Princess Teresa Cristina of the
Two Sicilies was born on March 14, 1822 in Naples. She was born with a rather
lengthy name – “Teresa Cristina Maria Giuseppa Gaspare Baltassare Melchiore
Gennara Francesca de Padova Donata Bonosa Andrea d'Avelino Rita Luitgarda
Geltruda Venancia Taddea Spiridione Rocca Matilde” – and was the tenth child
and the sixth daughter of Francis I, King of the Two Sicilies, and his second
wife, Infanta María Isabella of Spain. Teresa had eleven full siblings, a
half-sister, Princess Maria Carolina, Duchess of Berry, from her father’s first marriage, and a handful of illegitimate
siblings from her father’s various affairs. Two of her full siblings were
Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Christina, Queen of Spain. Teresa’s parents were double
first cousins and at the time of her birth, her father was not yet the king but
simply the Duke of Calabria and heir to the throne. Francis was the eldest
surviving son of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, the sister of Marie Antoinette. María Isabella was the
youngest daughter of Charles IV, King of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, a
granddaughter of Louis XV of France. Teresa Cristina’s mother was also a
younger sister of Infanta Carlota Joaquina, who was the paternal grandmother of
Teresa Cristina’s future husband. Teresa Cristina’s father
succeeded to the throne of the Two Sicilies in January of 1825 when she was
just two years old. He was on the throne for a brief five years before his
death and Teresa Cristina’s older brother, Ferdinand II, became king. Teresa
Cristina had a lonely childhood after her father’s death since her mother
ignored her after she remarried a young military officer. Historians say that
the young princess grew up “in an environment of religious superstition,
intolerance, and conservatism.” Teresa Cristina didn’t take after either her
callous father or her impetuous mother; instead, she was gentle, meek, and
uncomplaining. But she was more strong-willed than people recognized and,
according to one historian, she “was not a submissive woman but instead a
person who respected the roles imposed by the ethics and values of her own
times”.
 |
| The embellished portrait sent to Pedro II of Teresa Cristina (José Correia de Lima, 1843) |
In the early 1840’s, it came to
Ferdinand II’s attention that his first cousin once removed, Pedro II, Emperor
of Brazil, was looking for a wife. He extended his sister’s hand in marriage
and sent Pedro a portrait of Teresa Cristina, which significantly exaggerated
her features. Pedro agreed to the match and a proxy marriage was held on May
30, 1843 in Naples with Teresa Cristina’s brother, Prince Leopold, standing in
Pedro’s place. Pedro II was the youngest child
and eldest surviving son of Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil and his first wife,
Maria Leopoldina of Austria, the daughter of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Through his mother, he was the great-grandson of Ferdinand I and through his
father he was the great-grandson of Charles IV of Spain. Thus, he was grandnephew
of Teresa Cristina as well as her first cousin once removed. His mother died a
year after his birth but two and a half years later, his father remarried
Amélie of Leuchtenberg. Pedro grew so close to his stepmother that he
eventually came to see her as his real mother. Eventually, the political
standing of Pedro’s father fell so far that he unexpectedly decided to abdicate
the Brazilian throne in April of 1831 in favor of his five-year-old son. His
father and stepmother then left Brazil for the native land of Pedro’s father,
Portugal, so little Pedro had a lonesome and bleak childhood, just like Teresa
Cristina. From an early age, he spent all of his adolescence studying and carrying
out his royal duties and had few friends or free time to engage in personal
hobbies. While he developed a powerful sense of duty for his position and his
people, he hated the crown, which he saw as a terrible burden.
 |
| Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil (François-René Moreau, 1850) |
On September 2, 1843, Princess
Teresa Cristina arrived in Rio de Janeiro after a long voyage by sea. Pedro II
hastened to the ship when it docked to meet his betrothed, who fell in love
with her fiancée the moment she saw him. Pedro, on the other hand, was rather
disappointed with his bride because she was nothing like the embellished painting
he had been sent. While the brunette, brown-eyed princess was neither beautiful
nor ugly, she was small, a little plump, and had a noticeable limp because of
her bowed legs. Pedro was so distraught and dismayed with her appearance that
he left the ship almost as soon as he climbed on board. Teresa Cristina was
crushed at his cold reaction and broke down, sobbing, “The Emperor did not like
me!” But despite Pedro’s displeasure with his bride, he could not call off the
engagement because a proxy marriage had already taken place. So, on September
4, 1843, the twenty-one year old Teresa Cristina married her seventeen year-old
cousin and became the Empress of Brazil. Because Pedro never loved his
wife in a romantic sense, their marriage remained strained from start to finish.
Teresa Cristina tried her best to the be the perfect wife and empress consort,
despite her husband’s indifference, but when she accomplished her most
important responsibility as an empress – that of having children – her husband
began to warm to her. Eventually, the couple learned that they shared similar
interests, which improved their distant relations, and their love for their
children brought them closer together. Though Pedro never returned his wife’s
love for him, he did grow to respect and care for her over time and saw her as
a close friend and companion. The couple had four children, two daughters and
two sons, but only their daughters survived past infancy:
- Alfonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil (1845-1847) died at the age of two from epilepsy
- Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1846-1921) married: Gaston d'Orléans, Count of Eu – had issue
- Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (1847-1871) married: Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony – had issue
- Pedro, Prince Imperial of Brazil (1848-1850) died at the age of one from a fever
 |
| Teresa Cristina, Empress of Brazil (1846) |
Although Teresa Cristina
conformed to the restricted position she held as Empress, some of her personal
writings display that she did have a strong will hidden under her compliant
persona. Her only close friends (because of her title) were her ladies
in-waiting, who saw her as a down-to-earth, generous, and caring mother. Her
modest personality was even reflected in her fashion sense, for she dressed
quite humbly for an empress and rarely wore jewelry. She stayed out of politics
completely since she had no interest or desire to take part in government, and
spent most of her time reading, writing, and doing needlework. Teresa Cristina
was said to have a lovely singing voice and she was quite fond of music,
especially operas and balls. Her principal role as her husband’s consort was to
attend religious and charity events as well as public or ceremonial functions.
She also had a keen interest in archaeology and accumulated her own collection
of artifacts that she would often exchange with her brother back in Italy,
Ferdinand II, who had a collection of his own. She supported archaeological
studies, the arts, and music as well as efforts to better public health and
education in Brazil.
 |
| Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil and his wife, Empress Teresa Cristina (François-René Moreaux, 1850) |
 |
| The Emperor and Empress with their daughters, Isabel (in white) and Leopoldina (in the back), and their husbands (1864-71) |
Teresa Cristina lost three of her
four children during her lifetime. Both her sons, Alfonso and Pedro, died in infancy
– Alfonso from epilepsy, which he inherited from his father, and Pedro from a
severe fever. The deaths of their sons had a huge impact on both Teresa
Cristina and her husband. Pedro was “deeply affected, emotionally, and
intellectually” by the tragic passing of his heirs and it appears as though
after the young Pedro’s death in early 1850, his father was so brokenhearted
over the demise of his last son that he stopped having sexual relations with
his wife. Pedro believed that since both of his sons (who he saw as living
symbols of his future, along with Brazil’s) were dead, the imperial system
would die as well. He didn’t believe his eldest daughter, Isabel, could succeed
him due to her gender and didn’t prepare her in any way for the throne. He came
to see the burden of the Crown as being permanently tied to his own lifespan. He
believed that when he died, the Brazilian monarchy would die as well.
 |
| Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, Duchess of Saxony |
In December of 1864, Teresa
Cristina’s youngest daughter, the seventeen year old Princess Leopoldina married
Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony. He was just two
years Leopoldina’s senior and was the second son of Prince August of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (a first cousin of Queen Victoria) and Princess Clémentine of Orléans (the daughter of Louis
Philippe I, King of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies). The
couple, who were first cousins once removed, had four sons. A few months after
the birth of her youngest son, Leopoldina died from typhoid fever in February
of 1871 at the age of twenty-three. Teresa Cristina and Pedro II were shattered
by their daughter’s death and decided to travel to Europe soon after her
passing to boost their spirits and visit their now motherless grandsons. Though
the royal couple travelled occasionally, Teresa Cristina liked Brazil much more
than her native land of Italy, as her old home brought back grim memories of
her sad childhood. Her family had been overthrown in 1861 and the Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies was absorbed into what would become the Kingdom of Italy.
After Teresa Cristina’s marriage, she never really saw any of her family
members from Italy again, even though she went to Europe a few times after her
marriage.
 |
| Teresa Cristina, Empress of Brazil (1870) |
But
everything in Teresa Cristina’s life fell apart on November 15, 1889 when the
Brazilian army deposed her husband and forced the royal family to leave the
country. Pedro II had been a steady ruler and had brought his kingdom back from
the brink of collapse but the coup d’état that overthrew him had
essentially no support outside a small group of military leaders who wanted the
country to be a republic headed by a dictator. Pedro, as mentioned before, had
never liked his being the emperor and had believed the future of the monarchy
was doomed for years. Despite tremendous popular support, he made no attempt
whatsoever to fight against his deposition or try to reclaim his throne. Teresa
Cristina, on the other hand, was completely devastated when she was forced to
leave her beloved adopted home after her husband lost his crown. According to
one historian, “the events of November 15, 1889, broke her emotionally and
physically”. The former Empress, now sixty-six years old and suffering from cardiac
asthma and arthritis, would spent the rest of her days constantly traveling
throughout Europe with her husband because they were never able to
 |
| Teresa Cristina, Empress of Brazil (1888) |
The people of Brazil genuinely
mourned the former Empress’s passing. Today, she is known as the “Mother of the
Brazilians” for her kind nature, faultless behavior, and her efforts to promote
Brazilian culture. Though most people of the present-day view Teresa Cristina
as a quiet, meek, and plain woman in both appearance and intelligence who hid
in the shadow of her powerful husband, she was actually a strong-willed,
kindhearted, and virtuous woman who impacted Brazil behind the scenes in a
great way. As one historian has said: “she promoted culture in various ways,
bringing from Italy artists, intellectuals, scientists, botanists, musicians,
thus contributing to the progress and enrichment of the nation's cultural life.”
After his
wife’s death, Pedro settled down in Paris to live out his last years alone and depressed.
He lived in simple hotels, spending his days dreaming about going back to
Brazil, not as an emperor but as a regular man. After catching an infection,
Pedro rapidly succumbed to pneumonia on December 5, 1891 at the age of
sixty-six, almost two years after his wife’s death. He was given a grand state
funeral in Paris, which various members of European royalty attended, and was
buried alongside his wife in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza. In
1939, their shared dream of going back to Brazil was realized when their
remains were moved to the Cathedral of
Petrópolis near Rio de Janeiro.
 |
| Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1865) |
Teresa Cristina and Pedro’s last surviving child,
Princess Isabel (who was described as having blonde hair, blue eyes, seemingly
nonexistent eyebrows, and a short, plump stature), had married Gaston d'Orléans,
Count of Eu, the first son of Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours and Princess
Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Through his father, Gaston was a grandson of
Louis Philippe I, King of the French, and through his mother he was the first
cousin once removed of Queen Victoria. Gaston was also the first cousin of his
sister-in-law’s, Princess Leopoldina, husband – Prince Ludwig August of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. When the couple, who were second cousins, wed in October
of 1864, Isabel was eighteen and Gaston was twenty-two. They had four children,
three sons and one daughter, but their daughter was stillborn. Isabel, who
became the heiress presumptive to her father’s throne after her brothers’
deaths, served as the regent of Brazil three times when her father and mother
were away. In her last regency, she passed a law that emancipated all slaves in
Brazil. After her father was deposed, she spent the last thirty years of her
life in exile in France with her husband and sons. When her father died in late
1891, she became the Head of the Imperial House of Brazil. Princess Isabel died
on November 14, 1921 at the age of seventy-five and was buried beside her
parents in Brazil.
No comments:
Post a Comment