In the last days of his life, Pedro had been busy making arrangements for the future. He had always been a lively man, full of energy, according to Hodges ‘systematically an early riser’, and he was not going to stop now that ‘He was fully aware of his approaching death’. On 15 September 1834, Pedro made his will and dictated a letter to his future son- in- law, to whom he left his sword. On the following day, he was occupied with his ministers dealing with urgent matters of the state. On 17 September, Pedro received the last sacrament and, on the day after, informed the Cortes that he could no longer continue as regent. A few hours later, D. Maria was called to take the regency herself. Finally, on 19 September, Pedro received his friends and closest collaborators in his bedroom for a last farewell.

As Lord Holland observed, Pedro's death had snatched him ‘from the scene of his glory and triumph before it was entirely crowned and completed by the marriage of his daughter’. On 18 September, while sick with fever, Pedro had sent Ildefonso Bayard to Munich to negotiate the terms of his daughter's marriage. Bayard had successfully conducted the negotiations for Pedro's own marriage to Amelie de Leuchtenberg in 1829. Bearing Pedro's instructions and sword, Bayard left Lisbon for London to meet Sarmento before going on to Bavaria. In the evening of 16 November, Sarmento paid a visit to Kensington accompanied by Bayard who, according to Holland, ‘is returning with [the] “procuration” of the Duke of Leuchtenberg to enable the Duke of Terceira to marry the Young Queen of Portugal by proxy’. As Holland observed, some intriguing courtiers at Lisbon, namely Terceira and Vila Real, had tried to prevent the marriage: