On their way to the royal palace, the carriage carrying King Carlos and his family passed through the Terreiro do Paço plaza where shots were fired by at least two Portuguese republican activist revolutionaries: Alfredo Luis da Costa and Manuel Buiça.
One of them, João Chagas, the anti-monarchist journalist and propagandist of the Republican Party, warned the King of the problems that would develop when he declared: During the 19th century, many intellectuals and politicians were preoccupied with the growth of the urban proletariat as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution.
In Portugal, owing to lower levels of industrialisation, this was not an important question, but it was exacerbated by an economic crisis and the Republican Party, who believed a republic would resolve the problems.
However, Aquiles Monteverde would complain that the commission lacked the resources to be effective: specifically that permanent members and unlimited transport, in order for the Socialists to promote their propaganda.
Manuel II informed the government, through the Minister of Public Works, that he agreed with the establishment of the Instituto de Trabalho Nacional, but by September, it was too late for the constitutional monarchy.
During his reign he visited many parts of northern Portugal, in addition to Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, where he was appointed Knight of the Order of the Garter, in November 1909.
He cultivated a foreign policy that was close to Great Britain, which was not only the geo-political strategy that his father maintained, but it also reinforced his position on the throne by having a strong ally.
The old British monarch, a personal friend of Carlos, would have been the great protector of the House of Braganza, and without him, the liberal government of Britain had no interest in maintaining the Portuguese monarchy.
[13] During the waning days of King Manuel II's reign, Prior Sardo besought the monarch to bestow Gafanha da Nazaré with a parish, achieving royal recognition, marking the last town to receive such acknowledgment.
What started as a military coup commenced by soldiers, was joined by some civilians and municipal guards attacking the loyal garrisons and the royal palace, while the guns from the cruiser NRP Adamastor added to the cannonade.
There was little apparent popular reaction to these events: pictures from the square in front of the City Hall in Lisbon, where the declaration of the Republic occurred, did not show an overwhelming multitude, and even some in the military were fearful that their actions would not be successful.
The ceremony was conducted by Cardinal José Sebastião de Almeida Neto, Patriarch of Lisbon, then exiled in Seville, who had baptised Manuel as a young prince; Manuel was also assisted by the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) and King Alfonso XIII of Spain, as well as representatives of the royal houses of Europe (including Spain, Germany, Italy, France and Romania, in addition to the principalities and German kingdoms).
Even in exile Manuel continued to be a patriot, going as far as declaring in his 1915 testament his intention to transfer his possessions to the Portuguese State for the creation of a museum, and showing his interest in being buried in Portugal.
He characteristically put all his efforts into the role, participating in conferences, fund drives, visits to hospitals and the wounded soldiers on the front, which ultimately gave him a lot of gratification.
He also faced a group of monarchists who were not clear supporters of his claim to the throne: one attack was made under a blue and white flag, but without the crown, while Paiva Couceiro himself declared at one time that his movement was "neutral" and wanted a plebiscite on the form of the new regime.
The second incursion, in 1912, although better prepared did not succeed because the Spanish government was forced to cede to Republican diplomats the illegality of monarchist encampments in Galicia and disarmed the remaining combatants within its territory.
This was not accepted by militant monarchists who, in the following years, continued their badly prepared attempts to restore the monarchy (for example on 20 October 1914), creating anarchy in the streets.
After the failure of the first monarchist incursion, and with Manuel appearing relatively unenthusiastic for a restoration of the monarchy (and entirely against armed counter-revolution), another group of royalists attempted to legitimise the claims of the descendants of Miguel I to the throne.
This option seemed viable after the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro (January 1915) broke the momentum of the Democratic Party, who attempted to garner sympathies from the conservative right, by removing restrictions imposed on monarchist groups on 5 October.
On 19 January 1919 a thousand soldiers and some artillery, under the command of Paiva Couceiro occupied Porto, in order to restore the Constitutional Monarchy, and its King Manuel II.
A provisional government was established that controlled Minho, Trás-os-Montes (with the exception of Chaves, Mirandela and Vila Real), as well as part of the district of Aveiro, but contrary to Couceiro's expectations, the rest of the country did not rise.
There the number of refugees, who suffered as the republican reprisals increased, and the commander removed his forces and those civilians, marching them to Monsanto, where the 4th, 7th and 9th Cavalry and the 30th Infantry Battery from Belém were entrenched.
Although it is not likely that such a pact took place, it is said that in 1922, with cooling of relations between monarchists of the Integralismo Lusitano and the King, and mindful that his marriage to Augusta Victória had not produced heirs, Manuel, in a Paris meeting in April 1922, represented by his adjunct Aires de Ornelas, and Miguelist representatives Infanta Adelgundes, who was by now calling herself Duchess of Guimarães, and tutor to Duarte Nuno, agreed that owing to an heir, the rights of succession would pass to Duarte Nuno.
He contracted the services of the bibliographer Maurice Ettinghausen in 1919, to find older books for his project, and was helped by the dissolution of many private collections after the implementation of the Republic.
His completed works gave the King a respectful reputation among Portuguese historians, and his bust was added to the entrance atrium of the National Library in Lisbon.
His body arrived in Lisbon on 2 August 1932, on board the British cruiser HMS Concord which had made the journey from the United Kingdom and sailed into the Tagus River to deliver the coffin of the former King.
By some he was given the nickname O Patriota ('The Patriot'), for his preoccupation with the national identity; O Desventurado ('The Unfortunate'), because he lost his throne to the Republic; and O Estudioso or O Bibliófilo ('The Studious' or 'The Bibliophile') for his love for Portuguese literature.
An incident surrounding his sudden death was mentioned in the autobiography of Harold Brust, a member of Scotland Yard Special Branch in charge of protecting public figures.
In his memoirs, Brust speaks of an incident which probably occurred in 1931 in which an intruder was discovered in the grounds of Fulwell Park who, when arrested, the Police confirmed as being a prominent member of a Portuguese republican terrorist group known as the Carbonária and who was subsequently deported to Lisbon.
Still, the monarchist Integralismo Lusitano movement supported (since 1920 as miguelist) and acclaimed Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza as King of Portugal in 1932, at the death of Manuel II.