Maria Isabel de Alcântara, Countess of Iguaçu
Maria Isabel de Alcântara Bourbon was the third daughter of Emperor Pedro I of Brazil and his mistress, Domitila de Castro, Marchioness of Santos.
Maria Isabel received the same name as her second sister, the Duchess of Ceara, who died in 1828. She was never given any titles by her father due to his marriage to Amélie of Leuchtenberg. Still, Pedro I acknowledged her as his daughter in his will but gave her no share of his state, except asking for his widow to aid in her education and upbringing. He had wished that she be given a good European education like her oldest sister, the Duchess of Goiás. However, the Marchioness declined to send the girl to Europe.
On 2 September 1848, at the age of eighteen, Maria Isabel married Pedro Caldeira Brant, the Count of Iguaçu, son of Felisberto Caldeira Brant, Marquis of Barbacena. At their wedding, Maria Isabel became the second Countess of Iguaçu. The couple had seven children:
- Isabel dos Santos
- Luís de Alcantâra Caldeira Brant, married Maria Luísa Pereira de Brito
- Pedro de Alcântara Caldeira Brant
- Deulinda dos Santos, married Claudiano dos Santos
- Maria Teresa Caldeira Brant, married Charles Collins
- Isabel Maria dos Santos, married Antônio Dias Paes Leme
- José Severiano de Alcântara
She died on 5 September 1896, at sixty-six years of age, in São Paulo.
