The Kingdom of Portugal began in 1139 when Afonso I (“The
Conqueror”) declared himself King. It ended in 1910 when the last monarch,
Manuel II, was chased into exile and Portugal became a republic. During that
time only one King was assassinated, that being Carlos, who was the last King but
one.
Carlos came to the throne in 1889, at the age of 26, and
proceeded to demonstrate his unsuitability for the role by maintaining a
profligate lifestyle at the time of a severe economic downturn. As the crisis
got worse and republican agitation grew, Carlos appointed Joao Franco as Prime Minister,
which meant virtual dictator. The popular perception was that Franco was
siphoning off money from the treasury to fund Carlos’s personal spending at the
same time as causing great distress to the people with his attempts to get the
economy back on track.
Eventually, government oppression coupled with hatred of
King Carlos led to open revolt and the deaths of Carlos and his son Luis
Filipe. They were gunned down on 1st February 1908 as they rode in
an open carriage through Lisbon. Their two assassins, who were immediately
killed by Carlos’s bodyguards, may have been members of the Carbonaria, a
republican secret society.
Carlos’s 18-year-old second son, Manuel, was also in the
carriage but only suffered a minor injury. He was declared King but only reigned
for two years before a second Carbonaria revolt, in October 1910, ended
the monarchy for all time. Manuel spent the rest of his life in England, where
he died in 1932.
© John Welford
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