Dom Pedro II was crowned when he was only 15-years old, on July 18, 1841 after a political coup took place in order change the official age of adulthood – a move that was illegal at the time. And so the law was changed. Just 5 years later, Pedro II was elevated to the imperial throne when his father, Dom Pedro I, returned to Portugal to fight and left his son in Brazil. From 1831 to 1841, a political group called the “regency” governed the country until Dom Pedro II turned 15 years old. The regency decided to change the age of adulthood in order to curb political disputes and instability, making Dom Pedro II the second Brazilian emperor.
The day after the coronation, the Rio de Janeiro Daily – the monarchy’s official media outlet – enthusiastically described how the people and the court received the news: “The Imperial square and Direita street could barely contain the mass of people who flocked to see what there was to see. Gentlemen in full pomp lined the balconies of the imperial palace and nearby houses, as well as the windows of the Hotel de L’Empire. The full court was in a state of the greatest excitement.”