As the Brazilian cruiser Almirante Barroso nosed past Sugar Loaf into Guanabara Bay last week, jet planes circled in the sky and shore batteries roared a royal 21-gun salute. On the cruiser's fantail, beneath the old imperial colors,* lay two oak coffins. They contained the remains of Princess Isabel of Braganza and her French consort, Gaston Count d'Eu. Brazil was honoring a national heroine, the princess who freed the slaves.
Isabel won the eternal devotion of her people on a sunny Sunday afternoon, May 13, 1888, when with a gold pen set with...
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