Pedro IV, king

(also Emperor Pedro I of Brazil)

(1798-1834)

   The first emperor of Brazil and restorer of the liberal, constitutional monarchy, as well as of the throne of his daughter, Queen Maria II. Born in Queluz Palace, the second son of the regent João VI and Queen Carlota Joaquina, Pedro at age nine accompanied his parents and the remainder of the Braganza royal family to Brazil, fleeing the French invasion of Portugal in late 1807. Raised and educated in Brazil, following the return of his father to Portugal, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil from Portugal in the famous "cry of Ipiranga," on 7 September 1822. As Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, he ruled that fledgling nation-state-empire from 1822 to 1831, when he abdicated in favor of his son Pedro, and then went to Portugal and the Azores.

   Pedro's absolutist brother, Dom Miguel, following the death of their father João VI in 1826, had broken his word on defending Portugal's constitution and had carried out an absolutist counterrevolution, which was supported by his reactionary mother Carlota Joaquina. Pedro's daughter, Queen Maria II, who was too young to assume the duties of monarch of Portugal, had lost her throne to King Miguel, in effect, and Pedro spent the remainder of his life restoring the constitutional monarchy and his young daughter to the throne of Portugal. In the 1832-34 War of the Brothers, Pedro IV's armed forces triumphed over those of Dom Miguel and the latter fled to exile in Austria. Exhausted from the effort, Pedro died on 24 September 1834, and was buried in Lisbon. In 1972, his remains were moved to Ipiranga, Brazil.