In 1843, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (yes, you read that right, Brazil also had a monarchy) was about to turn 18 years old, and his marriage was put on the agenda by the ministers.
To say that this Pedro II, childhood was not pleasant.
When he was 6 years old, his father Pedro I was forced to abdicate, and he returned to his hometown in Portugal with his wife, Pedro II's mother, and was forbidden to set foot in Brazil for half a step. Only the little emperor remained alone in South America, with the regent overseeing the country.
As a child, Pedro II was shy and had sad eyes
Therefore, Pedro II, who lacked the warmth of his family since childhood, had high expectations for his marriage.
At this time, in addition to the colonies, most of the independent states were republican countries, so the future Brazilian queen was mainly selected among the Princesses of the European Royal Family.
Protestant regions such as the German states and England, as well as Orthodox states such as Tsarist Russia, did not consider the scope, and as a result, the choice gradually narrowed. In the end, several royal princesses from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Austria were finalized as candidates for "brides".
The princesses crossed the ocean with elaborately framed oil paintings and were solemnly delivered to the little emperor, looking at Pedro II with some aesthetic fatigue.
Unexpectedly, when Pedro II picked up the last portrait of the princess of the Kingdom of Sicily in Italy, Teresa Cristina, suddenly could not move his eyes, and seemed to have a feeling of love at first sight.
The girl in the portrait is white and beautiful, with a slender figure, very attractive hair, and a pair of large talking eyes.
The portrait that Pedro II saw looked like this
In the face of the portrait of the princess, the little emperor was so excited that he lost sleep for the first time, and he did not have time to think about it, and immediately decided on a marriage, unless she did not marry.
After half a year of preparation, Princess Teresa set off from Sicily, Italy, crossed the ocean, and came to Brazil to complete the marriage.
At the thought of seeing the beautiful bride he was dreaming of in the twilight, the little emperor was dressed solemnly, arrived at the dock half a day in advance, could not even sit in a chair, walked back and forth excitedly, nervously recited the welcome speech, and could not eat excitedly.
18-year-old Pedro II
In the evening, the eagerly awaited Pedro II finally waited for the princess to disembark.
Unexpectedly, when the princess and the sending party approached, the emperor and his huge welcome team were all stunned.
The stocky girl surrounded by the maids turned out to be the "fairy princess" Teresa on the portrait.
Princess Teresa, wearing a bell skirt, walks in the wrong posture, a bit lame (in fact, she wore a pair of unsuitable high heels that day to show her height), and the short and stocky girl with a large skirt is like a funny tumbler.
Get a little closer, look closely ~ my God, the princess skin is dark and rough, the neck is short, the big round thick arms, double chin... The only thing that is not too outrageous from the portrait is the big eyes, but the eyes are very different, with a fierce smell, rather than the tenderness of the portrait.
Around 1851, theresa Teresa, who had been empress of Brazil for more than 7 years
Under such a blow, Pedro II collapsed on the seat in a daze, unwilling to say a word to the princess, not to mention the "welcome speech" that had been carefully memorized for several days.
The ministers and attendants around them were embarrassed and hurriedly helped the emperor to take cover, and hastily took the princess back to the palace.
That night, the little emperor did not even attend the welcome banquet that had been carefully prepared long ago, but ran to the nurse in grief and shouted: "Mother, they bully me!" The whole world is fooling me! ”
The nurse had no choice but to find the prime minister, lay out the facts and reason, and it took 6 hours to persuade the emperor to come back, agreeing to take into account the overall situation and attend the wedding held the next day as usual.
After all, the little girl is a big old man who came to get married, you can't always regret the return of it, not to mention, this is related to the national event and the international image of the problem, the bride you choose, with tears also have to marry into the door.
After marriage, although Pedro II hated Teresa in every way, he could not stop Teresa's "spiritual beauty", but the two eventually developed an intimate relationship based on family affection, mutual respect and common hobbies, but such feelings and love have always belonged to two different things.
Fortunately, Pedro II had great respect for the cultured and highly educated Empress Teresa, and when the two princes died one after another, they amended the succession law and declared the eldest daughter Isabel the crown princess.
Unfortunately, before giving way to his daughter, the Brazilian Empire mutinied, Pedro II was deposed, his family went into exile in Europe, and his two sons died of sad illness in Portugal.
Shortly before his death, Pedro II donated most of his belongings to the Brazilian government, and most of their belongings are now stored in the National Archives of Brazil, the Imperial Museum of Brazil, the National Library of Brazil, and the Brazilian Institute of Historical Geography, which is a valuable national heritage of Brazil.
What people did not expect was that Pedro II, who was committed to the development of industry and commerce and the liberation of black slaves in Brazil, had a better reputation after his death, and his kind and friendly queen Teresa was honored as the "mother of the Brazilian people"....
The middle-aged Queen Teresa
However, compared with the mild-mannered Pedro II, King Henry VIII of England more than three hundred years ago, it is not so easy to make.
In 1539, after three queens who had experienced divorce-beheading-illness, Henry VIII began to prepare for a fourth marriage.
At this time, there were not many princesses available for him to choose from, who could accept her Protestant husbands, and the ministers traveled around to find a Princess Anne of the Principality of Crevis of the Holy Roman Empire.
They presented the portrait of the German princess to the king.
Henry IV looked at it, oh, the little girl looks good, although the set of German and Italian characteristics of the costume looks more strange, but the skin is fair, the facial features are dignified, quite beautiful, very pleasing.
Princess Anne of the Principality of Clevis
After getting the portrait, Henry VIII immediately made a decision and decided to marry the German girl.
however... A few months later, when Anne came to England from the European continent, Henry VIII, when he saw her in person, was shocked to be "disillusioned" on the spot - in his opinion, the real Princess Anne and the girl in the portrait... It's not a matter of the gap, it's just that it's two different people!
The portrait was PS in the place where ~ Anne's eagle hook nose, freckles on the face, large long face, triangular eyes, in addition, sallow skin also added a thick "beauty filter".
Moreover, the princess looks tall and tall, and the whole thing is like a man.
Henry VIII, who was 48 years old and fat, looked at the 20-year-old German princess with a look of disgust, and in the short 4 months of marriage, the two did not even hold hands several times.
On 9 July 1540, Henry VIII declared the marriage null and void on the grounds that the couple had never had a round house and that Anne had entered into a marriage contract with Francis of Lorraine.
Then the couple became brother and sister, and Henry awarded Anne the honorary title of "Sister of the King" and a rich field property, and the two got together and dispersed.
Although Henry VIII was not very good-looking, he had high requirements for women
Later, a few years later, the introducer of the marriage, Thomas Cromwell, the "Chief Secretary of State," was sent to the guillotine for "treason."
It is likely that, in addition to being involved in a "grand conspiracy" against Henry VIII, the reason why Thomas Cromwell was so ruthlessly abandoned by the king was also related to the trouble caused by the PS version of the princess portrait he had personally presented.
Introducer Thomas Cromwell
In the mid-to-late 19th century, with the gradual popularization of photographic technology in high society, we had the opportunity to see the "real style" of the royal families of various countries.
To say that these old photos, compared with the oil paintings of the same protagonist of the same era, that gap, sometimes, is not the general big... Yes, it's like two people.
For example, Queen Victoria's wedding photo and the same oil painting.
The queen is short and fat, the eagle groove nose is prominent, the eyes are slightly violent, a little old-fashioned; but in the painting, it becomes a gentle girl with a classical temperament - if it is not the same wedding dress, it is difficult to think that these two describe the same woman.
Young Victoria
Queen Victoria, 28, is painted like this.
But at the same time, the picture of herself was like this.
There is also the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm I, Princess Louise, Prince of Prussia, and the portrait and photograph are compared.
Tsar Empress, Maria. Alexander Novna.
Queen Isabella II of Spain. If it weren't for the same crown, skirt and jewelry, would you be able to tell that this is a person?
Of course, there are also good foundations, photos and oil paintings are as beautiful as the style, such as the most familiar Princess Sisi, the Austro-Hungarian Queen Elizabeth.
Photos look better than portraits
Nowadays, in the developed self-media, public figures use beauty, filters, and even fake identities to create a completely different image, which is not a new thing.
In fact, in the early West, the royal aristocracy had already made full use of the technical conditions of the time, through the artist's ingenious brush, keen to add satisfactory beautification and filters to themselves, to create a "perfect" person for the Buddha...
Looking at it this way, the so-called royal aristocratic temperament, many times, is more like the skills of painters.