Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"A savant in his own right, the Emperor established a reputation as a vigorous sponsor of learning, culture, and the sciences . . . After his death, his reputation was restored and his remains were returned to Brazil with celebrations nationwide. Historians have regarded the Emperor in an extremely positive light and several have ranked him as the greatest Brazilian." [Wikipedia] "Pedro II [r. 1831-1889] was a soft-spoken, studious man who dressed in somber suits like an English banker. As monarch, he took his responsibilities seriously and worked hard at them, exercising considerable, but not absolute, power. . . . Although his personal style was conservative, Pedro II was a philosophical liberal who endorsed neither of Brazil’s two parties, Conservative or Liberal, but held an unshakable faith in science, innovation, and Progress. . . . He traveled extensively in Europe and the United States, where he talked to scientists such as Louis Pasteur, philosophers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, novelists such as Victor Hugo, and inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell. Pedro II hoped aloud that Brazil would one day need neither a monarchy nor a slave-labor system, and he freed his own slaves in 1840."