Why the need for precision: The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves came into being in the wake of Portugal's war with Napoleonic France. The Portuguese Prince Regent, the future King John VI, with his incapacitated mother, Queen Maria I of Portugal and the Royal Court, fled to the colony of Brazil in 1808. With the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, there were calls for the return of the Portuguese Monarch to Lisbon; the Portuguese Prince Regent enjoyed life in Rio de Janeiro, where the monarchy was at the time more popular and where he enjoyed more freedom, and he was thus unwilling to return to Europe. However, those advocating the return of the Court to Lisbon argued that Brazil was only a colony and that it was not right for Portugal to be governed from a colony. On the other hand, leading Brazilian courtiers pressed for the elevation of Brazil from the rank of a colony, so that they could enjoy the full status of being nationals of the mother-country. Brazilian nationalists also supported the move, because it indicated that Brazil would no longer be submissive to the interests of Portugal, but would be of equal status within a transatlantic monarchy.
By a law issued by the Prince Regent on December 16, 1815, the colony of Brazil was thus elevated to the rank of a Kingdom and by the same law the separate kingdoms of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves were united as a single State under the title of The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.
This united kingdom included the historical Kingdom of the Algarve, which included the present-day Portuguese region of Algarve – always administered as a de facto province of Portugal – and the Overseas Algarve – the former Portuguese territories in what is now Morocco.
The titles of the Portuguese royalty were changed to reflect the creation of this transatlantic united kingdom. The styles of the Queen and of the Prince Regent were changed accordingly to Queen and Prince Regent of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The title " Prince of Brazil", a title that used to pertain to the heir apparent of the Portuguese Crown, was dropped shortly afterwards, in 1817, being replaced by the title of "Prince Royal of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves", or Prince Royal, for short. A new flag and coat of arms were also adopted for the new State. |
