Background
He was the only son of Augusto Basto Ferreira do Amaral (Nova Goa, Goa, India, 17 October 1886 - Lisbon, São Sebastião da Pedreira, 10 February 1947), an Electrical Engineer from the University of London, Director of the Instituto Industrial do Porto, Officer of the Order of Aviz, et cetera, and wife (married Lisbon, Sagrado Coração de Jesus, 26 March 1908) Júlia Salvação Barreto (Lisbon, Santos o Velho, 10 June 1884 - Lisbon, 8 June 1980), daughter of Joaquim Maria da Silva Barreto and wife Mariana Filomena Salvação, a descendant of Gil Vicente and possibly of a second cousin of Gustav I of Sweden. His paternal grandparents were Francisco Joaquim Ferreira do Amaral and Maria Helena de Albuquerque, 1st Baroness of Oliveira Lima.