Pedro I of Brazil

Portuguese prince who declared Brazil's independence in 1822 and ruled as its first emperor until 1831. He was also briefly King of Portugal.

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Biography

Pedro was born at Queluz Palace near Lisbon in 1798, a son of the future King John VI of Portugal and Carlota Joaquina of Spain. When French troops invaded Portugal in 1807 the royal family fled to Brazil, and he grew up in Rio de Janeiro.

The Liberal Revolution of 1820 forced his father back to Lisbon in 1821, leaving Pedro as regent of Brazil. On 9 January 1822 he refused the Portuguese Cortes' order to return, and on 7 September 1822 he declared Brazil independent; he was acclaimed emperor on 12 October. By March 1824 his forces had defeated the troops loyal to Portugal, and later that year he crushed the Confederation of the Equator in the northeast.

His reign was troubled by the Cisplatine War, which cost Brazil the province of Cisplatina in 1828, by his open affair with Domitila de Castro, and by conflict with parliament over who should choose the government. In March 1826 he briefly became King Pedro IV of Portugal before abdicating in favour of his daughter Maria II. On 7 April 1831 he gave up the Brazilian throne to his young son Pedro II and sailed for Europe.

In 1832 he invaded Portugal at the head of a liberal army to restore Maria II, whose throne his brother Miguel had taken. The liberals won in 1834, but Pedro died of tuberculosis that September.