Teresa Cristina (1822–1889) was the Empress consort of Emperor
Dom Pedro II of Brazil, who reigned from 1831 to 1889. Born a Princess
of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, she was the daughter of King
Don Francesco I of the Italian branch of the House of Bourbon and his
wife Maria Isabel. The Princess was married by proxy to Pedro II in
1843. Despite a cold beginning, the couple's relationship improved as
time passed, due primarily to Teresa Cristina's patience, kindness,
generosity and simplicity. These traits also helped her win the hearts
of the Brazilian people, and her distance from political controversies
shielded her from criticism. Of her four children, two boys died in
infancy and a daughter of typhoid fever at the early age of 24. She,
along with the remaining members of the Imperial Family, was sent into
exile after a coup d'état staged by a clique of army officers in 1889.
Being cast from her beloved adopted land had a devastating effect on
Teresa Cristina's spirit and health. Grieving and ill, she died of
respiratory failure little more than a month after the monarchy's
collapse. She was greatly loved by her subjects, both during her
lifetime and afterwards. Teresa Cristina is well regarded by historians
not only for her character and irreproachable behavior, but also for her
sponsorship of Brazilian culture.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Cristina_of_the_Two_Sicilies>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1430:
Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc was captured at the Siege of
Compiègne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Compi%C3%A8gne>
1706:
War of the Spanish Succession: Led by the Duke of Marlborough,
the allied forces of England, the Dutch Republic, and Denmark defeated
the Franco-Bavarian army in Ramillies, present-day Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ramillies>
1873:
The North West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police, was established to bring law and order to and
assert Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Territories.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police>
1895:
Representatives of the Astor Library and Lenox Library agreed
to merge and form the New York Public Library (pictured under
construction in 1908), now the second-largest public library in the
United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library>
1951:
Delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama and the government of the
newly established People's Republic of China signed the Seventeen Point
Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, affirming Chinese
sovereignty over Tibet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Point_Agreement_for_the_Peaceful_Liberation_of_Tibet>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
thagomizer:
(anatomy) An arrangement of spikes found on the tails of various
stegosaurs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thagomizer>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The better part of wisdom is a sublime prudence, a pure and patient
truth that will receive nothing it is not sure it can permanently lay to
heart.
--Margaret Fuller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller>