Pedro I of Brazil

Pedro I of Brazil

Dom Pedro I was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as ‘the Liberator’ He was hailed by both contemporaries and posterity as a key figure who helped spread the liberal ideals that allowed Brazil and Portugal to move from absolutist regimes to representative forms of government. He died of tuberculosis on 24 September 1834.

About Pedro I of Brazil in brief

Summary Pedro I of BrazilDom Pedro I was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also became known as ‘the Liberator’ He was hailed by both contemporaries and posterity as a key figure who helped spread the liberal ideals that allowed Brazil and Portugal to move from absolutist regimes to representative forms of government. He died of tuberculosis on 24 September 1834, just a few months after he and the liberals had emerged victorious. Pedro was the fourth child of King Dom João VI of Portugal and Queen Carlota Joaquina, and thus a member of the House of Braganza. Through his father, Pedro was a grandson of KingDom Pedro III and Queen Dona Maria I of Portugal. He was named after St. Peter of Alcantara, and his full name was Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim. Pedro and his siblings resided in the Queluz Royal Palace with their grandmother, Maria João, who was declared incurably insane in 1792. By 1802, Pedro’s parents were estranged; João lived in the Mafra National Palace and Carlota and Pedro lived in Ramalhão Palace. As the second eldest son Pedro became his father’s heir apparent and Prince of Beira upon the death of his elder brother, Dom Francisco Antonio, in 1801.

Pedro’s mother, Doña CarlotaJoaquina was the daughter of King Don Carlos IV of Spain, who always sought to advance Spain’s interests, even to the detriment of Portugal’s. As a child, Pedro lived with his grandmother, whom they only saw on a few occasions during the state of the state. He had an unhappy marriage and was referred to using the honorific ‘Dom’ from birth. Pedro’s mother was rumored to have been unfaithful to her husband, and she went as far as to plot his overthrow in the Portuguese nobles’ league with dissatisfied Portuguese nobles. He also had an affair with a female courtier, and was known as ‘the Soldier King’ as well as the ‘Liberator’ and ‘The Liberator.’ He was the father of Prince Dom Miguel, who went on to become the first Portuguese king, Dom Pedro II, and later Emperor Dom Pedro III. Pedro died in 1834 and was buried in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is survived by his brother Dom Miguel and his daughter, Dona Maria II, who he married in 1798. Pedro is buried in the Cisplatine Palace in the city of Porto Alegre, in the municipality of São Paulo, Brazil, and is buried next to his mother in the town of Ramhão, in a small plot of land called ‘Mafra’