He was a grandson of King John VI of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and his wife, Queen Carlota Joaquina.

It is said that the Emperor liked Miguel Januário immensely and granted him the privilege of extraterritoriality that allowed him to remain Portuguese, despite the rejection of Portugal.

[citation needed] His second son, Prince Francisco José of Braganza, was named after the Austrian Emperor, who was his godfather.

He resigned in 1917 when Portugal entered the conflict on the opposite side, and spent the rest of the war as a civilian in the Order of Malta.

They had three children: After the death of his first wife, he married for a second time to his first cousin Princess Maria Theresa of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (1870–1935), on 8 November 1893 at Kleinheubach.