3 - Princess Isabel and the Abolition of Slavery
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 February 2024
Summary
Yesterday I had my first cabinet meeting, but first I should say to you that when Daddy left it seemed to me so strange to see myself a type of emperor from head to toe without changing my skin, without a beard and without a very fat belly.
–Letter from Princess Isabel to D. Pedro II 4 June 1871My statement about the loss of moral force and my insistence on the dismissal of the Chief-of-police resulted in the fall of the ministry. I don't regret what I did. Sooner or later, I would have done it. A silent anger possessed me and in conscience I could not continue with a Ministry when I felt and was convinced that it did not fulfil the aspirations of the country in the actual circumstances. God help me, and that the question of emancipation will shortly come to the last step that I so much want to see.
–Letter from Princess Isabel to D. Pedro II 14 March 1888The seventeen years separating these two letters to her father marked Isabel's transition from a nervous young woman to an empress-in-waiting. The diffidence, hesitation and anxiety evident in 1871 had been replaced by conviction, determination and confidence by 1888. Above all, the exercise of power had become intrinsic to Isabel. Isabel began her first regency in 1871 as a political ingeÌnue and ended her third regency in 1888 as an empress-inwaiting. It had been no easy matter for Isabel to reconcile her roles as a woman and as empress-to-be since they existed in constant tension with each other. As a woman Isabel was expected to subordinate herself to her father, her husband and finally her adult sons. As empress she would be the embodiment of the nation, the head of state and the focal point of the political system. Isabel had to learn to manage these contradictory expectations, moving between them, emphasizing one and then the other at different stages of her life. Neither ever completely disappeared at any point, but as her life progressed Isabel increasingly adopted the mantle of empress-to-be. The three times she acted as regent for her father were critical stages in her shift away from her private role to her public one. This process reached its apogee during Isabel's third regency, when she decisively embraced her role as empress-to-be, placing herself at the head of the emancipation movement.
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- Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Princess Isabel and the Ending of Servile Labour in Russia and Brazil , pp. 73 - 96Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2023