Leopoldine
Archduchess of Austria (non-ruling member of the dynasty); as wife of Dom Pedro de Bragança Crown Princess of Portugal (from 1817) and later Empress of Brazil (from 1822)
Born 22 January 1797 in Vienna
Died 11 December 1826 in Rio de Janeiro
National heroine of Brazil
Archduchess Leopoldine, a daughter of Emperor Franz II (I), was married to the Portuguese crown prince Dom Pedro at the instigation of State Chancellor Metternich. As the Portuguese court had fled to Brazil from the French occupation, she travelled to Rio de Janeiro to meet her new husband in 1817. There she played a considerable part in founding the new independent Empire of Brazil. The Habsburg connection with the country led to a series of Austrian expeditions to South America.
