In Italy, he declared "null and worthless" the capitulation that, under coercion, he was forced to accept in Évora-Monte. He lived the rest of his life in Germany, where he married Princess Adelaide de Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg. The couple had six daughters and one son.
The current pretender to the Portuguese throne in contemporary times, Duarte Pio de Bragança, is the great grandson of Miguel I and also the great great grandson of Pedro I Brazil and IV of Portugal on his maternal side.