Mário de Albuquerque was the son of D. Isabel Maria da Conceição Ribeiro de Almeida, from Penafiel, and Alexandre Corrêa-Telles de Araújo e Albuquerque, from Albergaria-a-Velha, in the district of Aveiro.

The latter had been a well-known figure at the university in Coimbra, where he became known by the nickname Xandre. He had gained a degree in Law, and practised as a notary, as well as becoming Vice-President of the City Council and chief executive for the district of Estarreja. A member of the Progressive Party, in 1908 he was elected as a Deputy to the Portuguese Parliament in 1908, moving to Lisbon, where he produced the newspaper O Liberal. He fought a duel against Afonso Costa, and after the proclamation of the Republic he was dismissed from all the positions he held. He took part in the raids by Paiva Couceiro, and in the end emigrated to Brazil, where he settled in Rio de Janeiro; there he engaged in numerous legal and literary activities, particularly as a journalist, essayist and critic. After the fall of the Republic in 1926 he returned to Portugal, where the participation of the monarchists in the Estado Novo led him to become a parliamentary Deputy once again, in 1935. He died two years later, while still holding that position.

His wife had accompanied him into exile, leaving their only son, Mário, in the care of his paternal grandparents, Bernardino Máximo Álvares Tavares da Silva de Araújo e Albuquerque and D. Luísa Delfina Corrêa-Telles, who had a decisive influence in his upbringing. They lived in Albergaria-a-Velha, where Mário’s grandfather had been for two decades the President of the town council. He attended the liceu (secondary school) in Aveiro where he made friends with fellow pupils who would become notable members of Portuguese society, such as the future Archbishop of Évora, D. Manuel Trindade Salgueiro, and the doctor and artist João Carlos Celestino Gomes. He concluded his liceu education by winning the prize for best pupil, and went on, in 1916, to the University of Coimbra, enrolling simultaneously in Historical and Geographical Sciences and in Law, courses which boasted a number of notable professors. All his life he remained friends with some of them, such as António de Vasconcelos, José Alberto dos Reis, Carneiro Pacheco, Magalhães Colaço, Fezas Vital, and Paulo Merêa.

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