When
Jaime Álvares Pereira de Melo, 10th Duke of Cadaval died in 2001, he left four daughters: two from his first (civil) marriage (with
Antoinette Louise Schweisguth, ex-wife of René Durrieu, 4th Baron Durrieu), and two others from his second (religious) marriage (with
Claudine Marguerite Marianne Tritz). Leadership of the house and its possessions was disputed by the elder daughters of each marriage: •
Rosalinda Álvares Pereira de Melo (born 1936), elder daughter of the Duke's first (civil) marriage; •
Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo (born 1978), elder daughter of the Duke's second (religious) marriage.
Duarte Pio de Bragança, in the
de jure capacity of Head of the historical Royal House of Portugal, recognized Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo as the 11th Duchess of Cadaval. However, he also granted to her eldest half-sister,
Rosalinda Álvares Pereira de Melo, the new title of
Duchess of Cadaval-Hermès, because she is married to Hubert Guerrand-Hermès, the House of
Hermès's heir.
Dona Rosalinda also obtained both titles of Marquise of Ferreira and Countess of Tentúgal, historically allocated to the heir of the Duke of Cadaval. But Rosalinda (or her heirs) isn't the designated heir to the Duchy and the person to succeed her younger half sister as Duchess of Cadaval will be chosen by the Duke of Braganza at the time of the death of the current Duchess. There is some controversy about the Cadaval-Hermès title, as effectively it constitutes a new creation since the inauguration of the republican regime in
Portugal. The Republic abolished all titles of
Portuguese nobility in 1910. ==Genealogical summary==