Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela
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His Excellency The Duke of Palmela KGC FC |
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| President of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves | |
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In office 20 May 1846 – 6 October 1846 |
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| Monarch | Maria II and Fernando II |
| Preceded by | Duke of Terceira |
| Succeeded by | Duke of Saldanha |
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In office 7 February 1842 – 9 February 1842 |
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| Monarch | Maria II and Fernando II |
| Preceded by | Joaquim António de Aguiar |
| Succeeded by | Duke of Terceira |
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In office 24 September 1834 – 4 May 1835 |
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| Monarch | Maria II |
| Succeeded by | Count of Linhares |
| 6th Minister of War of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves | |
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In office 1820–1821 |
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| Monarch | John VI of Portugal |
| Preceded by | Tomás de Vila Nova Portugal |
| Succeeded by | Silvestre Pinheiro Ferreira |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 May 1781 Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia |
| Died | 12 October 1850 (aged 69) Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal |
| Spouse(s) | Eugénia Francisca Xavier Teles da Gama |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
D. Pedro de Sousa Holstein, 1st Duke of Faial and Palmela (1781–1850) was one of the most important Portuguese diplomats and statesmen in the first half of the 19th century. He also served as the country's first official Prime Minister, the office in essence having already existed.
He was born in Turin, a scion of the Portuguese de Sousa family, Lords of Calhariz.
The 'Holstein' element of his family name came from his paternal grandmother Princess Maria Anna Leopoldine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, daughter of Frederick William I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck.
His uncle Frederico Guilherme de Sousa had been governor of Portuguese India.
He earned notoriety at an early age by telling Napoleon to his face at the conference in Bayonne in 1808 that the Portuguese would not ‘consent to become Spaniards’ as the French Emperor wanted.
He was Portuguese plenipotentiary to the Congress of Vienna in 1814, where he attempted to press Portugal's claims to Olivenza, and to the Congress of Paris in 1815.
After this he was briefly ambassador to London, but then was appointed secretary of state for foreign affairs in Brazil. After the Portuguese Revolution of 1820 he was commissioned by the revolutionary junta to inform the king, João VI, of what had taken place and to request his return to Portugal from Brazil.
In 1823 he was made a Marquis and became foreign minister as well as head of the committee which D. João appointed to devise a new constitutional charter. The resulting document, to which the King was unable to agree, was so liberal that it drew down on Palmela the hatred of the reactionary forces in the country, especially the Queen and the Infant Dom Miguel, who in 1824 had him arrested.
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