Sao Paulo  - A member of Brazil's non-reigning royal family was travelling on the Air France plane that went missing Monday off Brazil's north-eastern coast, the Orleans e Braganca family confirmed in a statement.

According to the family's representatives in Sao Paulo, Prince Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, 26, was among the 228 occupants of the airplane that was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it disappeared from radar screens.

Pedro de Orleans e Braganca is a descendant of Peter II, the last Emperor of Brazil, who was overthrown in 1889 prior to the proclamation of the Republic.

The missing prince is fourth in line to the hypothetical Brazilian throne. (dpa)