Pedro IV of Brazil (Napoleon's World)

Dom Pedro IV of Brazil (born October 5, 1942) is the current Emperor of Brazil, coronated in 1989 during the Brazilian Restoration. Having never before set foot on Brazilian soil during his family's exile in Portugal, his return to Brazil in 1989 was regarded as one of the most emotionally significant events in national history and was covered by news outlets worldwide.

As Emperor, Pedro IV has extremely limited powers under the 1989 Constitution, but annually opens the new legislative session in the Brazilian National Congress, swears in the newly elected Prime Minister every four years, and is the head of state, visited graciously on most state visits and a noted humanitarian and champion of human rights.

In 2011, he was one of the signers of the International Royal Pledge of Compassion - a pledge of monarchs, both with real power and constitutional, to defend human rights - whose fellow signees included Carlos II of Mexico, Charles II of Portugal, Maurice Napoleon I of France, Crown Prince Nicholas of Alaska (at the time on his father's behalf - since signature of pledge, has become Nicholas III of Alaska), Akihito of Japan, and Crown Prince Jin Yuzhang of China.