Best time for Isabel of Brazil to accede the throne??

I'm researching a few things for my timeline, and as a result I've been juggling a few POD's in respect to South America. One of these is the medium/long-term survival of the Empire of Brazil under Pedro II's daughter, Isabel. Thing is, I don't know when is the best time for her to replace her father (say, he retired or died), especially with the 1870's and 1880's being a somewhat fuzzy decade(s) to me.

So, when is the best time for there being a somewhat smooth transition of power between Pedro and Isabel?
 
Your best opportunity to have a successful third monarch of Brazil would be to go with the obvious POD of having one of Pedro II's sons survive. After their death, Pedro pretty much assured the monarchy would die with him by completely neglecting the political education of his daughters and not only excluding them from politics, but also distancing himself from any actions Isabel took when she acted as token regent during his absences.

What I've read of Isabel portrays her as completely unsuitable to rule, not the least of which was her religious views. Not sure of sister Leopoldina's ability (wiki is woefully sparse on any details about her), but perhaps a switch of sisters would be in order. it would be simple: have Isabel get typhoid in Vienna (1871) instead of Leopoldina.

regardless: I would consider the early mid seventies to be the best time. since Pedro isn't going to abdicate in favor of Isabel, he has to die. the older statesmen (who saw the value of a monarchy)were dying off in the 80's and the next generation (who hadn't seen the unsettled years of regency - almost a de facto republic era) were taking over. Need to have the Queen settled in by then. Unfortunately, there's a major church vs state battle going on in the 70's. Pedro ended up backing the state, while Isabel would have probably gone the other way. Who knows what repercussions that would have.
 
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