Maria Graham - Tutor To The Princess

Tutor To The Princess

In 1823 she began her journey back to Britain. She made a stop in Brazil and was introduced to the newly appointed Brazilian emperor and his family. The year before, the Brazilians had declared independence from Portugal and had asked the resident Portuguese crown prince, Dom Pedro to become their emperor. It was agreed that Maria should become the tutor of the young princess Donna Maria, so when she reached London, she just handed over the manuscripts of her two new books to her publisher (Journal of a Residence in Chile during the Year 1822. And a Voyage from Chile to Brazil in 1823 and Journal of a Voyage to Brazil, and Residence There, During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823, illustrated by herself), collected suitable educational material, and returned to Brazil in 1824. She stayed in the royal palace only until October of that year, when she was asked to leave due to courtiers' suspicion of her motives and methods (courtiers seem to have feared, with some justice, that she intended to Anglicize the princess Maria da Gloria). During her few months with the royal family, she developed a close friendship with the empress, Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria, who passionately shared her interests in the natural sciences. After leaving the palace, Maria Graham experienced further difficulties in arranging for her transport home; unwillingly, she remained in Brazil until 1825, when she finally managed to arrange a passport and passage to England. Her treatment by palace courtiers left her with ambivalent feelings about Brazil and its government; she later recorded her version of events in her unpublished manuscript "Memoir of the Life of Don Pedro".

In March 1826, King João VI of Portugal died. His son Pedro inherited the throne, but preferred to remain Emperor of Brazil, so he abdicated the Portuguese throne in favour of his six-year-old daughter after two months. So, Maria Graham’s little chubby pupil suddenly became Maria II, Queen of Portugal.