Maria de Bragança

Eldest daughter of Pedro I & IV of Brazil and Portugal, Maria was born and grew up in Rio de Janiero, first a colony, then a constituent kingdom of Portugal, and finally under her father an independent Empire. While she was but a child, her father abdicated his Portuguese throne to her so that he might rule Brazil alone, naming her younger brother Pedro as his heir. However, before she could arrive in Portugal, Maria's uncle, Miguel, attempted to usurp her throne. The resultant Liberal Wars ended in his defeat and exile and Maria finally setting foot on Portuguese soil at the age of 14. 

Over the next two years, she was wed and widowed to a relative of the Habsburgs and Napoleon alike, a two month marriage which produced no issue. She also oversaw a swiftly rotating series of governments by the right-wing of the liberal victors of the civil war, the Cartists, which ushered in the corrupt and damaging economic regime of Devorismo. At 16, she replaced the latest failed Devorist government with a Vintist one, though the young Queen bore little love for either faction despite her liberal sympathies. The action dispelled many criticisms of her and her court as puppets of the Cartists nonetheless.