Luís I of Portugal

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Luís I of Portugal
King of Portugal and the Algarves
Reign	11 November 1861—19 October 1889
Predecessor	Pedro V
Successor	Carlos I
Spouse	Maria Pia of Savoy
Issue
Carlos I Afonso, Prince Royal
Full name
Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Pedro de Alcântara António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando de Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha e Bragança
House	House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father	Ferdinand II of Portugal
Mother	Maria II of Portugal
Born	31 October 1838 Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal
Died	19 October 1889[aged 50] Cascais, Kingdom of Portugal
Burial	Dynasty of Braganza Royal Pantheon, Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon, District of Lisbon, Portugal

Luís I (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiʃ]; English: Louis I), whose full name was Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Pedro de Alcântara António Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis João Augusto Júlio Valfando de Saxe-Coburgo-Gotha e Bragança), the Popular (Port. o Popular) (Lisbon, 31 October 1838 – 19 October 1889 in Cascais) was the 32nd (or 33rd according to some historians) King of Portugal and the Algarves between 1861 and 1889. He was the second son of Maria II and Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was created Duke of Porto and Viseu.

Luís was a cultured man who wrote vernacular poetry, but otherwise had no distinguishing gifts in the political field into which he was thrust by the deaths of his brothers Pedro V and Fernando in 1861. Luís' domestic reign was a tedious and ineffective series of transitional governments called Rotativism formed at various times by the Progressistas (Liberals) and the Regeneradores (Conservatives – the party generally favoured by King Luís, who secured their long term in office after 1881). Despite a flirtation with the Spanish succession prior to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Luís's reign was otherwise one of domestic stagnation as Portugal fell ever further behind the nations of western Europe in terms of public education, political stability, technological progress and economic prosperity. In colonial affairs, Delagoa Bay was confirmed as a Portuguese possession in 1875, whilst Belgian activities in the Congo (1880s) and a British ultimatum denied Portugal a land link between Angola and Mozambique at the peak of the Scramble for Africa.

Luís was mostly a man of the sciences, with a passion for oceanography. He invested great amounts of his fortune in funding research boats to collect specimens in the oceans of the world. He was responsible for the establishment of one of the World's first Aquariums, Aquário Vasco da Gama in Lisbon, which is still open to the public with its vast collection of maritime life forms, including a 10 meter long squid. His love for sciences and things new was passed to his two sons.

Marriages and descendants

Louis married Maria Pia of Savoy, daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Maria Adelaide of Austria. Together they had two sons. The King also fathered one illegitimate child, born in 1874 in Lisbon, a son named Carlos August.

Ancestry

v • d • e House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Founded by Ferdinand II of Portugal and Maria II of Portugal 1st generation**** Pedro V  · Luís I  · Maria  · João  · Maria Ana  · Antónia  · Ferdinand  · Augusto  · Leopoldo  · Maria da Glória  · Eugénio 2nd generation Carlos I  · Afonso 3rd generation Luís Filipe  · Maria Ana  · Manuel II