MIGUEL, Maria Evarist (1802-1866), usually known as Don Miguel, whose name is chiefly associated with his pretensions to the throne of Portugal, was the third son of King John VI. of Portugal, and of Carlotta Joachima, one of the Spanish Bourbons; he was born at Lisbon on October 26, 1802. In 1807 he accompanied his parents in their flight to Brazil, where he was permitted to grow up a spoiled child and a worthless youth; in 1821, on his return to Europe, it is said that he had not yet learned to read. In 1822 his father swore fidelity to the new Portuguese constitution which had been proclaimed in his absence; and this led Carlotta Joachima, who was an absolutist of the extremes! Bourbon type, and otherwise hated her husband, to resolve to seek his dethronement in favour of Miguel her favourite son. The insurrections which ensued (see Portugal) resulted in her relegation to the castle of Queluz and the exile of Miguel (1824), who spent a short time in Paris and afterwards lived in Vienna, where he came under the teaching of Metternich. On the sudden death of John VI. in May 1826, Pedro of Brazil, his eldest son, renounced the crown in favour of his daughter Maria da Gloria, on the understanding that she should become the wife of Miguel. The last-named accordingly swore allegiance to Pedro, to Maria, and to the constitution which Pedro had introduced, and on this footing was appointed regent in July 1827. He arrived in Lisbon in February 1828, and, regardless of his promises, dissolved the new Cortes in March; having called together the old Cortes, with the support of the reactionary party of which his mother was the ruling spirit, he got himself proclaimed sole legitimate king of Portugal in July. The power which he now enjoyed he wielded in the most tyrannical manner ...