Note 141 — BOOK VIII[61]

John VI. King of Portugal and Brazil (1767-1826) was proclaimed Regent of Portugal in 1792, when his mother, Mary I., became insane. In 1807, attacked by the French, he withdrew with the Royal Family to the Colony of Brazil, which he raised to a kingdom. In 1816, on the death of his mother, he was proclaimed King of Portugal, but did not return to Europe until 1821. On his arrival, he found himself obliged to accept a Constitution, which he abolished two years later. Meanwhile, Brazil had declared her independence (1822) and proclaimed John's son, Peter I. (IV. of Portugal), Emperor. Civil wars, curiously similar in their origin to those in Spain, broke out in Portugal soon after his death, in 1826.—T.