Post by Manuel de Sousahttp://www.projectedletters.com/vault/duchess/
and
http://www.projectedletters.com/vault/2/duchess/
Having reviewed the extensive correspondence on this subject and read
these two documents, I have to say that I have the distinct impression
that I've been living in a parralel universe where events were
different to how they are being portayed on here.
As one of the few people in this newsgroup who met Maria Pia and spent
some time in her company, I think my recollections might be of some
interest.
As many of you know, for many years I was heavily involved in the
so-called Order of St Lazarus. In the early 80's there was a lot of
meetings to try and resolve the split in the Order between the Spanish
Obedience (headed by the Duke of Seville) and the Paris Obedience
(headed by the Duc de Brissac). The late Col Gayre was the prime
mover in this and early in 1984 some of us from the Spanish Obedience
together with representatives from the Paris Obedience were formed
into a committee to organise a joint meeting of the two branches of
the Order of St Lazarus, to be held in Oxford in 1986 (called JIRO86),
at which the re-union of the Order under the Grand Mastership of the
Duc de Brissac would be announced. The committee was headed by Rev
Paul Williamson with myself as Hon Treasurer.
In the run-up to JIRO86 we held various functions and it was here that
I first met Maria Pia. At that time she would be about 78. To my
surprise she was accompanied by an old (i.e. long established, not old
in years - he was in his mid 30's) Portuguese friend of mine, Antonio.
It turned out that he and Maria Pia were to be married, in
anticipation of which she had made him Count of Amado Nuevo. After
their subsequent marriage he claimed jure uxoris the title of Duke of
Braganza. I met Maria Pia on many occasions and found her charming
but totally batty (a bit like Princess Helena Moutafian who took Maria
Pia under her wing).
We had the meeting in Oxford (which was attended by Antonio and Maria
Pia as Duke and Duchess of Braganza - Antonio looked particularly
dashing in his swallow tailed uniform!), which turned out to be
partially successful. At about this time Eric Wreding, who had just
finished a long-term relationship with Rev Paul Williamson, the
Chairman of JIRO86, became Chancellor to the Duke and Duchess of
Braganza and was created Count of Evora (a title he still uses).
Now this is what confuses me with the first of the documents posted
above. It says that on 3 April 1987 she abdicated as Duchess of
Braganza in favour of Rosario Poidimani - and yet I know that Eric
Wreding was acting as her Chancellor until her death, and afterwards
as Chancellor to her daughter Christina, who also claims to be Duchess
of Braganza.
It was not until the early 90's that Eric first mentioned Rosario
Poidimani to me, and the context was on how much distress he was
causing Maria Pia and her daughter, though I was not sure how.
Unfortunately I lost contact with Eric (though he is still living in
London) when I severed my ties with the Lazarites in about 1993.
As Lewis Carroll would say, "Curiouser and curiouser".
Patrick Cracroft-Brennan FCA HonFHS
Director - Heraldic Media Limited
http://www.heraldicmedia.com
Publishers of "Cracroft's Peerage"
The complete guide to the British Peerage
http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk