Carlos Tasso of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza (Gmunden, 16 July 1931) is a historian and writer. He is a descendant of the Brazilian imperial family and head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, a branch of the Imperial House of Brazil. Carlos is the great-grandson of Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, youngest daughter of Emperor Pedro II. He succeeded his mother Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1990.
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Biography
Born in Austria and registered as a Brazilian at the Brazilian Consulate in Vienna, Carlos Tasso is the eldest son of Princess Teresa Cristina of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza, the third daughter of Augusto Leopoldo, and Baron Lamoral Taxis of Bordogna and Valnigra. He has two sisters, Alice and Maria Cristina, and a younger brother, Filipe, who served as a lieutenant in the Brazilian navy.
On 15 December 1956, he married for the first time the Brazilian Denise Pais de Almeida (b. 1936), from São Paulo, with whom he had no children. On 17 January 1969, Carlos Tasso married Walburga of Austria-Tuscany, Princess of Tuscany and Archduchess of Austria, daughter of Archduke George of Austria-Tuscany and Countess Maria Valeria of Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems, and great-granddaughter of Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany. He and his second wife had eight children, who also retain Brazilian nationality.
His dedication to the study of Brazilian history began at a young age. He studied in Austria, Italy and Brazil, at the traditional Santo Inácio College and the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, both located in the city of Rio de Janeiro. He has published several works and still carries out historical and economic research on Brazil. Since 1966, he has been a member of the Historical and Geographical Institute of Rio Grande do Sul (IHGRGS), and is also involved in other cultural organisations. He was also president of the Italian Rotary International between 1992 and 1993.