably stole somewhere else and said, "Oh no, it was a bit of help that I gave him." The police then left, and she said to the boy: "Well, you stole this, so now I'll have to take it, because I covered for you." She then got dressed and went out to distribute the money to the poor. 

One day, she told her children that she was feeling her time was coming for her to pass, and she was at peace with that. She thought her duty in life was fullfilled and she could finally move on to wherever we go after death. When she reached 100 years old, she was awarded the Grand Order of Merit.

Two weeks later, she died peacefully in her sleep on the 24th of February 2012.

She forever remained in history as the "Rebel Princess."


The End.

 

 

 

 

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