Editing John VI of Portugal (section)

==Private life==
[[File:Retrato de D. João VI e D. Carlota Joaquina - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of D. John, the Prince Regent and Princess D. [[Carlota Joaquina]] by [[Manuel Dias de Oliveira]], 1815]]
As a youth, John was a retiring figure, heavily influenced by the clergy, and lived surrounded by priests and attending daily Mass in the church. Nonetheless, Oliveira Lima affirms that rather than being an expression of personal piety, this merely reflected Portuguese culture at that time, and that the King

{{blockquote|"...understood that the Church, with its body of traditions and its moral discipline, could only be useful for a good government in his manner, paternal and exclusive, of populations whose dominion was inherited with the scepter. Because of this, he was repeatedly the guest of monks and patron to composers of [[sacred music]], but none of these Epicurean or artistic demonstrations compromised his free thought or denatured his skeptical tolerance. ... He made more use of the refectory of the monastery than of its chapel, because [the latter] was about observance and in [the former] one thought of gastronomy, and in terms of observance the pragmatic one was enough for him. In the Royal Chapel he more took pleasure with the senses than he prayed with the spirit: ''andantes'' took the place of meditations."<ref name="Lima">''...compreendia que a Igreja, com seu corpo de tradições e sua disciplina moral, só lhe podia ser útil para o bom governo a seu modo, paternal e exclusivo, de populações cujo domínio herdara com o cetro. Por isso foi repetidamente hóspede de frades e mecenas de compositores sacros, sem que nessas manifestações epicuristas ou artísticas se comprometesse seu livre pensar ou se desnaturasse sua tolerância cética.... Aprazia-lhe o refeitório mais do que o capítulo do mosteiro, porque neste se tratava de observância e naquele se cogitava de gastronomia, e para observância lhe bastava a da pragmática. Na Capela Real mais gozava com os sentidos do que rezava com o espírito: os andantes substituíam as meditações.'' [http://www.consciencia.org/el-rei-d.joao-vi-no-brasil-oliveira-lima Lima, Oliveira. cap. XXIV] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230164613/http://www.consciencia.org/el-rei-d.joao-vi-no-brasil-oliveira-lima |date=30 December 2010 }}</ref>}}

John had a great appreciation of sacred music and was a great reader of works about art, but he detested physical activity. He appeared to have suffered periodic crises of [[depression (mood)|depression]].<ref name=Gomes-152-157>Gomes, pp. 152–157</ref> An aversion to changes in his routine extended to his clothing: he wore the same coat until it tore, forcing his chamberlains to sew it on his body while he slept in it. He suffered from panic attacks when he heard thunder, staying in his rooms with the windows shut and receiving no one.<ref>Gomes, pp. 157–158</ref>

John's marriage was never a happy one. Rumors circulated that at the age of 25 he fell in love with Eugênia José de Menezes, his wife's chaperone. She became pregnant, and John was suspected of being the father. The case was hushed up, and the young woman was sent to Spain to bear the child. She gave birth to a daughter, whose name is unknown. The mother lived the rest of her life in nunneries and John supported her financially.<ref name=Gomes-152-157/>

In the precarious and spare environment of Rio, the King's personal habits were simple. In contrast to his relative isolation in Portugal, he became more personally dynamic and interested in nature. He moved frequently between the Paço de São Cristóvão and the viceregal palace in the city, staying also at times at [[Paquetá Island]], [[Governador Island]], at Praia Grande (the beach at [[Niterói]]), and at the House of Santa Cruz. He went hunting and happily slept in a tent or under a tree. He liked the countryside, despite the swarms of mosquitoes and other pests and the scorching heat of the tropics that were detested by the majority of the Portuguese and other foreigners.<ref>Martins, Ismênia de Lima. "Dom João – Príncipe Regente e Rei – um soberano e muitas controvérsias". In: ''Revista Navigator'', nº 11, p. 39. In Portuguese.</ref>