Lisbon woman of choice - Queen Maria II of Portugal

For my Lisbon woman of choice, I chose the woman who the National Theater is named after; Queen Maria II of Portugal. I learned a lot about her and her story from Dr Hegstrom today! The King of Lisbon sailed to Brazil and abandoned Lisbon to anything that was happening with Napoleon's troops. He then named his seven year old daughter to be the queen of Portugal, and to marry her uncle. As soon as her uncle got here, he said she’s not the queen, I’m the real king. At age 15, it was finally settled for her to be queen. She didn’t ever marry her uncle, thankfully, but married and then that husband died. She remarried a man who was named king now too because he had an heir that’s Portuguese. She gave birth to 14 kids and was a great loving mother. She fought for good public health standards to help people with colora. She also pushed for education for all people in Portugal.


I think there are many things that make Queen Maria II of Portugal’s contributions important. First, she stabilized and modernized Portugal during a very crazy time. Her reign reinforced a democratic society and civil liberties, as we learned from the professors. In addition, her support and fight for education and social reforms laid the groundwork for a more progressive society. Without her work, we wouldn’t be nearly where we are today. She helped transform Portugal into a more modern society, which influenced many generations after and the development of a democratic government in the country.  


In my opinion, I do think Queen Maria II of Portugal had been commemorated well. She has the Queen Maria II National Theatre in Lisbon as well as several schools and streets named after her around the world (Wikipedia). These commemorations are fitting for what she did, because they honor how she stabilized Portugal and promoted constitutional governance. Specifically, the National Theatre acts as a cultural hub and symbolizes her support for the arts and education. I think they did a great job at commemorating her.


Slay!

Sophie 


Comments

  1. Laynee JohnsonMay 26, 2024 at 2:32 PM

    Great post! Maria 2 had some challenges to overcome, her early reign was overshadowed by the Liberal Wars, a civil conflict led by her uncle. This war created significant instability, making it difficult for her to govern effectively. This problem is not an issue in the U.S. because we have democracy.

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  2. Anna's Study Abroad 2024May 27, 2024 at 12:34 AM

    Great post! I think probably the biggest challenge that she faced was her uncle challenging her legitimacy. People did this a lot more with women monarchs. I don't think this happens to the same degree today but I do see how sometimes women's opinions and voices arn't given as much weight.

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  3. Theresa BellMay 27, 2024 at 12:43 PM

    I love this post Sophie! Maria II has such an interesting story. Being a woman at the time was already so difficult because of extreme sexism, and being a female in a position of power was risky. Maria faced a lot more questioning of her authority because of her gender. This sort of thing still occurs today, but I'm happy to say it seems to be to a lesser extent.

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  4. Lilly PetersonMay 27, 2024 at 12:52 PM

    This is awesome Sophie! Queen Maria II definitely had a lot of obstacles in her path of becoming the Queen of Portugal. Her uncle really sounds like a piece of work, and just the general sexism that existed during this time definitely did not sway people in her favor. Unfortunately I think that in our society today we still see some push back against women in power but we are still moving forward and changing for the better.

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  5. Molly BryantJune 5, 2024 at 11:28 AM

    Great blog! It was cool to read about what you thought her biggest contributions were. I think that learning about Maria deepens our understanding of the city because it helps to teach us about some of the history of Portugal. We were able to learn that there was a civil war, that they had a terrible ruler, that the original rulers fled to Brazil, etc. All of this information deepens our understanding of Portugal's past.

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  6. SatchelJune 20, 2024 at 9:28 PM

    Awesome post Sophie! Maria the Second had so many obstacles, first that she had to be Queen as a child. Obviously no child can do this and her reign was kind of doomed from the start. She also had to be in a war for her right to the throne and to flee for her life. But she survived and was Queen!

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