Dom PEDRO V - (16.9.1837-11.11.1861)
Pedro de Alcântara Maria Fernando Miguel Rafael Gonzaga Xavier João António Leopoldo Vitor Francisco de Assis Júlio Amélio de Bragança. The first-born son of Queen Maria II and Prince consort Ferdinand II. Married on 18 May 1858 to D. Estefânia of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (15/7/1837-17/7/1859).
He died as a result of a "malignant fever" contracted during a tour of the Alentejo. Mafra was indebted to King Pedro V for creating a model primary school, in which the monarch wanted, with remarkable success, to rehearse some of the ideals he cherished regarding public education. His "presepe for the intellectual redemption of the new generations" was a forerunner in many aspects, not only methodological but also practical, namely the use of the blackboard and chalk, as well as the adoption of the decimal metric system.
Dona ESTEFÂNIA
(15.7.1837-17.7.1859)
Estefania of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Daughter of Prince Charles Anthony of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen and Princess Josephine Frederica Louise, daughter of the Grand Duke of Baden. She married Dom Pedro V on 18 May 1858 and died 14 months after the wedding, a victim of diphtheria angina. She was popularly confirmed as the Virgin Queen due to an indiscretion committed by the doctor who autopsied her corpse, Dr Bernardino António Gomes, a lecturer at the Lisbon Medical and Surgical School, who suggested to the Duchess of Terceira that instead of the small diadem she was preparing to place on the head of the deceased, she should provide "a chapel of orange blossoms".
In several of the letters she sent regularly to her mother, Princess Josefina Frederica of Baden, there are references to Mafra (cf. Júlio de Vilhena, Cartas Inéditas da Rainha D. Estefânia, Coimbra, 1922, p. 104, 136, 138-139, 149, 209-211, 236, 239). As some of her correspondence proves, the Royal School of Mafra earned her the highest praise. In a letter sent from the Palace of Mafra, D. Estefânia informs her mother: "I am writing to you from Mafra, my beloved Pedro's favourite residence [...]" (XXIII, 24 August 1858, cf. Júlio de Vilhena, ob. cit., p. 138). In two other letters, he refers to aspects of daily life in Mafra: in one (LXVIII), sent from the town's Palace on 30 March 1859, she says: "I spent two hours at Pedro's school, which is doing very well and where the children feel wonderful. I spent an hour in a girls' school, which leaves much to be desired, like all Portuguese schools.
First and foremost, we need to educate the teachers"; in another (LVI), dated Lisbon, 22 June, she confesses that Mafra "is beginning to civilise, thanks to the Count of Ponte and me" (cf. Júlio de Vilhena, ob. cit., pp. 209-215 and 236).
