Rumors circulated at the time purporting that Pedro I had kicked Maria Leopoldina in the womb during a heated discussion. The quarrel was witnessed by Domitila de Castro and Wenzel Philipp Leopold, Baron von Mareschal. Then serving Maria Leopoldina's father as the Austrian minister in Brazil and thus inclined to reflect her interests, Mareschal was the sole eyewitness who left an account of what actually happened. According to him, the couple had a bitter argument in which they exchanged insults, but there is no mention of physical violence (Rangel 1928, pp. 162–163; Calmon 1975, pp. 14–15; Costa 1995, p. 86). Historians Alberto Rangel (Rangel 1928, p. 163), Pedro Calmon (Calmon 1950, p. 137; Calmon 1975, p. 14), Octávio Tarquínio de Sousa (Sousa 1972, Vol 2, p. 242), Sérgio Corrêa da Costa (Costa 1995, p. 86) and Roderick J. Barman (Barman 1999, p. 17) have rejected the possibility that Pedro I physically harmed his wife and all affirmed that the altercation was limited to harsh language. A later exhumation confirmed that Maria Leopoldina had died of natural causes.(Tavares 2013) As late as 1831, however, aspersions on Pedro's conduct at the time of his wife's death were still being whispered, serving as a lasting reminder of what people actually believed, regardless of the unfounded nature of the allegations (Sousa 1972, Vol 2, p. 242). Barman was categorical when he noted that Maria Leopoldina's death stripped Pedro I of "any remaining aura of sanctity, either at home or abroad" (Barman 1988, p. 147). Rangel, Alberto (1928). Dom Pedro Primeiro e a Marquesa de Santos (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Tours, Indre-et-Loire: Arrault. Calmon, Pedro (1975). História de D. Pedro II (in Portuguese). Vol. 1–5. Rio de Janeiro: José Olímpio. Costa, Sérgio Corrêa da (1995). As quatro coroas de D. Pedro I. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra. ISBN978-85-219-0129-7. Rangel, Alberto (1928). Dom Pedro Primeiro e a Marquesa de Santos (in Portuguese) (2 ed.). Tours, Indre-et-Loire: Arrault. Calmon, Pedro (1950). O Rei Cavaleiro (in Portuguese) (6 ed.). São Paulo: Edição Saraiva. Calmon, Pedro (1975). História de D. Pedro II (in Portuguese). Vol. 1–5. Rio de Janeiro: José Olímpio. Sousa, Octávio Tarquínio de (1972). A vida de D. Pedro I (in Portuguese). Vol. 2. Rio de Janeiro: José Olímpio. Costa, Sérgio Corrêa da (1995). As quatro coroas de D. Pedro I. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra. ISBN978-85-219-0129-7. Barman, Roderick J. (1999). Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-3510-0. Tavares, Ingrid (3 April 2013). "Infecção, e não briga, causou aborto e morte de mulher de Dom Pedro 1º" [Infection, and not a fight, caused the abortion and death of the wife of Dom Pedro the First]. UOL. Retrieved 8 July 2013. Sousa, Octávio Tarquínio de (1972). A vida de D. Pedro I (in Portuguese). Vol. 2. Rio de Janeiro: José Olímpio. Barman, Roderick J. (1988). Brazil: The Forging of a Nation, 1798–1852. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN978-0-8047-1437-2.
Pedro made two requests to José Bonifácio, his children's guardian: "the first is to keep for me a bit of her beautiful hair; the second is to place her in the convent of Nossa Senhora da Ajuda [Our Lady of Good Aid] and in the same spot where her good mother, my Leopoldina for whom even today I still shed tears of longing, is located ... I ask you as a father, as a pitiful desolate father, to do me a favor and go in person to deposit next to the body of her mother this fruit of her womb and on this occasion pray for one and other" (Santos 2011, p. 29). Santos, Eugénio Francisco dos (2011). "Fruta fina em casca grossa". Revista de História da Biblioteca Nacional (in Portuguese). 74. Rio de Janeiro: SABIN. ISSN1808-4001.
Pedro made two requests to José Bonifácio, his children's guardian: "the first is to keep for me a bit of her beautiful hair; the second is to place her in the convent of Nossa Senhora da Ajuda [Our Lady of Good Aid] and in the same spot where her good mother, my Leopoldina for whom even today I still shed tears of longing, is located ... I ask you as a father, as a pitiful desolate father, to do me a favor and go in person to deposit next to the body of her mother this fruit of her womb and on this occasion pray for one and other" (Santos 2011, p. 29). Santos, Eugénio Francisco dos (2011). "Fruta fina em casca grossa". Revista de História da Biblioteca Nacional (in Portuguese). 74. Rio de Janeiro: SABIN. ISSN1808-4001.
