Retrato de Dom João VI [Portrait of Dom João VI]

When he was born, Dom João Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos Rafael de Bragança was not destined to be king of Portugal, since his elder brother, Dom José, was the eldest son of Dom Pedro III and Dona Maria I. At the age of 18 he married Dona Carlota Joaquina de Bourbon, daughter of the King of Spain, Charles IV, who was only ten years old at the time. With the death of his brother in 1788, Dom João became the heir of the throne and in 1792 assumed the regency of the country due to the mental instability of the mother. In 1807, with the imminence invasion of Portugal by the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte, Dom João decided to transfer the Portuguese court to Rio de Janeiro. With the death of the mother in 1816, he assumed the Crown and was acclaimed, two years later, king of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarves. In 1820, with the Liberal Revolution of Porto, Dom João was obliged to return to Portugal, leaving the regency of Brazil with his son, Dom Pedro, who declared the independence of the Colony in 1822. In the treaty of recognition of the independence of Brazil, Dom João was conferred the honorary title of Emperor of Brazil. He was responsible for numerous improvements in Rio de Janeiro, implementing all the cultural and practical apparatus required for a court. It was also Dom João who ordered the liberation of industrial activity, the opening of ports in Brazil and who created the Bank of Brazil, the Post Office, the Mint, the Academy of Fine Arts, the National Library and the Botanical Garden.