and Head of the Imperial House of Brazil after her death in 1921; Luís Gastão, and Pia Maria. Isabel did not take long to reveal her opinion about her grandchildren and wrote in a letter in 1914: "I am sending enclosed a photograph of myself with my grandchildren by Luís. Pedro Henrique is growing continually and is a very intelligent child. His grandparents have a particular love for their darling little grandchildren." Political activity With the renunciation of the throne by his brother, Luís could finally collaborate effectively with the Brazilian monarchic movement, assuming clearly his position as heir to the throne (after his mother) and trying to assume the leadership of the restoration campaign. His efforts to reverse the damage caused by the imperial family's inertia was valued by their supporters, and in 1909 he presented a political manifest to the Brazilian monarchists with the intent to restart the stalled campaign. He had some success as he was able to congregate coreligionists in several states of Brazil. Some of the letters from the prince reveal his plans to restore the monarchy, such as the one written for Martim Francisco de Andrada III: "it costs me so much to be here with crossed arms, when I think that a handful of determined men would be enough to pull out our Fatherland from the claws of the adventurers who explore it". "I still do not know what will be your attitude in the matter of the candidacies. As for me, I judge both the candidates 'undesirable'; but as we have to choose, I would pick Rui "[Barbosa]", whose partisans represent the element more reasonable and with bigger prestige in the country. It seems to me that we could use to advantage of the moment for an agreement with the members of this group in order to obtain a common effort for the restoration just after the presidential elections. What are your thoughts on it?" The prince was active from 1907 through to his death in 1920, and argued in favor of federalism, obligatory military service and an improvement in the quality of life for laborers. In the first case, he was in favor of a greater degree of decentralization and economical and political freedom for the Brazilian states. In the second, he refuted the old custom of enlistment to the armed forces based on individuals coming only from particular sectors of