Brazil's Imperial Family

I recently came across some info that describes Pedro II's wife as having had two additional pregnancies to the four which are normally accredited to her. Same with her daughter, it's listed that she had several miscarriages before the birth of her stillborn daughter. Does anyone perhaps have any more info on this?

Picture: (from left to right) D. Isabel, Princess Imperial; Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil; Gaston d'Orléans, Cte d'Eu; Empress Teresa Cristina; D. Leopoldina; Prince August of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary

Brazilian Imperial Family of Pedro II.jpg
 
every source I've ever read, has her producing two liveborn sons who live a year or two. Wiki (which everyone scorns as a reference material) shows bookend Alfonso's surrounding the two surviving females.

edit: now I see that you've already accounted for those two.

no idea about miscarriages. wouldn't surprise me.
 
I've read that the reason Teresa Cristina closed her legs (despite her and her husband being relatively youngish when they stopped having kids) was due to his taking a page from his father's book and installing his mistress the Comtesse de Barral as governess to their daughters. But other sources point out that Mme de Barral (who was apparently related somehow distantly to the de Beauharnais family) was never Pedro II's mistress.

Does anyone have an idea of when La Barral was officially installed as the daughters' governess? Since then I figure we can posit with relative certainty that then was the end of their sexual relationship.
 
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@unprincpled peter: That's why I find this mention of it as odd. I was sorta hoping that perhaps the Lusophones (or at least those who understand Portuguese) on the board know more?
 
I thought Pedro II was known as a faithful man, quite unlike Pedro I ?

Also thought back in that day women gave it up when the man of the house wanted it regardless of his worthiness.

His distaste for his bride's looks is well known. and after his second son died, he allegedly gave up hope for having a male heir. and he gave in to a life of servitude to his country. Perhaps he said the heck with putting up with a wife he didn't love and go to town with a mistress while keeping up a marriage of convenience?
 
When you look at the dates, it is quite odd that Pedro and Teresa never had another child. It could be that the birth of Pedro somehow rendered her sterile. Does anyone know it that was a traumatic birth? That's the only thing I can think of. According to the Portuguese Wikipedia Teresa didn't refuse to continue conjugal relations with her husband but doesn't say anything about miscarriages after 1848.
 
Pedro II only met Barral in 1856. She lived in France until 1848, and then stayed in her family home in Bahia until she was nominated teacher of the imperial princesses by indication of Pedro's sister Francisca. So, she wasn't the reason for Pedro and Teresa not having more children.

Barral and Pedro II were definitely lovers. Their letters let it quite clear (with lines as "the follies we made in that bad with two pillows", "I love you and I am yours with all my soul, I hug you as ardently as you desire", "I burn with the desire of covering you with caresses", and thing like this).

Actually, Pedro had relations with several women, but he was very discreet about it (the opposite of his father). A Spanish diplomat wrote that Pedro II used the library of the Palace as refuge for his adventures. The only known case in which he wasn't so discreet was in late 1870, early 1871, when he was discovered drunk by a policeman in front of the house of one of his lovers, Carolina Bregaro, the wife of the diplomat Rodrigo Delfim Pereira (he was half brother of Pedro II, as he was the son of Pedro I with the baroness of Sorocaba, who was the sister of the first emperor's most known lover, the Marchioness of Santos).

The rumours about the sexual life of Pedro II were known at the time. Writers as José do Patrocínio, Raul Pompeia and Artur Azevedo published short stories and theatre plays making fun of a scandal regarding the theft of palace jewels (the man who stole them had the keys to Pedro's bedrooms, and apparently "helped" the Emperor in "getting ladies" - despite the fact that the jewels were found in his home, the man was never prosecuted).

After the scandal of the jewels, even Barral wrote a letter to Pedro, telling him that he should change his way of life, as "when we are young many things can be excused, but in old age nothing is, and Your Majesty must give te example".
 
Question: Did Pedro II have any suspected bastards? I know there was no acknowledged ones, but this was a different time and no royal tended to claim illegitimate issue.
 
1) Teresa Cristina had four pregnancies, all of which led to the birth of living children. She had no miscarriages. She and Pedeo II had a pattern of having one child every year from 1844 until 1848. Then it stopped. Why, it's unknown. Roderick J Barman, who wrote the best recent biography of the emperor believes they stopped because Pedro II started having affairs and had no interest in having sexual relations with his wife. The historian makes clear that he's guessing. There are no evidences.

2) Oddly, unlike his father, there are no illegitimate children attributed to Pedro II, even though we know for sure that he did have lovers. Not even cases of "maybe he is the father".
 
3) The Count of Eu never owned brothels. He was accused by republicans of owning houses inhabited by poor people, which he exploited. All lies.
 
2) Oddly, unlike his father, there are no illegitimate children attributed to Pedro II, even though we know for sure that he did have lovers. Not even cases of "maybe he is the father".

Well, he lived in a time when such things had become much more a taboo than during his father's life. He may have had illegitimate children, but it would cause serious political troubles. Also, he was prudish, unlike Pedro I. Personally, I think that if he had a bastard, he would never admit it.
 
Well, he lived in a time when such things had become much more a taboo than during his father's life. He may have had illegitimate children, but it would cause serious political troubles. Also, he was prudish, unlike Pedro I. Personally, I think that if he had a bastard, he would never admit it.

That wouldn't have stopped contemporaries from mentioning at least rumors of illegitimate children, which doesn't occur.
 
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