Royalty. She was the first Empress of Brazil as the wife of Emperor Pedro I from October 12, 1822 until her death. She was also Queen of Portugal during her husband's brief reign as King Pedro IV from March 10 to May 2, 1826. Daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, and his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily, among her many siblings were Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. The education Maria Leopoldina had received in childhood and adolescence was eclectic and broad, with a higher cultural level and more consistent political training. Such education of the little princes and princesses of the Habsburg family was based on the educational belief initiated by their grandfather Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, who believed "that children should be inspired from an early age to have high qualities, such as humanity, compassion and the desire to make people happy". With a deep Christian faith and a solid scientific and cultural background (which included international politics and notions of government) the Archduchess had been prepared from an early age to being a proper royal consort. In the 21st century, it has been proposed by some historians that she was one of the main articulators of the process of Independence of Brazil that took place in 1822. Her biographer, historian Paulo Rezzutti, maintains that it was largely thanks to her that Brazil became a nation. According to him, the Empress "embraced Brazil as her country, Brazilians as her people and Independence as her cause". She was also adviser to her husband on important political decisions that reflected the future of the nation, such as the Dia do Fico and the subsequent opposition and disobedience to the Portuguese courts regarding the couple's return to Portugal. Consequently, for governing the country on Pedro I's trips through the Brazilian provinces, she is considered the first woman to become head of state in an independent American country. There are disagreements about the real cause of death of the first Empress of Brazil. For some authors, Maria Leopoldina would have died as a result of puerperal sepsis. The statement issued on December 11, 1826 to the Emperor about his wife's death reports seizures, high fever and delusions. She also had a miscarriage on December 2, which either contributed to her death or was a consequence of a previous disease. Enjoying a great appreciation for the population, who admired her much more than her husband, her death was mourned by much of the nation. She was originally interred in the church of the extinct Ajuda Convent, in Rio de Janeiro. When the convent was demolished in 1911, her remains were transferred to the Santo Antônio Convent, also in Rio de Janeiro, where a mausoleum was built for her and some members of the imperial family. In 1954, her remains were definitively transferred to the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, in São Paulo.