Maria Jose Leite a writer from Portugal has different view when she speaks about Dom João’s flight from Portugal to Brazil

Maria Jose Leite a writer  from Portugal has different view when she speaks about Dom João’s flight from Portugal to Brazil and she shares it with us

Sonia thanks for sharing this with me

Sonia eu também agradeço que se interesse pela história deste país que tanto deu ao Mundo, muita porta se abriu entre os povos, muito, muito se avançou, milhares e milhares de pessoas do meu povo morreram por esse mundo  fora, a fazer bem, e se houve alguns que mal fizeram, sempre assim foi, hoje  assim é , se assim não fosse teríamos um mundo, sem guerra, sem fome, sem as
 existentes  desigualdades abismais no planeta onde uns morrem de fome e  outros possuem ilhas, iates, aviões.Milhões de portugueses ao longo de séculos deram  a vida melhorando os locais pelo locais por onde passaram, trocas comerciais do oriente ao ocidente, floras que eram transportadas de uns continentes para  outros, botânicos da época faziam estudo dos terrenos para  incentivar
 novas plantações. Sabia que nna carreira da Índia para a manter activa eram recrutados meninos de 10 anos por falta de homens ? as mães  choravam  mas ao mesmo tempo abençoavam os filhos por rem em missão tão nobre, muito se fala do menos bom e pouco se fala do muito e grandioso de bem e bom que foi feito e muitas vezes denegrido por alguns povos.

Only there are some things that are not so true, the carriages were not there only to transport the clothes or some other such foolish items of the Royal family. This was done mainly to save our Portuguese wealth which could be found in palaces, our heritage in paintings, jewels, sacre art., all of extremely great value. The King was an intelligent King. Throughout the centuries the great patrimony of riches from Portugal was stolen.

The journey to Brazil, after all it was Portuguese land and because all the European countries were dominated or conquered by Napoleon, Portugal wasn’t, thanks to this intelligent option, making Rio de Janeiro the Capital of Portugal during the war.

The royal family going to Brazil SAVED our independence. Carrying everything, at least all that they could take to Brazil was lucky for us, because all the riches that remained in Portugal were stolen by the French soldiers. If you go to Louvre you can see the best of the Portuguese riches stolen during the Napoleon’s forced entry. This is so sad really, sometimes some others speak ill of my people, although they profited from the Discovery of the Routes, actually other Europeans profited much more from the Discoveries, much more than we ourselves. History shows how true this is.

We were made to face the forced entry of NAPOLEON THE 1^st TIME, AND SECOND TIME alone, our people faced with so much courage Napoleon the first two times. At the third time England needed to defeat Napoleon and proposed we join forces to win over him definitively. The Portuguese king accepted. The English army came here and joined the Portuguese army to win over Napoleon. ONLY ON 3RD INVASION DID England come to help, because England alone could face Napoleon’s  army.

This was bad for us too, because Portuguese noble families gave the best Portuguese houses to receive the English generals and other English men from the Army after having defeated Napoleon. But Portuguese people were exploited by English, some important Portuguese men were killed by English and my people needed to revolt to send the English people out of here, asking the king to come back to Lisbon

All this was so very good for BRAZIL, BECAUSE the evolution was so great, because of the Royal family there were many important buildings, monuments, palaces were built, and it was D. Pedro IV OF Portugal and First Of Brazil who gave independence to Brazil and he was the First Emperor of Independent BRAZIL

These were bad times for us, and the Portuguese people confronted everything with so much courage as is the feature of my people since times immemorial.

The royal family was so much more intelligent to have gone to Brazil, it was a so much good, because it saved the Portuguese nation’s freedom, the only mistake was staying there for there for decades, this  was so bad for this country and so much good for Brazil, in this case, we never judge the King badly because for Brazil it was winning and we are proud of this.

Has any colonised country had such a good independence like BRAZIL? Take the case of the American continent; has any country had such good independence like Brazil? So much good really and we are proud of this. Pity is that the truth is hidden so many times...

 I think it’s an inferiority complex...probably because Portugal was a free country much earlier, with a great history than all of them. I don’t know..

When D. João and the Royal Family of Portugal fled to Brasil

 Napoleon the terror of Europe is pummelling the doors of Portugal, his army led by the great General Junot is fast approaching Portugal sometime in November of 1807.
What utter chaos on the Quay of Belem……

The Royal Family of Portugal waiting to flee, dread in their hearts for the tyrant of Europe – Napoleon.  Daughters separated from their parents, wives sometimes happy to see the last of their husbands. Nobles all waiting to board the ships, sometimes with just the clothes on their backs and sadly no money.

More than 700 carriages bring the Royal Family to the Quays of Belem, but did the Royals number 700? Of course not, the Royals were just a handful, as for the rest it is the Court, the flatterers, the maids in waiting, the hangers on……. Remember how Marie Antoinette could not keep her hairdresser behind when she was fleeing the guillotine? How the Royals loved all those fawners, the pomp and circumstance. Never mind who paid for their upkeep

D. João accompanied by D. Pedro Carlos, heir to the throne of Spain occupy the main ship, the Príncipe Real which will be their floating throne for the next three months. Dona Carlota Joaquina and her daughters, the next to arrive, board the Alfonso de Albuquerque; All of a sudden loud screaming and head banging can be heard, it is the Queen Mother, the Mad Queen Dona Maria the First who screams at the top of her voice Ai Jesus, Ai Jesus, she does not want to flee, she wants to stay in Portugal and fight Napoleon, brave lady.
The Royal Family penniless fleeing Portugal, no chance…… they had half the treasury of Portugal valued at nearly 80 million cruzados the other half, spent buying a Neutrality Pact with Napoleon. Around 10 million cruzados left for Junot’s occupation army, is Junot happy? No way, would you fight war for 10 million cruzados? He melts the silver from the churches and palaces, the money pays for the maintenance of the French troops in the war to follow. Thousands of Portuguese civilians and soldiers killed in this war.
Quo Vadis Royal D. João, King of Portugal?
To Brasil of course…..The land of sun, sand and cariocas. The best, the richest and the largest Colony Portugal has. In fact past years, Brasil has been supporting our extravagant style of living. So we need to be safe in Brasil and of course enjoy.
But aren’t you supposed to be with your people, in this hour of need, don’t they need your moral support in this terrible calamity?
D. João, stamps his fat little foot, he has put on so much of weight, just loves to eat. Pssst, he even carries roasted chickens in his pockets. Grubby clothes, of course they are oily, dirty and smell of rancid fat, but that doesn’t bother him, he gets clean when he bathes once a year.
Look here, I never wanted to be King, never, I just wanted to live my life peacefully and then the heir apparent my brother, D. Jose had to go and die of small pox all because my Mother , Queen Maria the First refused to let him be vaccinated. To make matters worse, my Mother goes mad. And now I am the King, surely you don’t expect me to confront and fight Napoleon? The very thought.
But D. João a similar fate had befallen another King , King George the VI from England too did not want to be a King when his brother abdicated to marry a divorcee, but he did become a King and a
good one too. When the Nazis knocked on his door, he did not flee to his Colonies and he could choose any part of the World, nearly three fourths of the world were his colonies. He stayed right there in London with his wife and daughters. His palace was bombed so many times….

So the Royal Family flees Lisbon, what utter confusion on the Quay of Belem, baggage piled high, precious books from Real Biblioteca, silver plundered from churches, water, bed linen everything left behind, everything forgotten in the hurry to get away, everything left on the quay. Everything borrowed for a price of course from the British Navy. Horror of horrors the ships were already overloaded, there was no technical support for such a long journey and those ships would take at least 3 months to cross the Atlantic. Without the aid from the British Navy the entire trip would have been a colossal disaster.

 Imagine no running water not even bathrooms, can you think of…….suspended on a platform miles above the sea. Underwear a thing of the past, a dream. Scurvy and other ills kill so many people aboard.  If all these horrors were not bad enough there is terrible infestation, hold your breath the stink is overpowering, of lice on board the Alfonso de Albuquerque. Now isn’t it where the Queen Carlota Joaquina and the princesses have been lodged? Yes it is. So the Royal ladies have to be shaved, completely shaved. A stubble starts  growing on those royal heads, just when the Princesses start thinking of some garçon hairstyles to set the fashion in Brasil, the Royal Physician put a stop to all those dreams the entire scalp, he said, had to be bathed in pork fat mixed with antiseptic powder. Need I say more? Carlota Joaquina hated Brasil with every fibre of her being.

And then finally on 22nd of January 1808 the battered ships after a horrendous journey of around three months touched Salvador.
Carlota Joaquina and the princesses out of sheer necessity had covered their much abused heads with mile high turbans, you know the  Erykah Badu style, the elite at Salvador the ladies said, Their Royal Highnesses have turbans must be the style in Lisbon. Imagine how Carlota Joaquina must have felt to see her style imitated by the local elite. Warmed the cockles of her heart, I am sure. If you are the conqueror you set the style, remember how in the heat of May in India, ladies wore nylon stockings for weddings!

References: Laurentino Gomes (A Fuga da Família Real para o Brasil)

and Anibal de Almeida Fernandes