Portugal’s royal family has its next wedding planned on the calendar. On Monday, the Duke and Duchess of Braganza, Duarte Pio and Isabel de Herédia, revealed when their youngest son, Dinis of Braganza, 26, will marry the Austrian countess Anna Schaffgotsch, 24.
© AFP via Getty ImagesThe couple, who caught royal watchers off guard with their engagement news in June, is getting married on October 16, 2027, in Lisbon.
The news arrived the way most Braganza family announcements do now: on the Portuguese Royal House’s social media. It was paired with a fresh portrait of the bride and groom.
“Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Braganza announce that His Highness the Infante D. Dinis, Duke of Porto, and Countess Anna Schaffgotsch von und zu Kynast und Greiffenstein, Baroness of Trachenberg, will celebrate their marriage on October 16, 2027, in Lisbon,” reads the statement.
The exact venue, guest list, and every other detail are still being kept under wraps.
A love story kept private
© @CasaRealPTDinis and Anna had carried out their romance so discreetly that even Portugal’s press didn’t see the engagement coming. The House of Braganza shared the official news on June 29th, explaining that Dinis had proposed in Lisbon earlier that month, in the same city where the couple has chosen as a setting for their wedding.
The royal house revealed that he'd shared the news personally with his parents and closest relatives before sharing the news with the world.
The ring did plenty of the talking. Anna’s engagement ring is set with a striking blue sapphire, and is clearly visible in the couple’s official photos; its size and style quickly drew comparisons to the famous sapphire that once belonged to Princess Diana.
By July, the newly engaged pair was photographed stepping out together. Anna joined Maria Gabriela of Orléans-Braganza on a visit to the University of Coimbra, and a few weeks later she was on Dinis’s arm in Vienna for the wedding of Archduchess Isabel of Habsburg and Carlos Gaytán de Ayala.
Who is Anna Schaffgotsch?
© @CasaRealPTBorn in Vienna on February 17, 2002, Anna Schaffgotsch is the daughter of Counts Maximilian and Marie Schaffgotsch, Barons of Trachenberg. She grew up alongside three siblings.
Her family is one of Central Europe’s oldest aristocratic dynasties. Over the centuries, the Schaffgotsches built up vast estates and considerable wealth, thanks in part to coal and zinc mining in Silesia. How much of that fortune Anna holds today isn’t publicly known.
Anna has a degree in economics and social sciences from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and has trained in real estate and health care management. These days, her focus is on education, and she plans to continue her studies at University College London.
She’s worked with the Vienna Children’s Theater, taken part in educational and environmental projects, and is currently interning in Lisbon with an organization that supports people in vulnerable situations.
Dinis of Braganza, the youngest of the Duke and Duchess’s children
© @CasaRealPTDinis was born in Lisbon on November 25, 1999, and is the youngest of three children of Duarte Pio of Braganza, head of the Portuguese Royal House, and Isabel de Herédia. He holds the title Duke of Porto, and has studied political science, international relations, and European affairs in Brussels and the Catholic University of Portugal. Along the way, he’s built professional experience in institutional relations, international cooperation and strategic consulting.
His older brother, Afonso of Braganza, Prince of Beira, is 30 and heir to the headship of the Portuguese Royal House. In an interview with our sister website HOLA! Spain, he discussed his life and the responsibility of belonging to a family with so much history.
Four years after Maria Francisca’s big day
© @CasaRealPTDinis and Anna’s wedding will be the second for the Duke and Duchess of Braganza’s children. In 2023, the couple’s only daughter, Infanta Maria Francisca of Braganza, Duchess of Coimbra, married lawyer Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins at the Basilica of the National Palace of Mafra. That celebration drew some 1,200 guests, among them a long roster of European aristocracy.
Four years later, the family is gearing up to do it all again, this time in Lisbon. The date is set. Where exactly they’ll wed, and who’ll make the guest list, remains to be seen.
