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Order · Brazil
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The Imperial and Military Order of the Tower and Sword (Ordem Imperial e Militar da Torre e Espada) was originally an ancient Portuguese order, established in 1459 by King Afonso V of Portugal.
On 13 May 1808, King John VI of Portugal, who had taken refuge in Brazil, renewed the order because he needed a decoration with which to honor the mostly Protestant British officers who were assisting Portugal in the fight against Napoleon I.
During the period when the Portuguese court was in exile in Brazil, no Brazilians were admitted to the order. The first recipients were the British admiral and officers who had brought the Portuguese court to safety from the advancing French. These often Protestant officers were not eligible for the orders of the Catholic Portuguese king. Therefore, the prince regent João, Duke of Braganza, reformed the order on 28 July 1832.
Translated from the Dutch Wikipedia (article), under CC BY-SA 4.0.
