By DPA,
Sao Paulo : A member of Brazil’s non-reigning royal family was travelling on the Air France plane that went missing Monday off Brazil’s north-eastern coast, the Orleans e Braganca family confirmed in a statement.
According to the family’s representatives in Sao Paulo, Prince Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, 26, was among the 228 occupants of the airplane that was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it disappeared from radar screens.
Pedro de Orleans e Braganca is a descendant of Peter II, the last Emperor of Brazil, who was overthrown in 1889 prior to the proclamation of the Republic.
The missing prince is fourth in line to the hypothetical Brazilian throne.
The Brazilian imperial family was founded in 1822, when Prince Peter, next-in-line to the Portuguese throne, was serving as the Portuguese king’s representative in the Brazilian colony. Peter declared himself emperor of Brazil, followed by the Brazilian
declaration of independence in 1825 which was recognized by his father, the Portuguese king.