Pedro I of Brazil

Crown Prince Pedro of Bragança was a lively child who was adept at evading the attempts of his tutors to educate him. His manual skills were good – he was proficient at wood-turning, able to make and fit a horseshoe, and was an intrepid rider. He also composed music and liked to go to the theatre, but intellectual pursuits like learning languages or reading a book did not appeal to him. There were two aspects of his person in particular which were insufficiently recognized in Vienna: he suffered from epilepsy and had a very impulsive nature. Pedro whipped horses and slaves alike, and he lived as the sons of gentlemen in Brazil lived in those days: ‘They lost their innocence at an early age, the physical as well as the mental and spiritual’ (quoted from Gilberto Freyre: Herrenhaus und Sklavenhütte).

On 7 April 1831 he was forced to abdicate in favour of his five-year-old son, Pedro II, and left Brazil. He won the Portuguese throne for his first-born daughter Maria-Glória (Maria II of Portugal) and died on 24 September 1834, three years after returning to Portugal.