Dona Teresa Cristina delle Due Sicilie was the Empress consort of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, who reigned from 1831 to 1889. The Empress was sent into exile after a coup d’état staged by a clique of army officers in 1889. Grieving and ill, she died of respiratory failure leading to cardiac arrest little more than a month after the monarchy’s collapse.
About Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies in brief
Dona Teresa Cristina delle Due Sicilie was the Empress consort of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil, who reigned from 1831 to 1889. She was born a Princess of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in present-day southern Italy. It was long believed by historians that the Princess was raised in an ultra-conservative, intolerant atmosphere which resulted in a timid and unassertive character in public. Recent studies revealed a more complex character, who despite having respected the social norms of the era, was able to assert a limited independence due to her strongly opinionated personality as well as her interest in learning, sciences and culture. The Empress was sent into exile after a coup d’état staged by a clique of army officers in 1889. Grieving and ill, she died of respiratory failure leading to cardiac arrest little more than a month after the monarchy’s collapse. She is well regarded by historians not only for her character and irreproachable behavior, but also for her sponsorship of Brazilian culture. It has also been depicted as a soft and timid character, unlike her ruthless father or her impulsive mother. Some historians have more recently held to a modified view of both the Neapolitan Bourbon regime and the extent of Teresa Cristine’s passivity. She has been described as a strong-headed woman who imposed roles on others but instead of a submissive person who respected the roles imposed on her by the court, she was respected as a person of strong character.
She had no direct impact on Brazil’s political history, but she was greatly loved by her subjects, both during her lifetime and afterwards. The Princess was married by proxy to Pedro II in 1843. She became an orphan when her father died in 1830. Her mother is said to have neglected her after marrying a young officer in 1839. The marriage never became passionately romantic, although a bond based upon family, mutual respect and fondness did develop. She remained silent on the topic of his suspected extra-marital relationships, including a liaison with her daughters’ governess. She also sponsored archaeological studies in Italy and Italian immigration to Brazil. Of the four children she bore the emperor, two boys died in infancy and a daughter of typhoid fever at the age of 24. She was a descendant of France’s \”Sun King\”, Louis XIV in the male line through his grandson, Don Felipe V of Spain. Her father was the then-Duke of Calabria, who later became King Don Francesco I of the two Sicilies. Through her father she was a member of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, also known as Bourbon-Naples, the Italian branch of the Spanish Bourbons. Her mother was the Infanta Doña Maria Isabel, daughter of King Don Carlos IV of Spain, and a younger sister of Doña Joaquina—who was the wife of King Dom João VI of Portugal and the paternal grandmother of Teresa Cristina.
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