Dinners, Parties, Balls and the Process of Legitimation and Integration of Brazilian Diplomacy in London, 1826-1829

ABSTRACT The article explores the meanings of dinners, parties and balls which the first diplomats of the Empire of Brazil in London attended or which they hosted at the Brazilian legation house. The study extends from 1826, when these agents began to participate in the social events as formally recognized diplomats, to 1829, when the mission’s composition completely changed. The primary documentary sources are the London periodical press of that time and, to a lesser extent, private and official correspondence. It is argued that the participation in and the organization of such events, between February 1826 and June 1828, consisted of a process of seeking legitimization and integration by the new diplomacy of Rio, through the construction of sociability, hospitality and commensality. From mid-1828 onward, however, the dynamics of this diplomacy changed significantly due to the developments in the Portuguese succession crisis.