she decisively convinced her husband that maintaining the territorial integrity of Brazil was only possible if they both remained there. Finally, on 9 January 1822 Dom Pedro solemnly declared: "Fico!" (I am staying). At the age of 24, Maria Leopoldina made a political decision that sentenced her to indefinite stay in America and would deprive her for the rest of her life from living near her father, siblings and other family members. Just as her sister Marie Louise married Napoleon Bonaparte with the intention of bringing political relations between the Austrian and the French Empires closer through this wedding, for Maria Leopoldina a role was kept in history much more relevant than that of her sister. Two days later, the decision of the Prince-Regent to remain in Brazil caused outraged among the Cortes (the elected parliamentary representatives of the Brazilian people, who wanted that the whole royal family leave the country, after which Brazil would have been divided up into separate regions): government offices and buildings were burned – a revolution broke out. Dom Pedro and Maria Leopoldina were at the theatre at that moment; while he rode out with his troops against the Cortes, Maria Leopoldina went onto the stage and announced: "Remain calm, my husband has everything under control!". With this announcement (who was greeted with jubilation) she placed herself firmly on the side of the Brazilian people. However, Maria Leopoldina's knew that her life was in danger; she hurriedly back to Boa Vista. Seven months pregnant at that moment, she took both her children, 3-years-old Maria da Glória and 11-months-old João-Carlos, into a coach and fled with them to Santa Cruz, in a perilous twelve-hour journey. The political situation soon calmed down and she was able to return with her children to Boa Vista. However, the young Prince João Carlos never recovered from the strain and died on 4 February 1822. At the end of 1821, a letter of Maria Leopoldina addressed to her secretary Schäffer makes it clear that she was, since that time, more decided by Brazil and by the Brazilians than Dom Pedro: it was necessary to stay in Brazil and go against the demands of the Portuguese court. Her Dia do Fico was earlier than that of her husband. In the Manifesto to the Friendly Nations, signed by Dom Pedro on 6 August 1822, the despotism of the courts of Lisbon was denounced