Teresa of the Two Sicilies
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Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (14 March 1822 - 28 December 1889) was the empress consort of Pedro II of Brazil and a Princess of the Two Sicilies.
She was a daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabella of Spain.
On 4 September 1842, Teresa married Pedro II of Brazil. She was initially despised by her husband. D. Pedro asked to cancel the marriage due to her appearance: she was short, limp and ugly. Some chronicles tell that the marriage was consummated one year later and that the emperor did not send the wife back thanks to the intervention of D. Mariana Carlota de Verna Magalhães, condessa de Belmonte and love of the young monarch.
Despite these initial problems, the marriage lasted 46 years. Empress Teresa was endowed with rare cordial sense. Discrete and intelligent, she won her husband's favour with their common interest in culture. In the fleet to Brazil she brought artists, musicians, professors, botanists and other scholars. They enriched the cultural life and led to scientific discovery, as one of the first recouped artistic drawings was drawn of Herculaneum in Pompeii, sent for her brother, Ferdinand II. A good singer and amateur musician, she entertained at the palace. Moreover, she was a dedicated mother.
Pedro II was a generally loyal husband, having been unfaithful in some occasions, especially in account of his long romance with Luísa Margarida of Portugal and Barros, Condessa de Barral and Pedra Branca.
Empress Teresa suffered from a cardiac attack a few days after the military coup on 15 November 1889. During the trip of the Imperial Family to exile, Teresa was horrified by the rude treatment of the republicans dedicated to destroy the dynasty. To the ambassador of Austria she said that, "we are treated as criminals". On the landing in Portugal she left for a simple hotel, in the city of the Porto, where she was ill. A doctor called in to said nothing could be done. Her last words was: "Brazil, blessed land that never more I will see". She was buried in the Pantheon of São Vicente de Fora, from where her remains had been transferred to the Imperial Mausoleum of the Cathedral of Petrópolis.
In her honor, the Brazilian cities of Teresina had been named after her (Piauí), Teresópolis (Rio de Janeiro), Cristina (Minas Gerais) and Santo Amaro da Imperatriz (Santa Catarina).
When donating her iconographic collection for the National Library of Brazil, D. Pedro II made an only requirement: that the collection gained the name of its wife (Collection Teresa Maria Cristina). The collection today is classified by UNESCO as world-wide patrimony.
[edit] Children
Teresa Cristina was mother of Prince Alfonso (1845 - 1847), Princess Isabel (1846 - 1921), Princess Leopoldina (1847 - 1871) and Dom Pedro (1848 - 1850).
[edit] External links
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Forefathers - John VI of Portugal - Queen Carlota Joaquina First generation - Pedro I - Empress Leopoldina - Princess Amélie of Leuchtenberg Fourth generation - Prince Luiz of Orleans-Braganza - Princess Maria Pia Fourth generation - Prince Pedro de Alcantara of Orléans-Braganza - Countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky |
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding article in the Portuguese Wikipedia.
