Editing Emperor (section)

====Brazil====
{{Main|Emperor of Brazil}}
[[File:Pedro Américo - D. Pedro II na abertura da Assembléia Geral.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pedro II of Brazil|Pedro II]], [[List of monarchs of Brazil|Emperor of Brazil]] in full [[Imperial Regalia of Brazil|regalia]] at the opening of the General Assembly, by [[Pedro Américo]]]]
When [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]] ordered the invasion of Portugal in 1807 because it refused to join the [[Continental System]], the Portuguese [[House of Braganza|Braganzas]] moved their capital to [[Rio de Janeiro]] to avoid the fate of the [[Spanish Bourbons]] (Napoleon I arrested them and made his brother [[Joseph Bonaparte|Joseph]] king). When the French general [[Jean-Andoche Junot]] arrived in [[Lisbon]], the Portuguese fleet had already left with all the local elite.

In 1808, under a British naval escort, the fleet arrived in Brazil. Later, in 1815, the Portuguese Prince Regent (since 1816 [[John VI of Portugal|King João VI]]) proclaimed the [[United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves]], as a union of three kingdoms, lifting Brazil from its colonial status.

After the fall of Napoleon I and the [[liberal Wars|Liberal revolution]] in Portugal, the Portuguese royal family returned to Europe (1821). Prince Pedro of Braganza (King João's older son) stayed in South America acting as regent of the local kingdom, but, two years later in 1822, he proclaimed himself [[Peter I of Brazil|Pedro I]], first [[Emperor of Brazil]]. He did, however, recognize his father, João VI, as ''Titular Emperor of Brazil'' —a purely honorific title—until João VI's death in 1826.

The empire came to an end in 1889, with the overthrow of [[Pedro II of Brazil|Emperor Pedro II]] (Pedro I's son and successor), when the [[First Brazilian Republic|Brazilian republic]] was [[Proclamation of the Republic (Brazil)|proclaimed]].

Today the headship of the [[Brazilian imperial family|Imperial House of Brazil]] is disputed between two branches of the [[House of Orléans-Braganza]].