D. Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Faial and Palmela (8 May 1781–12 October 1850) was one of the most important

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

diplomats and statesmen in the first half of the 19th century. He also served as the country's first modern

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

(with the title of "President of the Council of Ministers").

Early life and career

He was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, a scion of the Portuguese de Sousa family, Lords of Calhariz. The 'Holstein' element of his family name came from his paternal grandmother Princess Maria Anna Leopoldine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, daughter of Frederick William I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. His uncle had been governor of Portuguese India. He earned notoriety at an early age by telling

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

to his face at the conference in Bayonne in 1808 that the Portuguese would not ‘consent to become Spaniards’ as the French Emperor wanted. He was Portuguese

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the wor ...

to the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

in 1814, where he attempted to press Portugal's claims to Olivenza, and to the

Congress of Paris The Congress of Paris is the name for a series of diplomatic meetings held in 1856 in Paris, France, to negotiate peace between the warring powers in the Crimean War that had started almost three years earlier."Paris, Treaty of (1856)". The New E ...

in 1815. After this he was briefly ambassador to London, but then was appointed secretary of state for foreign affairs in

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. After the Portuguese Revolution of 1820 he was commissioned by the revolutionary junta to inform the king,

João VI , house = Braganza , father = Peter III of Portugal , mother = Maria I of Portugal , birth_date = , birth_place = Queluz Palace, Queluz, Portugal , death_date = , death_place = Bemposta Palace, Lisbon, Portugal ...

, of what had taken place and to request his return to Portugal from Brazil. In 1823 he was made a Marquis and became foreign minister as well as head of the committee which D. João appointed to devise a new constitutional charter. The resulting document, to which the King was unable to agree, was so liberal that it drew down on Palmela the hatred of the reactionary forces in the country, especially the Queen and the Infant Dom Miguel, who in 1824 had him arrested. After he obtained his liberty he was made a minister of state and returned to London as ambassador.

Liberal Wars

When ''Dom'' Miguel seized the throne of Portugal in 1828 Palmela sided with the opposition in Oporto and was forced with many others to flee to England. An attempt to return to Oporto in June 1828, called the '' Belfastada'', failed. Greville noted in his diary for 16 August 1828:Charles C. F. Greville, ''A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV'', volume I (Longmans Green & Co, London, 1874), at page 138

” Esterhazy told me to-night that Palmella entertains from twenty to thirty of his countrymen at dinner every day, of whom there are several hundred in London, of the best families, totally destitute.”

Miguel condemned him to death ''in absentia'' and seized his estates, but Dom Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, appointed Palmela guardian to his daughter, the rightful Queen Maria II, and he acted as her ambassador at the British court. In 1830 he set up the young queen’s regency on

Terceira Terceira () is a volcanic island in the Azores archipelago, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the larger islands of the archipelago, with a population of 53,311 inhabitants in an area of approximately . It is the location ...

in the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

; it was at this time that he became acquainted with Captain Charles Napier whom he considered the best person to command the Liberals' navy. When Dom Pedro took charge of the regency in person in 1832 he named Palmela as his foreign minister, in which capacity he acted against Miguel from London. In 1833 he sailed with Charles Napier bringing mercenary reinforcements to Oporto, where Pedro was being besieged, and took part in the subsequent expedition to the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

of Napier and the

Duke of Terceira The title duke of Terceira, ''de juro e herdade'' (meaning "forever granted") was created by decree of King Pedro I of Brazil, Pedro IV of Portugal, on 8 November 1832. António José de Souza Manoel de Menezes Severim de Noronha, 7th Count of Vila ...

. After Napier’s naval victory off

Cape St Vincent Cape St. Vincent ( pt, Cabo de São Vicente, ) is a headland in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It is the southwesternmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. History Cape St. Vincent was already s ...

enabled Pedro to occupy Lisbon, Palmela retired from his offices.

Constitutional Monarchy

He served as the first Prime Minister of the newly formed constitutional monarchy in Portugal from 24 September 1834 to 4 May 1835. He served briefly Prime Minister again in February 1842 (for two days, in the so-called '' Shrovetide Cabinet''), and from March to October 1846 (during the height of the

Revolution of Maria da Fonte The Revolution of Maria da Fonte, or Revolution of the Minho, is the name given to a popular revolt in the spring of 1846 against the Cartista government of Portugal (presided over by António Bernardo da Costa Cabral, 1st Marquess of Tomar). ...

). ''Dom'' Pedro was successively made Count of Palmela (by Queen Maria I, on 11 April 1812), Marquis of Palmela (by King John VI on 3 July 1823) and Duke of Faial (by Queen Maria II on 4 April 1836). Finally, on 18 October 1850, Queen Maria II substituted its Dukedom of Faial by the new title of Duke of Palmela.

Marriage and Issue

On 4 June 1810 Pedro de Sousa Holstein married Eugénia Francisca Xavier Teles da Gama (1798–1860). Their issue was: *Alexandre de Sousa e Holstein (1812–1832), 1st Count of Calhariz; *Domingos de Sousa Holstein (1818–1864), succeeded his father as 2nd Duke of Palmela; *Rodrigo de Sousa (1824–1840), *Francisco de Sousa Holstein (1838–1878), 1st Marquis of Sousa Holstein; *Tomás de Sousa e Holstein Beck (1839–1887), 1st Marquis of Sesimbra; *Filipe de Sousa Holstein (1841–1884), 1st Marquis of Monfalim;

References

External links