July 23, 1921: Portugal's Wealthy Princess Oversees Building of Husband's Casket at Boyertown's Company

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

July 23, 1921: Boyertown has hosted royalty this week. Portuguese Princess Alphonse of Braganza, the Duchess of Oporto, arrived in town by trolley from Pottstown, and no one traveling in the car with her had a clue that they were in the presence of royalty.

She was in Boyertown for the express purpose of having a casket made in which to bury her late husband, Prince Carol, the Duke de Braganza, brother of the murdered King Carlos of Portugal. Not able to find the “perfect” coffin in Europe, she came to America and contacted with the Boyertown Burial Casket Company to build a very special one, with one condition—she be permitted to supervise making it. She declared that she has never seen a casket she liked better than one made in Boyertown.

She registered at the Union House, and each day of her stay here she was at the factory during working hours. She shunned socialization in town except for company personnel, and after 5:00 she was at the inn, reportedly helping with the work around the place!”

She has now left town with her silver and bronze coffin, weighing a half ton. It is the most massive and expensive casket the company has ever made. It has been shipped to Naples on an Italian cruiser.

The Princess is one of the wealthiest women in the world, having inherited $17,000,000 from her husband and another large fortune from her family in Ohio, where she was born as Nevada Hayes.

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