Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa

The Ducal Palace of Vila Viçosa is a palace located in the civil parish of Nossa Senhora da Conceição, in the municipality of Vila Viçosa, in the Portuguese Alentejo. It was, for centuries, the seat of House of Braganza, one of the most important noble houses in Portugal: it became the ruling house of the Kingdom of Portugal after 1640, until King Manuel II, titular head of the family, was deposed in the 5 October 1910 Revolution that brought a Republican government.HistoryVila Viçosa became an ancestral feudo of the Dukes of Braganza when Fernando I of Braganza succeeded his father Afonso I, receiving the title of Count of Arraiolos from his grandfather, Nuno Alvares Pereira. With this, Fernando established his seat in the primitive Vila Viçosa Castle. However, his son, Fernando II was executed in 1483 by order of King John II on accusations of treason, and the family was exiled to the Kingdom of Castile. Returning in 1496 (after the death of King), the family regained its ancestral lands, although Duke James (Fernando's successor), declined to live in the Castle of Vila Viçosa, owing to its association with his father's betrayal and murder.