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Peter I, Emperor of Brazil; Peter IV of Portugal
Peter I of Brazil, in Portuguese
Dom Pedro I (October 12, 1798 - September 24, 1834), proclaimed Brazil independent from Portugal and became the country's first Emperor. He
also held the Portuguese throne briefly as Peter IV
of Portugal.
Early years
Pedro I was born in the Queluz
Palace, near Lisbon, as son of the future King João VI (at the time still a regent prince) and Carlota Joaquina, Princess of
Portugal, 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.
In 1807 he was taken with the Portuguese royal family to Brazil, to escape the Napoleonic Wars. That move made Rio de Janeiro the de facto capital of the Portuguese Empire, and Brazil was elevated to the status
of a kingdom co-equal with Portugal.
Pedro first married on November 5, 1817 in Rio de Janeiro to Maria Leopoldina, Archduchess of Austria.
Brazilian independence
In the early 1820s, with the return of King João VI to Portugal, 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privileges that had been accorded to Brazil were rescinded, sparking the ire of local nationalists.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, 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. These 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. As Emperor, Pedro soon forgot his liberal ideals, and
sponsored a Consitution (proclaimed on February 24, 1824) that gave him substantial power. Many provinces, particularly in the north, favored continued association
with Portugal, republican sentiment soared, and in 1825, during a war with Paraguay, the Cisplatine province seceded to become Uruguay. Furthermore, Pedro
had a number of illicit affairs, which cost him his popularity.
On the death of his father, Pedro choose 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 apaprent 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 dissmissal of his ministers, Pedro abdicated his throne in Brazil in
favor of his son Pedro II on April 7, 1831, who was only 5 at the time. 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 title.
He died in Queluz, the palace of his birth, at the age of 36. In 1972, his remains were
returned to Brazil and reinterred in the present Ipiranga Museum. In all he had five legitimate children and nine illegitimate ones,
including five with his best-known lover Domitila, Marquess of Santos, one with her sister, and one with a
nun in Portugal.
See also
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