Counts and dukes of Linhares
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Count of Linhares (in Portuguese Conde de Linhares) was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree of king John III of Portugal dated from May 13, 1532, and granted to Dom António de Noronha, 2nd son of Pedro de Menezes, 1st Marquis of Vila Real.
This family went to live in Spain and remained faithful to the Spanish Habsburgs even after the Portuguese revolution of 1 December 1640, so the new dynasty of Braganza no longer recognized them as Counts of Linhares.
Later, in the 19th century, Queen Maria I of Portugal, granted again the title of count of Linhares (second creation), by a royal decree dated from December 17, 1808, to Rodrigo de Sousa Coutinho, 1st Count of Linhares Governor of Portuguese Angola, Portuguese ambassador in Turin and a remarkable statesman.