The House of the Counts of Vimioso had also close links with the Portuguese Royal family, as members of the King's Council, ambassadors, and viceroys.
The 3rd Count, Dom Francisco de Portugal (Francis II), was appointed António Constable, leading the Portuguese armies in the Battle of Alcântara (1580); he found death, two years later, in the naval Battle of Vila Franca, off São Miguel Island, in the Azores.
The family supported the 1640 revolution against the Spanish Habsburgs, receiving a new title from the Braganzas (Marquis of Aguiar, in 1643).
To avoid that such an illustrious family would be extinct, the King Pedro II of Portugal, through a special decree, issued on December 13, 1681, legitimated the count's natural son, Francisco de Paula (or Francis III), as 8th Count, giving him all his father's honours and titles.
During the romantic period, the 13th Count of Vimioso (1817–1865) was quite a popular personality not only among aristocracy but also throughout the Portuguese society: he was a remarkable horse-rider, participating in bullfightings, with a bohemian life style; his mistress was the quite known fado singer, Maria Severa, and the story was later popularized by literature, music (the famous Fado do Conde de Vimioso), theatre and movies (A Severa).