Count of Lavradio

Count of Lavradio is a Portuguese title of nobility created twice.

The first creation was by King Pedro II of Portugal, by Letters Patent of 16 March 1670, for Luís de Mendonça Furtado e Albuquerque, 1st and only Count of Lavradio. Luís de Mendonça Furtado was a nobleman, distantly related to both the Portuguese and Spanish reigning families, a soldier and statesman, with a distinguished career in India where he was nominated one of the triumvirate of interim governors in 1661 and later, in 1670, as the 54th Governor and 31st Viceroy of India. He did not marry and died, childless, while returning to Portugal in 1677. It was through his influence that Lavradio, his birthplace on the left bank of the Tagus River, was raised to the category of a town.

The second creation was conferred in perpetuity by King João V of Portugal for D. António de Almeida Soares de Portugal, together with the Seigniory of Lavradio, on 12 January 1714, registered in the Registo Geral de Mercês on 4 June 1725, and confirmed by Letters Patent. The Count was later created 1st Marquess of Lavradio, and the title of Count of Lavradio has been used as a subsidiary title of the House of Lavradio on four more occasions by younger sons and close relatives of the head of the family with the latter's permission.