Pedro Afonso | |||||
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Prince Imperial of Brazil | |||||
Prince Pedro Afonso seated on his mother's lap while surrounded by his sisters, 1849
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Born |
Palace of São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil |
19 July 1848||||
Died |
(aged 17 months) Imperial Palace of Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil |
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Burial | Convento de Santo Antônio (Convent of Saint Anthony), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||||
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House | Braganza | ||||
Father | Pedro II of Brazil | ||||
Mother | Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Full name | |
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Pedro Afonso Cristiano Leopoldo Eugênio Fernando Vicente Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga |
Styles of Pedro, Prince Imperial |
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Reference style | His Imperial Highness |
Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
Alternative style | Sir |
Dom Pedro Afonso (19 July 1848 – 10 January 1850) was the Prince Imperial and heir apparent to the throne of the Empire of Brazil. Born at the Palace of São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, he was the second son and youngest child of Emperor Dom Pedro II and Dona Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies, and thus a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza. Pedro Afonso was seen as vital to the future viability of the monarchy, which had been put in jeopardy by the death of his older brother Dom Afonso almost three years earlier.
Pedro Afonso's death from fever at the age of one devastated the Emperor, and the imperial couple had no further children. Pedro Afonso's older sister Dona Isabel became heiress, but Pedro II was unconvinced that a woman could ever be accepted as monarch by the ruling elite. He excluded Isabel from matters of state and failed to provide training for her possible role as empress. With no surviving male children, the Emperor started to believe that the imperial line was destined to end with his own death.
Pedro Afonso was born at 08:00 on 19 July 1848 in the Palace of São Cristóvão in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His full name was Pedro Afonso Cristiano Leopoldo Eugênio Fernando Vicente Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga. Through his father, Emperor Pedro II, he was a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza and was referred to using the honorific Dom (Lord) from birth. He was the grandson of Emperor Dom Pedro I and the nephew of the reigning Queen of Portugal, Dona Maria II. Through his mother, Teresa Cristina, he was a grandson of Don Francesco I (Francis I) and nephew to Don Ferdinando II (Ferdinand II), who ruled as kings of the Two Sicilies in turn.