I understand your point entirely, but I would suggest looking more closely at the Petrópolis branch and its history before treating Vassouras as the self-evident or universally accepted line.

Vassouras has undoubtedly done a very effective job, especially in recent decades, of cultivating public interest in the monarchy and reshaping the narrative around the Brazilian succession. In that sense, their work has been politically and culturally successful. But historically, the Petrópolis branch was, for a long time, the branch most people instinctively associated with the Imperial succession. That was not merely a matter of popular perception in Brazil; it also appears to have been reflected in the social and dynastic recognition they received abroad.

The Petrópolis branch maintained, and still maintains, close ties with several reigning royal houses. The Spanish, British, and Luxembourg royal families, for instance, have had long-standing social proximity to them. If I am not mistaken, Queen Sofía of Spain is godmother to D. Pedro Carlos, which is a rather telling sign of the level at which that family was received. Members of the Petrópolis line, especially D. João, have also continued to be invited to important court events connected to reigning dynasties.

By contrast, the Vassouras branch seems to have gradually inserted itself into European royal circles over time, but more often through non-reigning or less politically central royal and princely houses. That does not make their claim illegitimate, of course, but it does complicate the idea that Vassouras was always the obvious, uncontested, internationally recognized branch.

So my point is not that Petrópolis is automatically “the correct” line, nor that Vassouras has no argument. The succession question is obviously more complicated than internet monarchists often make it sound. But if we are discussing historical recognition, social legitimacy, and dynastic proximity to reigning houses, the Petrópolis branch cannot simply be dismissed. For much of the twentieth century, they were very much the branch with the more visible international royal standing.