Manuel II, king

(1890-1932)

   The last reigning king of Portugal, and the last of the Braganza dynasty to rule. Born in 1890, the son of King Carlos I and Queen Amélia, young Manuel witnessed the murder of his father and his elder brother, the heir apparent, Dom Luís, by anarchists in the streets of Lisbon, on 1 February 1908. In the same carriage as his mortally wounded father and brother, and himself wounded, Manuel survived to ascend the throne. His brief reign was troubled by political instability, factionalism, and rising republicanism. As the republican revolution succeeded, Manuel and his family, including the Queen Mother Amélia, fled from the bombarded Necessidades Palace in Lisbon to the Mafra Palace. Rather than abdicate or remain as a prisoner of the republic, Manuel fled by ship to exile in Great Britain, where he remained for the rest of his life. Occupying himself with his hobby of collecting rare Portuguese books, Manuel died prematurely at age 42, in 1932, at his estate south of London.