Matthieu I

Matthieu
Prince Royal of the Royally United Provinces 2nd Count of Montelle
File:Matthieu, Official Portrait 2078.jpeg Official Portrait of Crown Prince Matthieu
Emperor consort of Polonge King consort of Magyarorzag, Czechy, King consort of Dalmatija and Hrvatska
Tenure	9 March 2081 — present
King of Portugal and the Algraves
Reign	5 March 2061 - 16 May 2061
Predecessor	Jean-Pedro I
Successor	Luís II of Portugal
Regent	Marie Raphaela of Portugal
Grand Duke of Baranja
Reign	21 February 2078 — present
Predecessor	title established
Heir Apparent	Mikulás
Born	Jean-Pedro Matthieu Amadeus 18 June 2054 (age 27) Lisboa, Portugal
Spouse	Maria Christina (m.2078)
Issue	Crown Prince Mikulás
Dynasty	Wessex-Montaigne
Father	King Jean-Pedro I of Portugal
Mother	Aubrey of the Royally United Provinces
Matthieu's signature

Matthieu (born 18 June 2054) is the former king of Portugal and the Algraves and currently Emperod consort of Polonge through his marriage to Empress Maria Christina. He was first in-line to the throne of Portugal through his father King João-Pedro from birth and second-in-line to the throne of Royally United Provinces through his motherAubrey I behind his older brother, Roman I. He ruled briefly in Portugal in 2061 after his father’s death before being dethroned by his paternal aunt Marie Raphaela of Portugal and replaced by his cousin, Luís II. He was held prisoner in Portugal until his rescue by his maternal aunt Anna Charlotte. He lived in exile in Vanessa,Derita from 2065 to 2078, serving as an ambassador to Polonge in 2076 where he first meet Maria Christina. They were married in 2078. He became Emperor Consort upon his wife’s ascension in 2081.

Early Life

Matthieu, born as João-Pedro, though wildly known as Jean-Peter and by his family known as Matthieu, was born on June 18, 2054, just 15 days after his older brother Prince Roman’s first birthday. His childhood before his mother’s death has been described as a happy one. In following the precedent set by his grandparents, Matthieu was intended to ascend the Portuguese Throne while his brother took the Provite Throne. The family was very happy.

Aubrey’s Assassination

Their happiness was not to last however. On February 3, 2059 Aubrey I was shot while exiting the FDC building in Dredge. At 2:23 PM, the Imperial visit to the building ended. As Matthieu’s mother exited the building heading for her vehicle, one gunshot rang out splitting the air and striking the thirty year old leader in the chest. She was rushed to surgery at Dredge Grace Hospital immediately following being shot. The assailant fled the scene of the crime only to be raided while packing his things to leave the nation by a Detatchment 7 team. The man was taken to Winston for further questioning. His motives remain a mystery along with the question of 'was he associated with any group'. It was believed at the time that the man was in league with the infamous and murderous Red Family.

Despite doctors best efforts to save Aubrey I, they proved to be unable to keep her alive and she died that same day at Dredge Grace Hospital from her wounds. Following the line of succession, the heir was Matthieu’s elder brother, Roman, but the Royally United Provinces succession law required the monarch to be over the age of 18, and so the parliament quickly went to liking for a stand in monarch. The Crown of the Royally United Provinces was offered to Matthieu’s father, João-Pedro and his aunt, Anna Charlotte. Both parties originally rejected the offer of the crown, wanting Roman to take it, but after much debate Anna Charlotte gave in and took it.

João-Pedro and his two sons then left the Royally United Provinces for Portugal. However, shortly after arriving in Lisboa, João-Pedro started to show signs of depression and began to neglect his duties as King. Matthieu and Roman together found issue with their family, as his aunt and her sons attempted to cement themselves as the new royal family in Winston, only to last for a month before Anna Charlotte abdicated in favor of her brother, Leo III, who became King of the Royally United Provinces. In Portugal, Matthieu’s aunt Marie Raphaela of Portugal became more influential as João-Pedro further neglected his duties and made constant trips to Derita. While in Derita, João-Pedro started to suffer clear signs of mental illness and by November of 2059, Marie Raphaela was Regent of Portugal.

King of Portugal

By the time Matthieu was 6 years old, his father João-Pedro I had gone off the deep end with his sanity and it was widely agreed that he would no longer be allowed to care for the children. However, before they could be put in the care of someone else, most likely their maternal aunt or uncle, the mad King died while at his beach house in Derita on March 5, 2061. Upon his father’s death, Matthieu ascended the Portuguese Throne as João-Pedro II.

There was some debate over if Roman should be king, but it was agreed that the late king’s Wishes would be respected and the second son ascend the throne. As João-Pedro II was only 6, just a few months away from his seventh birthday when he became king, it was decided that his aunt Marie Raphaela would remain as Regent. João-Pedro as King was pampered and Marie Raphaela originally intended to pamper the child king so that she could keep him under her thumb as she would serve as Regent until he came of age, but shortly after receiving word from João-Pedro’s grandfather, the famously meddingly Étienne Stephan I, Marie Raphaela decided to change up her plans.

While João-Pedro was kept at the palace, Marie Raphaela turned to turning the Army against the boy king and onto her side. She intended for her eldest son, Duke Adolphous III of Anhalt-Bernburg as king, but the Portuguese refused to place such a proudly German duke on their throne so instead her younger son Louis was selected as the candidate to replace João-Pedro. The boy king’s grandfather caught wind of the Regent’s plan and attempted to stop her by sending a mercenary army to confront her, but Marie Raphaela acted faster and had her loyal troops surround the palace in Lisboa, firing Étienne to back off for the sake of his grandson.

Abdication

While it seems unlikely that Marie Raphaela would have actually harmed her nephew and an anointed king, she made it seem like the case to Étienne, preventing her planned coup. On May 2, a group of loyal supporters, without young João-Pedro’s knowledge did attempt to resist the coup of Marie Raphaela, resulting in a 14 day siege of the palace which ended in their defeat. Prince Roman and King João-Pedro we’re both completely unaware of the events taking place around them until Marie Raphaela entered the palace and forced João-Pedro to abdicate the throne. After ruling for just little more than two months, he stepped down and handed the crown to his aunt, who declared her son as King Luís II of Portugal.

Imprisonment

Following his abdication, Matthieu, as he was no longer referred to by his regal name, was at first left to stay at the royal palace. However, Marie Raphaela, paranoid that people would try to restore him to the throne decided to seal him up away from the public eye. On May 18, Matthieu was imprisoned in the Royal Fortress along with his brother Prince Roman. Though it is unlikely that Matthieu would have had plotted with the theoretical rebels, being only six, some of them were known to have attempted to have approached him. Meanwhile Étienne and Anna Charlotte fervently protested the two young princes’ innocence. Marie Raphaela’s closest confidant, her half-brother Carlos II of Espana’s ambassador Simon Reynard, argued that her son’s throne would never be safe while Matthieu lived, but she refused to kill the children.

Instead Matthieu and his brother Roman would spend the next two years locked in the Royal Fortress as prisoners. The two were treated poorly for people of their royal status, though not as cruelly as other prisoners. Nonetheless the two became known as Príncipes na Torre and their poor health during their time in the fortress was widely reported. The two were feed twice a day and allowed to bath only three times a week and their cell was rarely cleaned. Matthieu twice almost died from disease, catching a particularly aggressive form of tuberculosis in late 2062 and then getting pneumonia in early 2063. While able to survive the first with prison doctors in 2062, in the later King Luís II was forced to bring in a team of doctors to treat Matthieu and then had to be rushed to the hospital.

Following this, with pressure from Anna Charlotte and the Netherlands, Marie Raphaela and King Luís II were forced to hand over custody of the princes to their grandfather. A team of Dutch special forces arrived in Lisboa and brought the princes to safety in Amsterdam. Here they met with their aunt and then their grandfather and with whom they left for Vanessa, Derita.

Life in Exile

Matthieu and Roman would live in quiet exile from Portugal and the Royally United Provinces in Vanessa with their grandfather for the next few years. They stayed at their grandfather’s estate in the city, Château de Montelle, and became known locally as the Montelle Princes. Do to their hectic lives, they were intensely tutored by a team of tutors hired by their grandfather before they were sent to a private school in the city. Here Matthieu learned the basic educational structure, along with royal etiquette, foreign affairs and languages. Matthieu has described the years spent at Montelle as the happiest years of his childhood. Here Matthieu got to enjoy times almost like that of when his parents had been alive. He learned aside from his native Spanish and Portuguese, French, Norian, Polongain, Dutch and Arabic.

However in 2066, Étienne disrupted Matthieu and Roman’s quiet life in an attempt to get Roman back on the throne of the Royally United Provinces. Matthieu was made to stay in Vanessa with his grandfather while his brother Roman was sent abroad on a tour of the world to ramp up support to take back the throne. Matthieu, though only 12, still could remember the dangers of being a royal and feared for his brother’s life and begged his family to give up on taking the thrones that had been stolen from them. However when Roman was started to be styled as Emperor of the Royally United Provinces, hope grew. The young Matthieu however was ignored and his fears came true. While in Portugal, Emperor Roman I was killed in a bombing during a procession. He was just 13 years old.

With Roman dead, the mourning Étienne looked to Matthieu to take up the claim, but the twelve year old, seeing thrones as things that get his family killed, refused to take it, but did not deny that he had a right to it. Instead his cousin Alfred I took up the mantle while Matthieu and his grandfather were left to mourn the loss of Roman. Following this Matthieu started to style himself as Prince Royal, and though he never said which realm he was the Prince Royal of many have taken this to mean everything from R.U.P. to Portugal to even Derita. For the next years, Matthieu once again had a quiet life, though this time with a more melancholy nature without his brother. In 2071, he graduated from secondary school and went to attend the University of Vanessa. In 2076 he graduated from the university with degrees in History, Economics and Political Science.

Marriage

Matthieu and Maria Christina meet one another in 2076 when he served as Ambassador to Polonge on behalf of Derita. Here the young Maria Christina developed a crush on her, and while Matthieu playfully entertained the Crown Princess, he did not approach the relationship with much seriousness as she was only 17 years old at the time and he was 21 at the time. They spoke with one another and shared a dance and Matthieu even escorted her at her father’s funeral in Genes when her mother refused to go. After Matthieu left Polonge, they continued to keep in contact with one another.

They met in person once again in 2077 when Matthieu came to volunteer as an expeditionary soldier durng the Joskaiote War. Maria Christina and Matthieu were together when a bomb went off in Bledapestra on October 25, 2077 and they both visited those who had been injured in the blast. In November Matthieu was sent off to Fort Gestade in Villach, which was quickly besieged. Matthieu maintain an air of calm and excellence that would gain him many friends and allies in the army. He was later described at having been clear in his care for Maria Christina while they were separated. The siege wnddd with the war and early 2078 with the end of the war, Matthieu returned to Bledapestra, where he was reunited with Maria Christina.

On February 19, 2078, Matthieu asked Empress Maria Anna for Maria Christina’s hand in marriage. The Empress agreed but stalled the announcement until February 21st, Maria Christina’s 19th birthday. Their engagement was announced at her birthday party in the Bleda Palace.

Matthieu and Maria Christina had their first and so far only child, Archduke Mikulás, later Crown Prince, on September 9, 2081. Mikulás was born a nice healthy and large baby. As Maria Christina wished to continue pursuing her official education before she became Empress, Matthieu would take on the role as head of the house hold and spend a great deal of time with his son.

Wedding

Crown Princess Maria Christina and Matthieu, Grand Duke of Baranja were pronounced husband and wife at Saint Stephan’s Basilica in Bledaoestra. The Crown Princess and Crown Prince , as they will now be known (also titled Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baranja), made their vows in front of 8,450 guests and the eyes of the world.

All eyes were on the bride as she made her way towards the abbey. She showed few signs of nerves, smiling and waving at the crowds from her limousine and sat next to her uncle, Archduke Leopold, Grand Duke of Crisana. The bride opted for a gorgeous and regal creation by Elizabeth Percy, an A-line dress floor length off the shoulder lace sleeves, a swagged train and a fine veil of chantilly lace. According to Bleda Palace the dress "epitomises timeless craftsmanship by the best in the world for the best in the world".

Flanked by her sister and maid of honour, Archduchess Maria Amalia, who was wearing a long, cream silk gown, the bride was also accompanied by young bridesmaids Crown Princess Michelle of Poland, Tünde Papp, Princess Charlotte Josepha of Lüneburg, and Bernadette Szilágyi, and pageboys Prince Christopher de Condé and László Katona-András.

Matthieu stood next to his maternal cousin, Prince Jean, and as Maria Christina joined him at the altar he and the heir to the throne broke into a smile. Maria Christina’s mother, Empress Maria Anna, wearing a fitted blue-grey Kis Endrecoutfit, looked on with pride.

The wedding was recorded as the largest public Imperial event since Francis II’s coronation in the 2016 and the event with the most foreign dignitaries as guest ever in Polonge. Guests included eleven heads of states and monarchs outside of Polonge:

Empress Anna Charlotte of the Dutch-Empire, Empress Katherine II of Atmora, Kaiser Wilhelm III of Rhine-East Berlin, Prince Regent André of Derita, Primarch Eelco Harrevelts of Irav, King Henrique II of Espana, Queen Caroline of Great Hyruke, Queen Adela of Genes, Queen Marié Thérèsa of Naples, King Infinity of Timeria King Louis of Venise, King Nicholas of Modensora, and King Leopold I of Beliany

Other royals included Crown Princesses Autumn, Michelle, Juliana and Caroline and Crown Princes Jacques, Baudouin, Nicholas and François. Two prime ministers also attended, Lord Variés of Derita and Lord Rhodeste of Beliany. All of Maria Christina’s aunts and uncles and cousins attended, expect for the Grand Duke and Duchess of Lorraine. The same was true for Matthieu expect his uncle Leo III, his aunt Princess Maria Raphaela, his cousin King Luis II of Portugal.

The wedding ceremony passed without hitch, with the only moment of tension provided as Matthieu struggled to put the ring, the same one his mother, Empress Aubrey of the Royally United Provinces had worn, fashioned from Provite gold given to Matthieu by his grandfather, on his bride's finger.

After the vows Cardinal Kristóf Várádos, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Polonge, declared: "I pronounce that them be man and wife together, in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

In a prayer, written by the couple for the occasion, they said: "God our father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage." As the couple left Saint Stephen’s Basilica, the crowds, some of whom had been camping for days for the moment, erupted into a fresh wave of cheers as they climbed into state landau carriages for the horse-drawn procession to Bleda Palace.

The married couple waved at crowds as they passed the crowds via Parliament Square, Sandárplatoa, Fortess Domonkos and Saint Alanna Square. Despite fears of thundery showers, threatening grey skies produced no rain.

The couple joined the Empress who is gave a lunchtime reception at Bleda Palace for 650 guests, described by the palace as "a private gathering for guests drawn from the congregation who will represent the couple's official and private lives". Here they had their marriages blessed by former Emperor Francis II, former Empress Alanna and former Empress Josephine.

At just before 1:30 pm Matthieu and Maria Christina kissed for the first time in public on the balcony of Bleda Palace over looking the Danuj River. The fleeting embrace sent the already ecstatic crowds wild, and was repeated during a flypast.

After more than five minutes of waving to the crowds, the couple walked hand in hand back through the doors of the palace. Earlier, stepping on to the balcony, Matthieu appeared to gasp "Oh my" as the royal couple saw the tens of thousands of well-wishers lining Saint Alanna Square before being joined by members of their family.

The Empress of Polonge later gave a private dinner, followed by dancing, for close friends and family.

Emperor of Polonge

On March 9, 2081, Maria Anna unexpectedly abdicated the throne and Matthieu’s wife ascended the throne as the new Empress. Matthieu was swiftly then confirmed as Emperor Consort, assuming the male version of all of Maria Christina’s titles. In the first few weeks of Maria Christina’s reign Matthieu took on a traditional Consort role as an advisor to his wife, attending meetings with her ministers. Matthieu meanwhile would spend much of his time caring for his son, Crown Prince Mikulás. In June however, at the height of the Arctic War, Maria Christina started to rely more and more on her husband and sent him to intervene at the head of the aerial fleet.

Matthieu, already popular with the military in Polonge for his bravery and action in the Joskaiote War, was happily given total command and selected Bakos Mihály as his second-in-command for the Operation. Before the forces could make land fall in Mantara however, the midst of the Battle of Nihoa, the volcanic island erupted, causing widespread environmental, social and political damage to various parties. The Dahazzan Coalition which has been moving to overthrow King Alexandre of Mantara and replaced him with the old Republican government was badly hit by the eruption, crippling their war effort.

King Alexandre, who’d personally been at Nihoa and had made a strategic withdrawal from the island shortly before it had erupted via an aerial vehicle was nearly killed in the aftermath but was saved by Matthieu and his forces. Matthieu and Alexandre spoke to one another in the hours following the eruption, with Matthieu explaining Polonge’s efforts to support him. It seems that in this time the two men, despite there being nearly a decade wide age gap between them, got along very well and soon would become very good friends. Together the two men created Operation Ashfall, a lighting fast military campaign across northern Mantara and the Maka’ākau Islands, which resulted in the end of the war after the victorious Battle of Isa on June 8. After President Azzi of Ain Fakrata called for an armistice, Matthieu and Alexandre travelled to Makonia where Matthieu signed the Treaty of Bagata on behalf of his wife. In Bagata Matthieu meet and befriended Queen Mateja of Makonia.

Upon his return to Bledapestra, Matthieu was hailed as a hero and meet with cheering crowds and a parade. While Matthieu did return briefly to his place as two steps behind his wife with his lack of attendance at the Treaty of Bács-Kiskun between Polonge and Mantara where Matthieu was seen with his son andPrince Consort Adrian of Mantara and his son Crown Prince Kaiko, since then Matthieu has been slowly taking a more prominent role in governance, seen at all meeting between the Empress and her ministers.