up to the descriptions she had been given by the matchmakers. His temperament was impulsive and choleric, and his education modest. Even spoken communication between the young married couple proved difficult, as Pedro spoke very little French and his Portuguese could only be described as vulgar. In addition, keeping with Portuguese tradition, the 18-year-old Dom Pedro not only had a string of amorous adventures behind him and was principally interested in horse racing and love affairs, but by the time of his marriage he was living as if in wedlock with French dancer Noemie Thierry, who was finally removed from the court by his father a month after Maria Leopoldina's arrival in Rio de Janeiro. The young married couple took up residence in six relatively small rooms in the Palace of São Cristóvão. The inner courtyard and path to the stables were unpaved and the tropical rainfall quickly turned everything to mud. There were insects everywhere, including in their clothing, for the uniforms and court regalia made of velvet and plush rotted and turned mouldy in the heat and humidity. The Prince von Metternich would intercept a letter from the Baron von Eschwege to his partner in Vienna in which he said: "Speaking of the Crown Prince, since he is not without natural intelligence, he is lacking in formal education. He was raised among horses, and the princess sooner or later you will realize that he is not able to coexist in harmony. Furthermore, the court of Rio is very boring and insignificant, compared to the courts of Europe". In the wake of Maria Leopoldina's arrival, the first wave of immigrants arrived in Brazil; Swiss settlers who settled in the vicinity of the court, founding Nova Friburgo and settling in the future Petrópolis, the later Imperial summer residence. From 1824, due to the Brazilian campaign in Europe organized by Major Georg Anton Schäffer, the Germans arrived more numerous and settled again in Nova Friburgo and in the temperate regions of the provinces of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, where the colony of São Leopoldo was created in the new Royal Princess's honour. Some from Pomerania went to Espírito Santo, living until the 1880s in such complete isolation that they didn't even speak Portuguese. Austrian Scientific Mission Brazil had the privilege of being portrayed and studied by European artists and scientists of the first order long before other American