Royalty. She was the last Queen consort of Portugal as the wife of Carlos I of Portugal. As the eldest daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, and his wife, Princess Marie Isabelle d'Orléans, she was a Princess of Orléans by birth. Born Marie Amélie Louise Hélène d'Orléans, she spent part of her childhood in England, where she was born, due to the exile to which her family was subjected since Napoleon III assumed the throne of France, in 1848. Only after the fall of the empire, in 1871, the Orléans were able to return to the country. The princess then had the painstaking education reserved for princesses, although her father was only a suitor for the crown. The princess grew up in grand palaces and often traveled to Austria and Spain, where she visited her relatives in the Spanish royal family (her maternal grandmother was the daughter of King Fernando VII). On May 22, 1886, Amélie married Carlos, Prince Royal of Portugal. He was the eldest son of King Luís I of Portugal and Maria Pia of Savoy and was, at the time, the heir apparent to the throne. The bride was 20 years old and the groom was 22. Their birthday was the same, September 28. The marriage had been arranged by their families after several attempts to arrange a marriage for her with a member of the Austrian or Spanish dynasties. At first, the marriage was not popular and Queen Maria Pia was expecting to marry Carlos to Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Princess Mathilde of Saxony, Princess Viktoria of Prussia or Princess Victoria of Wales. However, Amélie and Carlos came to live harmoniously with each other. They had three children: Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, Infanta Maria Ana and Manuel II of Portugal. On October 19, 1889, King Luís died and Carlos succeeded him on the throne. Amélie became the new Queen consort of Portugal. However her husband became known for his extramarital affairs while the popularity of the Portuguese monarchy started to wane in the face of a bankrupt economy, industrial disturbances, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism. Amélie played an active role as a queen, and somewhat softened the growing criticism towards the monarchy with her personal popularity, though she did receive some criticism for her expenses. She was active in many social projects, such as the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and the foundation of charity organisations, sanatoriums and drugstores. She was considered less formal than her mother-in-law Maria Pia, with whom she allegedly had a very difficult relationship, learned Portuguese well and was described as calm and mild. She was interested in literature, opera and theatre, was a diarist and also painted. An avid reader, she wrote to her favourite authors. During the absence of her spouse in 1895, she acted as regent. In 1902, she made a cruise on the Mediterranean Sea that was much criticised for its luxury. In 1892, Pope Leo XIII gave her a Golden Rose. On February 1, 1908, the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled in the royal train to Barreiro and from there took a boat to cross the Tagus River. They disembarked at Cais das Colunas in the principal square of downtown Lisbon, the Terreiro do Paço. On their way to the Necessidades Palace, the carriage carrying Carlos and his family passed through the Rua do Arsenal. While crossing the square and turning to the street, several shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men (Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buíça), among others. The King died immediately, his heir Prince Luís Filipe was mortally wounded and Infante Manuel was hit in the arm, yet Queen Amélie was surprisingly unharmed after trying to defend her youngest son, the new King Manuel II, with the flower bouquet she kept in her hand. The two assassins were shot on the spot by members of the royal bodyguard and later were recognized as members of the Portuguese Republican Party and of their masonic left-wing organisation Carbonária. About twenty minutes later, Prince Luís Filipe died and the next day Manuel was acclaimed King of Portugal, the last of the Braganza dynasty. The regicide of 1908 threw her into a deep grief, from which she never fully recovered. She then retired to the Pena Palace, in Sintra, although she did not stop trying to support, by all means, her youngest son Manuel, during the period in which monarchic institutions were rapidly degrading. Manuel II of Portugal was deposed by a military coup, later known as the October 5, 1910 revolution, which resulted in the establishment of the Portuguese First Republic. Queen Amélie fled Portugal with the rest of the royal family and went into exile, from the Ericeira beach to London. After her son's marriage to the German princess Auguste Viktoria von Hohenzollern in 1913, she went to France, where she lived most of her remaining life. During World War I she worked with the Red Cross, which earned her a decoration by King George V of England. Her son, former King Manuel II of Portugal, died in London on July 2, 1932 without issue. In 1940, German soldiers occupied her house. The Portuguese dictator Salazar, asked that the palace be considered Portuguese territory and invited her to take refuge in Portugal. Amélie refused and replied "In my misfortune, France welcomed me, I will not abandon her in her misfortune". She visited Portugal for the last time in 1945. In 1949 she made an addendum to her will and left all the assets she owned in Portugal to her godson, Duarte Pio of Braganza, at Salazar's request. Amélie d'Orléans died at the age of 86 of uremia on October 25, 1951, in her residence in Le Chesnay, France. The Queen's body was then transferred by the frigate "Bartolomeu Dias" to Lisbon, to be buried beside her husband and children, in the Pantheon of the House of Braganza, in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora. That was her last wish at the time of her death. The funeral had state honors and was seen by a large part of the people of Lisbon.