Pedro I of Brazil

Pedro I of Brazil (pron. IPA // in Brazilian Portuguese and // in European Portuguese; English: Peter), known as "Dom Pedro Primeiro" (October 12, 1798 – September 24, 1834), proclaimed Brazil independent from Portugal and became Brazil's first Emperor. He also held the Portuguese throne briefly as Pedro IV of Portugal, the Soldier-King (Port. o Rei-Soldado), 28th (or 29th according to some historians) king of Portugal and Algarves.

Early years

Pedro I was born Oct. 12, 1798, at the time of revolution in France in Queluz Palace, near Lisbon. His father was the regent prince at the time but would soon become King John VI of Portugal (João VI); his mother was Charlotte of Spain, daughter of Charles IV of Spain. His full name was Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim de Bragança e Bourbon. He was the second son of his parents. When his elder brother infante Antonio Francisco died in 1801, Pedro was created Prince of Beira as he was the heir-apparent of the then Prince of Brazil, his father.

In 1807,when he was nine, the royal family moved to Brazil in order to escape the Napoleonic Wars. The family would remain in Brazil for 13 years. Their presence made Rio de Janeiro the de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire, and led to Brazil being elevated to the status of a kingdom co-equal with Portugal. Pedro's grandmother, the insane queen Maria I deceased in 1816, whereby Pedro became the heir to the both kingdoms (Portugal and Brazil) and received the titles Prince of Brazil and 18th Duke of Braganza. It was in Rio, on November 5, 1817, that Pedro married his first wife, Maria Leopoldina, Archduchess of Austria. His father granted him the old and traditional title Prince of Brazil.

Brazilian independence

When King João VI finally returned to Portugal, in the early 1820s, most of the privileges that had been accorded to Brazil were rescinded, sparking the ire of local nationalists. Pedro, who had remained in the country as regent, sided with the nationalist element and even supported the Portuguese Constitutionalist movement that led to the revolt in Oporto in 1820. When pressed by the Portuguese court to return, he refused. For that, he was demoted from regent to a mere representative of the Lisbon court in Brazil. This news reached him on September 7, 1822, when he had just arrived in São Paulo, from a visit to the port of Santos. On the banks of the Ipiranga River, he unsheathed his sword, and declared "Independence or death!" He was proclaimed Emperor of Brazil on October 12 and crowned on December 1.

Troubled reign

The early years of Brazilian independence were very difficult ones. Dom Pedro I assumed the title of Emperor instead of King, both to underline the diversity of the Brazilian provinces and to emulate Napoleon, who linked the idea of Empire — as opposed to that of Kingdom — to the French Revolution and modernity. Nevertheless, Dom Pedro I had to navigate between the relatively cosmopolitan society of Rio de Janeiro and the more conservative and patriarchal rest of the country. He soon appeared to forget his liberal ideals by enacting a Constitution (proclaimed on February 24, 1824) that gave him substantial power, although this was seen as necessary to keep control of the interior, particularly in the yet-feudal North. Many provinces, particularly in the North, favored continued association with Portugal. Republican sentiment soared, and in 1825, during a war with Argentina, the Cisplatine province seceded to become Uruguay. Furthermore, Pedro had a number of illicit affairs, which cost him some popularity.

On the death of his father, Pedro chose to inherit his title as King of Portugal (Pedro IV) on March 10, 1826, ignoring the restrictions of his own Constitution. He promulgated the Portuguese liberal constitution of April 26, but was forced to abdicate on May 28 from the Portuguese crown in favor of his daughter Maria II. Since she was then only 7 years old, he nominated his brother Dom Miguel as steward, on the promise that he would marry her. Meanwhile, his apparent indecision between Brazil and Portugal further damaged his waning popularity.

On October 17, 1829 he married his second wife, Princess Amélie de Beauharnais von Leuchtenberg in Rio de Janeiro. Amélie was the daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais, and the granddaughter of the Empress Josephine. She was also the sister of Charles Auguste Eugène Napoléon de Beauharnais, who married his (Pedro's) daughter Maria II.

Return to Portugal

In the aftermath of a political crisis that followed the dismissal of his ministers, and amid a growing economic crisis, Pedro abdicated his throne in Brazil in favor of his son Pedro II on April 7, 1831, who was only 5 at the time. Pedro reasserted his use of his old title, 18th Duke of Braganza. He then returned to Portugal to fight against his brother King Miguel, who meanwhile had usurped the Portuguese crown (the War of the Two Brothers). In 1834 he overthrew the usurper and restored his daughter Maria II to her kingdom.

He died in Queluz, the palace of his birth, at the age of 36 of tuberculosis. In 1972, his remains were returned to Brazil and reinterred in the present Ipiranga Museum.

Ancestors

**Pedro's ancestors in three generations**
Pedro I of Brazil	Father: John VI of Portugal	Father's father: Peter III of Portugal	Father's father's father: John V of Portugal
			Father's father's mother: Mary Anne of Austria
		Father's mother: Maria I of Portugal	Father's mother's father: Joseph I of Portugal
			Father's mother's mother: Mariana Victoria of Spain
	Mother: Charlotte of Spain	Mother's father: Charles IV of Spain	Mother's father's father: Charles III of Spain
			Mother's father's mother: Maria Amalia of Saxony
		Mother's mother: Maria Luisa of Parma	Mother's mother's father: Philip, Duke of Parma
			Mother's mother's mother: Louise-Elisabeth of France

Children

By his first wife, Maria Leopoldina, Empress of Brazil (22 January 1797–11 December 1826):

Maria II of Portugal (4 April 1819–15 November 1853)
Miguel de Bragança, Prince of Brazil (26 April 1820, stillborn)
Joao Carlos de Bragança, Prince of Brazil (6 March 1821–4 February 1822)
Januária de Bragança, Princess Imperial of Brazil (11 March 1822–13 March 1901). Married Luigi Prince of the Two Sicilies, Count di Aquila, son of Francis I of the Two Sicilies, and had issue.
Paula de Bragança, Princess of Brazil (17 February 1823–16 January 1833).
Francisca de Bragança, Princess of Brazil (2 August 1824–27 March 1898). Married Francis d'Orleans, Prince de Joinville, son of Louis-Philippe of France, and had issue.
Pedro II of Brazil (2 December 1825–5 December 1891)

By his second wife, Amélie de Beauharnais von Leuchtenberg (31 July 1812–26 January 1873):

Maria Amélia de Bragança, Princess of Brazil (1 December 1831–4 February 1853).

He had also nine illegitimate children, including five with his best-known lover Domitila, Marchioness of Santos, one with her sister, and one with a nun in Portugal.

External links

Dom Pedro: The struggle for Liberty in Brazil and Portugal, 1798–1834 Review of his biography by Neil Macauly.

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