Portal:Europe/Featured portrait/20

A 1783 portrait of Maria I of Portugal. First known as Maria the Pious, then Maria the Mad, she was Queen of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, though in the last years of her life the governance was handled by others, including her son John. Maria fled to Brazil during the Napoleonic wars, and remained there after Napoleon's defeat. This portrait dates to a few years before her mental disease was noticed.

Dona Maria I (1734 –1816) was Queen of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves. Known as Maria the Pious (in Portugal), or Maria the Mad (in Brazil), she was the first undisputed Queen regnant of Portugal. With Napoleon's European conquests, her court, then under the direction of Prince Dom João, the Prince Regent, moved to Brazil, then a Portuguese colony. Later on, Brazil would be elevated from the rank of a colony to that of a kingdom, with the consequential formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves.