Royalty. She was the Empress of Brazil as the second wife of Pedro I of Brazil. Born Amélie Auguste Eugénie Napoléonne de Beauharnais, she was the granddaughter of Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of the French. Her father, Eugène de Beauharnais, was the only son of Empress Josephine and her first husband Alexandre, Viscount of Beauharnais. He thus became a stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte when his mother married the future Emperor. The mother of Empress Amélie was Princess Augusta, daughter of Maximilian I, King of Bavaria. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, her father, having been granted the title Duke of Leuchtenberg by his father-in-law, settled in Munich. The possibility occurred to Amélie's mother, Augusta, of marrying Amélie to the Emperor of Brazil, to guarantee the pretensions of the House of Leuchtenberg to royal status. After the death of his first wife Maria Leopoldina, in December 1826, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil sent the Marquis of Barbacena to Europe to find him a second wife. His task was not easy as several factors complicated the search. First, Pedro had stipulated four conditions: a good family background, beauty, virtue and culture. Conversely, the Emperor of Brazil did not have a particularly good image in Europe. After refusals by eight princesses, he lowered his requirements, seeking a wife merely "good and virtuous". Amélie became a good possibility, but their encounter was brought about not by Barbacena, but by the Viscount of Pedra Branca, minister in Paris, to whom she had been pointed out. She came from a distinguished and ancient line on her mother's side, the Wittelsbachs, but her father, an exile who shared in the disgrace of Napoleon Bonaparte's deposition as Emperor, was not an optimal marital match. However, that was her sole "defect". The marriage contract was signed on May 29, 1829 in England, and ratified on June 30 in Munich by Amélie's mother, who had tutored her daughter personally. On July 30 of that year, in Brazil, a treaty of marriage between Pedro I and Amélie of Leuchtenberg was promulgated. She sailed to the New World from Ostend, Belgium on the frigate "Imperatriz", arriving in Rio de Janeiro on October 15, 1829. Tradition says that upon hearing that the ship was approaching, Pedro embarked on a tugboat to meet her on the far side of the bar, and that he collapsed with emotion upon seeing his wife on deck. Among those accompanying her on board were Barbacena and the 10-year-old Maria II of Portugal in whose favor her father had renounced his rights to the Portuguese throne back in 1826. Upon settling into the imperial palace, and perceiving what she considered an inadequate standard of protocol, Amélie established French as the court language and adopted a ceremonial modeled after European courts. She sought to update the cuisine and fashion, redecorated the palace, acquired new tableware and silverware, and attempted to refine the manners of the court. She achieved at least a partial success in this last, and the elegance of the Empress, always impeccably dressed, became internationally famous. Their marriage was a happy one, unlike Pedro's first, and she reportedly had a good relationship with her legitimate stepchildren as well. Her beauty, good sense, and kindness promptly won the affections of both her husband and his children by his first marriage. She made sure that the latter had a good family environment and received a good education. Shortly after the marriage, a French traveler reported "it appears that the Empress continues to exercise her influence over Pedro's children. The happy results are already apparent, she has already made considerable renovations to the palace, and order has commenced to reign; the princesses' education is supervised and directed personally by the Empress", with the same care going to the heir to the throne, Pedro de Alcântara (later Pedro II of Brazil); the proof of this last being that he soon began to call her "mamãe" ("mommy"). Amélie always expressed her affection for Pedro II, and maintained a correspondence with him until the end of her life, trying to instruct and support him. Nearly six decades of their correspondence survive. Her presence was also important in restoring her husband's popularity and giving him courage during a difficult period for the new Empire, but the popular enthusiasm generated by the marriage was short-lived. José Bonifácio de Andrade advised her on what her husband would need to do to reconcile with the people of Brazil, but nothing worked. The precarious economic situation and political turbulence precipitated the inevitable crisis and on April 7, 1831, Pedro abdicated the throne in favor of his young son. They then moved to Paris, where their only daughter was born on December 1, Maria Amélia. Meanwhile, Pedro I, as Duke of Braganza, began a bloody battle against his brother Miguel I of Portugal for the Portuguese crown, in the name of his daughter Maria da Glória. Upon receiving the news of the Pedro's victory in Lisbon, Amélie left with her daughter and stepdaughter for Portugal, arriving in the capital on September 22, 1833. With Miguel defeated and exiled from Portugal, Pedro and his family established themselves first at Ramalhão Palace and later at Queluz National Palace. After the death of her husband on September 24, 1834, Amélie never remarried. She moved to the Palácio das Janelas Verdes ("Palace of Green Windows," also known as the Palácio de Alvor-Pombal, now housing Portugal's National Museum of Ancient Art) in Lisbon and dedicated herself to charitable works and to her daughter's education. Occasionally, Amélie visited Bavaria with her daughter. Despite being established in Portugal, they were not considered part of the Portuguese royal family. Amélie solicited recognition for herself and her daughter as members of the Brazilian imperial family, thereby entitled to a pension, but Pedro II was still a minor and the Brazilian Regency feared possible influence by the empress-widow Amélie in state business, as well as the possibility of her adherence to political factions that might harm the government. They refused to recognize her daughter Maria Amélia as a Brazilian princess and forbade her to set foot in the country. This situation changed when Pedro II reached majority. His relations with them were good, and on July 5, 1841, Amélie and Maria Amélia were recognized as members of the Brazilian imperial family. Because of her daughter's tuberculosis, Amélie and Maria Amélia moved to Funchal, on Madeira Island, in search of healthier airs, arriving on August 31, 1852. Nonetheless, the princess died there of tuberculosis at the age of 21 on February 4, 1853. Her death profoundly affected her mother. Amélie settled again in Lisbon, where she died on January 26, 1873 at the age of 60. Under the terms of her will, her sister, Queen Josephine of Sweden, was her primary heir. Originally interred in the Pantheon of the House of Braganza, in Lisbon, her remains were later transferred to the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1982.