Historic role for irishtimes.com

EMPEROR'S VISIT:BRAZIL'S BIGGEST-SELLING newspaper this week retraced in a special report the visit in 1877 of the country's emperor to Ireland, all thanks to the digital archives of The Irish Times

The trip by Dom Pedro II, who ruled from 1831 until he was deposed, in 1889, had been almost forgotten in Brazil, even by his own biographers, because it goes unmentioned in his diaries.

The reason for the absence was likely because Dom Pedro was accompanied to Ireland not only by his wife, Empress Teresa Cristina, but also by his lover, Countess de Barral. When she travelled with him he dispensed with updating his journal.

Now the Folha de S.Paulonewspaper has used reports from the digital archive, on irishtimes.com, to re-create the four-day trip, part of the emperor's tour to North America, Europe and the Middle East.

The special report reveals Dom Pedro as a hyperactive tourist who liked to travel with as little ceremony as possible. On arrival in Dublin he went straight to visit the Roe whiskey distillery and then the Guinness brewery. On his second day in the capital he visited another 15 locations, among them the National Botanic Gardens, Trinity College and, after Mass, the RDS.

His trip also included visits to Belfast, the Giant's Causeway, the Lakes of Killarney and, briefly, Cork, where locals protested that the imperial committee spent just two hours in the city after a full two days in Dublin.