DonaMaria Amélia (French: Marie Amélie Louise Hélène; 28 September 1865 – 25 October 1951) was the last Queen of Portugal as the wife of Carlos I of Portugal. She was regent of Portugal during the absence of her spouse in 1895.
On 19 October 1889, King Luís died and Carlos succeeded him on the throne. Amélia became the new Queen consort of Portugal. However her husband became known for his extramarital affairs while the popularity of the Portuguese monarchy started to wane in the face of a bankrupt economy, industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism.
Amélia played an active role as a queen, and somewhat softened the growing criticism towards the monarchy with her personal popularity, though she did receive some criticism for her expenses. She was active in many social projects, such as the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and the foundation of charity organisations, sanatoriums and drugstores. She was considered less formal than her mother-in-law Maria Pia, learned Portuguese well and was described as calm and mild. She was interested in literature, opera and theatre, was a diarist and also painted. During the absence of her spouse in 1895, she acted as regent. In 1902, she made a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea that was much criticised for its luxury.
On 1 February 1908, the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled in the royal train to Barreiro and from there took a boat to cross the Tagus River. They disembarked at Cais das Colunas in the principal square of downtown Lisbon, the Terreiro do Paço. On their way to the Palace of Necessidades, the carriage carrying Carlos and his family passed through the Rua do Arsenal. While crossing the square and turning to the street, several shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men (Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buiça), among others. The King died immediately, his heir Prince Dom Luís was mortally wounded and Infante Dom Manuel was hit in the arm, yet Queen Amélie was surprisingly unharmed after trying to defend her youngest son, the new king Manuel II, with the flower bouquet she kept in her hand.
The two assassins were shot on the spot by members of the royal bodyguard and later were recognized as members of the Portuguese Republican Party and of their masonic left-wing organisation Carbonária. About twenty minutes later, Prince Luis Filipe died and the next day Manuel was acclaimed King of Portugal, the last of the Braganza dynasty.
Manuel II of Portugal was deposed by a military coup, later known as the 5 October 1910 revolution, which resulted in the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. Queen Amélie left Portugal with the rest of the royal family and went into exile. She lived most of her remaining life in France. During the Second World War the Portuguese government invited her to return to Portugal, but she declined the offer. She visited Portugal for the last time in 1945.
^"Filial Hommage"(PDF). L'Express du Midi (in French). 10 May 1909. p. 2. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2019-10-30. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
^ abJustus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha (1921) p. 26
^"Archived copy". upload.wikimedia.org. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
