Nevada Stoody Hayes Socialites Information

Nevada Stoody Hayes (21 October 1870 – 11 January 1941), sometimes called Nevada of Braganza, was an American socialite who became the wife of Infante Afonso of Braganza, Duke of Porto, whose nephew, Manuel II, was the last king of Portugal. She was never accepted as a member of the exiled Portuguese royal family, yet by Portuguese law her marriage to Afonso was legal.

Her first husband was inventor Lee Agnew (1867-1924), whom she divorced in 1906. Despite the divorce, Agnew maintained warm feelings toward his former wife, and after he died on 31 January 1924, his will left her his estate's income not earmarked for the support of their son, Lee "David" Agnew, Jr. (1903-1977).

The day after her divorce from Agnew, Sr., Hayes married William Henry Chapman (1834-1907), then in his early seventies. When he bequeathed her more than $8 million at his death, a year later, the newspapers dubbed her "the $10 million widow." This is the origin of the saying, "Marry well at the altar, but become truly rich at the grave, like Nevada."

Excerpted from Mrs. Astor’s 400:

Hayes's third husband, Philip Van Valkenburgh (1854-1949), was not a millionaire.

Her fourth and last husband was the 3rd Duke of Porto, Dom Afonso of Braganza (1865–1920), whom she married morganatically on 26 September 1917 in Rome, and again in a civil ceremony on 23 November of that year in Madrid. Hayes began calling herself "Her Royal Highness, Nevada, the Duchess of Porto", but the Portuguese royal family never recognized her as a member. Afonso tried to have his wife accepted by his family, but was rebuffed.

Three years later, on 21 February 1920, at Naples, Italy, the duke died. Hayes traveled from Italy to Portugal with the body of her late husband, and arranged for its installation in the Braganza pantheon in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon. Even though the terms of a morganatic marriage exclude the surviving spouse from inheriting any of the titles or privileges that are the prerogatives of royalty, they do not exclude the survivor from inheriting property. In his will, Dom Afonso left his entire estate to Nevada Stoody Hayes.

Excerpted from Mrs. Astor's 400:

Nevada Stoody Hayes died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, Florida, in 1941, at age 64. After her death the Foundation of the House of Bragança bought the painting, "Battle of Cape St. Vincent", a Portuguese national treasure that had been included in her inheritance, depicting a victory of the fleet of Maria II of Portugal over the fleet of Miguel I of Portugal during the Liberal Wars. It is now located in the Maritime Museum in Lisbon.

Complete article available at this page.