Who was Princess Isabel of Brazil?
Isabel was born in 1846, the elder surviving daughter of Emperor Pedro II, and was recognized as his heir. She served as regent three times while her father travelled abroad. In 1871 she approved the Law of Free Birth, and on 13 May 1888 she signed the Golden Law, which ended slavery in Brazil. Planters who had relied on enslaved labor turned against the crown, and the monarchy fell in 1889. Isabel and her family went into exile, mostly in France, where she died at the Château d'Eu in 1921.
Political views
- Served as regent of the empire three times while Pedro II was abroad: 1871-1872, 1876-1877 and 1887-1888.Source: archontology.org
- Sanctioned the Law of Free Birth in 1871, which freed children born to enslaved mothers.Source: archontology.org
- Signed the Golden Law on 13 May 1888, ending slavery in Brazil, and was hailed as the Redemptress.Source: archontology.org
- Her support for abolition angered powerful landowners and, in the account of one historical article, weakened the monarchy ahead of its fall in 1889.Source: nolam.org
- Historians note that abolition also came from Afro-Brazilian activists, intellectuals and formerly enslaved people, not from the crown alone.Source: nolam.org
- Pope Leo XIII reportedly gave her the Golden Rose for the act.Source: royalwatcherblog.com
- After 1889 the family lived in exile, first in Portugal and then in France, and gave little support to efforts to restore the throne even after Pedro II died in 1891.Source: royalwatcherblog.com
- Her farewell statement spoke of sorrow at leaving Brazil and hope for its happiness. The ban on the family was lifted in 1920.Source: royalwatcherblog.com
Legacy
In Brazil, many honor Isabel as the Redemptress who ended slavery. Admirers credit her with moral courage for acting when the landowning class opposed her. Historians add that abolition owed much to Afro-Brazilian activists and to a long popular campaign, and that the crown acted late. Critics note that the Golden Law was brief and gave the freed people neither land nor compensation, and that Brazil was one of the last countries in the Americas to end slavery. Her remains were returned to Brazil in 1953 and reburied in the Cathedral of Petrópolis in 1971.