The golden urn containing the heart of Brazil's founder and first ruler, Emperor Pedro I, has arrived in Brazil from Portugal ahead of the South American nation's 200th anniversary. But after Porto city officials agreed to return the heart on loan, it arrived back in Brazil for the country's bicentennial independence celebrations on September 7. The heart, which is kept in a glass jar in a golden urn, arrived with all the pomp and circumstance of a state visit. Dom Pedro fled to Brazil with his family as a nine-year-old boy when Napoleon's army invaded Portugal in 1807. After his death of tuberculosis in 1834, he was celebrated in both Brazil and Portugal as a champion of liberal causes and representative rule.

Source: Daily Nation August 23, 2022 01:56 UTC