Vassouras (Portuguese: [vɐˈsowɾɐs], lit. 'Brooms') is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Its population was 37,083 (2020) and its area is 552 km (213 sq mi).
Vassouras was the setting for the Bangu neighborhood portrayed in the 1970 Brazilian film My Sweet Orange Tree, as well as the fictional town of "Florença" depicted in the 2001 miniseries Presença de Anita.
The Imperial House of Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese: Casa Imperial Brasileira) is a Brazilian dynasty of Portuguese origin, a branch of the House of Braganza, that ruled the Brazilian Empire from 1822 to 1889, from the time when the then Prince Royal Dom Pedro of Braganza (later known as Emperor Pedro I of Brazil) declared Brazil's independence, until Dom Pedro II was deposed during the military coup that led to the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889.
The members of the family are dynastic descendants of Emperor Pedro I. Claimants to headship of the post-monarchic Brazilian Imperial legacy descend from Emperor Pedro II, including the senior agnates of two branches of the House of Orléans-Braganza; the so-called Petrópolis and Vassouras lines. Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza (born 1945) heads the Petrópolis line, while the Vassouras branch is led by his second cousin, Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza.
View the full Wikipedia page for Brazilian imperial familyThe House of Orléans-Braganza (Portuguese: Casa de Orléans e Bragança) is by legitimacy, the imperial house of Brazil formed in 1864, with the marriage of the heir to the Brazilian throne, Isabel of Braganza with Gaston of Orléans, Count of Eu. The House of Orléans-Braganza never reigned, as Brazil's pure Braganza monarch, Emperor Pedro II being deposed in a military coup d'état, under the pressure of the civilian republicans, in 1889. However, with the death of Isabel in 1921, as the last Brazilian pure Braganza, her descendants inherited the dynastic rights of the Brigantine dynasty over the defunct Brazilian throne.
Currently, the headship of the house is disputed between Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza, agnatic senior member of the house, head of the so-called Petrópolis branch, and Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza, who heads the so-called Vassouras branch of the Imperial Family. The formation of these branches goes back to the question of the validity of the renunciation of dynastic rights in 1908 by Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, grandfather of the head of the Petrópolis branch, and whose rights would have been inherited by the younger brother Luís, Prince Imperial of Brazil, grandfather of the head of the Vassouras branch.
View the full Wikipedia page for House of Orléans-Braganza