Miguel I's claim to the Portuguese throne was itself legally contested — he had been installed as regent, swore to uphold a constitutional charter, then abolished it and declared himself absolute king in 1828. Coins struck in his name at Goa during 1831–1834 therefore belong to a period when Portugal was in open civil war, the liberal opposition rallying behind his niece Maria II from exile. That political rupture makes issues from Goa's mint during these years particularly interesting, as the Estado da India continued producing coinage under a monarch who was simultaneously losing control of the metropole.
Miguel I's claim to the Portuguese throne was itself legally contested — he had been installed as regent, swore to uphold a constitutional charter, then abolished it and declared himself absolute king in 1828. Coins struck in his name at Goa during 1831–1834 therefore belong to a period when Portugal was in open civil war, the liberal opposition rallying behind his niece Maria II from exile. That political rupture makes issues from Goa's mint during these years particularly interesting, as the Estado da India continued producing coinage under a monarch who was simultaneously losing control of the metropole.