The Lisbon Regicide - February 1, 1908

The Lisbon Regicide as depicted in a French newspaper. However, four assassins were illustrated, instead of two. Image from Wikimedia Commons

On February 1, 1908, Lisbon witnessed a horrendous event that would serve as one of the precursors to the end of its centuries-old monarchy.

King Carlos I of Portugal, his wife Queen Amelie, and their two children, Dom Luis and Dom Manuel, had just arrived in Lisbon after traveling from their palace of Vila Viçosa in Evora. They travelled in the royal train to Barreiro and from there took a boat that crossed the Tagus River before disembarking at Cais das Colunas in the main square of downtown Lisbon, the Terreiro do Paço.

The family took a carriage that transported them to the Palace of Necessidades. Despite the political unrest, the royal party had no military escort. As they passed through the Rua do Arsenal, several shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men (Alfredo Luís da Costa and Manuel Buiça), among others. The king died immediately, while the heir, Luís Felipe, was mortally wounded and died twenty minutes later. The Infante Dom Manuel was hit in the arm while Queen Amélia was unharmed as she tried to defend her younger son with the flower bouquet she was holding.

The royal body guards shot the two assassins who were later recognized as members of the Portuguese Republican Party and of their masonic left-wing organisation Carbonária.  A few days after the king's assassination, Prince Manuel, was proclaimed king of Portugal.

The Lisbon regicide is not an isolated case of a madman on the loose, but a reflection of republican interests  and anti-monarchist campaigns that stemmed from economic crises, socialist and republican antagonism and press criticism of the monarchy. Two years after the Lisbon Regicide, the monarchy was abolished following the  October 5, 1910 revolution.