He drank chocolate, wore gold-embroidered coats and had representatives in all the courts to keep up with fashion. During his long reign, the state received 57 tons of gold. D. João V had servants for every function. His chief chamberlain, António Caetano de Sousa, was the one who dressed him. Before that, the key boy had already opened the chests containing the king's clothes. Silks, gold and silver embroidered coats, "surely the richest closet in the universe", wrote the Swiss doctor Merveilleux in his memoirs. Gold was discovered at the end of the 17th century, but 1740 was the year of the biggest shipments. Slaves did the mining. Getty Images Once dressed, if the king wanted to sit in a chair, it was up to the chief usher, Afonso de Vasconcelos e Sousa, Count of Calheta, to bring the chair to him and adjust the cushion. If the king decided to write, it was the job of the young man at the desk to write down his words. If King João V was thirsty, the job fell to two cupbearers. The chief cupbearer would receive the water from the small cupbearer, then pour some into a silver salver to taste it before the king could drink it. Even meals weren't a simple act. The chief carver would cut up the delicacies for the king after one of the seers had examined everything in detail. And there could be 21 different dishes. The Portuguese Sun King, who imitated the famous French monarch, Louis XIV, even in the poses of his portraits and who sent emissaries to the European courts, even as far away as Russia, to find out what they wore and how they behaved, was the example of the absolute monarch. Described as authoritarian, he lived through the golden age of Brazil. It was during his reign that the largest shipments arrived in Portugal and it was also at this time that diamonds were discovered. At times, there was so much trust that, as historian Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva portrays in her biography D. João V, thefts didn't bother much. A silver table runner, Queen Maria Ana's diamond rings or a gold table runner, for example, were never recovered. One of the members of the court, the Count of Povolide, described the atmosphere: "No one was asked to account for anything," reads the biography. Historian João Paulo Oliveira e Costa argues that most of the gold was used to build Brazil. Sérgio Lemos/Saturday But it wasn't just here that there was a lack of care. When the Swiss doctor Charles Merveilleux visited the Mint in Lisbon, he was surprised by the waste of gold that was left clinging to the official instruments when coins were being made and which was not used. Discovered in 1699, during the reign of Pedro II, father of João V, gold from Brazil changed the kingdom. But it was with King João V and then his son, King José, that shipments increased substantially. Historian José Hermano Saraiva asked, on his RTP program, where the gold and diamonds from Brazil had gone? The idea was that King João V had squandered it. The academic argued that the trail to the gold had been lost with the large number of imports of goods for the court (furniture, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, the country had almost no production) and with the corruption that existed in the ports and customs. However, today we can be more certain. Researchers Leonor Freire Costa, Maria Manuela Rocha and Rita Martins de Sousa, from the Economic and Social History Office of the Higher Institute of Economics and Management of the University of Lisbon, analyzed the records of gold shipments that arrived in Lisbon between 1720 and 1807 and the conclusions are surprising. In the book O Ouro do Brasil, published by Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, we learn about the Books of Manifests. These notebooks recorded all the gold shipments that arrived in Lisbon, the quantity, type of merchandise, who sent it and to whom it was destined. The State charged 1% for these shipments and ensured, through its armed ships, that they arrived in Portugal safely. "We concluded that more than 70% of the gold shipments that arrived in Lisbon went to private individuals, i.e. it doesn't correspond to the idea that it was all for the king," Professor Leonor Freire Costa told SÁBADO. The fruits of peace During the reign of King João V, the state coffers received 57 tons of gold and another 235 tons arrived in Lisbon for private individuals. "The remittances went to businessmen and also to members of the Church. It was the emigrants who sent the gold. Of course, these individuals may have become rich, but they didn't invest in industrial activity, because at the time this didn't exist in Portugal," adds Leonor Freire Costa. Historian João Paulo Oliveira e Costa clarifies another detail that calls into question the myth that King João V wasted pharaonic sums. "Brazil was an inhospitable territory where 300,000 people lived in wooden cities. So it was gold that allowed roads to be opened and cities to be created. Gold flowed here, but it also built Brazil," argues the professor from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the New University of Lisbon. "A Frenchman complained that all the sculptors in this land were working for the king of Portugal" It's true that the coffers were fuller, especially as the king inherited a country that had just come out of a war. "Portugal spent a lot of money on the war of Spanish succession and we chose the losing side," explains João Paulo Oliveira e Costa. However, after the Congress of Utrecht in 1712, the country began to live in peace. Therefore, King João V's mission became to put Portugal on a par with the most influential kingdoms in Europe. "Was he Portugal's richest king? That's difficult to answer. He was certainly one of the richest. But I don't know which was richer, him or Manuel I [1469-1521]. In the case of Manuel I, he had gold from Mina [Africa] for 1 million people, while João V had gold for 5 million and was setting up Brazil," says João Paulo Oliveira e Costa. However, Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva told SÁBADO that at the time "King João V was one of the richest monarchs in Europe, if not the richest." It was talked about in Rome. Silver-gilt bathtub The most emblematic work of his reign was the Palace and Convent of Mafra and the investment was such that in Rome the sculptors would not accept any more work. "As a country with a sovereign at its head who was particularly interested in art and culture, Portugal became a great commissioner. There's a curious episode that portrays this. A Frenchman wanted to have a marble bust made in Rome, and wrote to his compatriot in Paris, saying that it wasn't possible: "Because every sculptor in this land is working for the king of Portugal. There was, in fact, a huge investment. The Mafra palace will have around six dozen Italian marble sculptures, comparable only to St. Peter's Basilica [Vatican]," art historian Teresa Leonor M. Vale told SÁBADO. "King João V wanted to affirm Portugal as a great Catholic power, but also as a country that invested in art," adds the professor at the University of Lisbon and researcher at ARTIS, the Art History Institute. King João V drinking chocolate at the home of the Duke of Lafões in 1720. "Coffee and chocolate have become very popular at mealtimes in Portugal," says Guida Cândido. DR And this was true both abroad and in private life. One of the most talked about luxuries was a gilded silver bathtub weighing 100 kg, with dolphin-shaped feet and decorated with mermaids and a Neptune wielding a trident. Legend has it, because in the life of King João V myth and truth go hand in hand, that he commissioned it for Mother Paula, his mistress. Researchers have questioned its existence, not least as an example of the bad language that caricatured the king in the 19th century. However, art historian Teresa Leonor M. Vale sets the record straight. "We can state unequivocally that a bathtub like this was ordered, just as other pieces of silver were ordered, from the silversmith Paul Crespin in London, through the diplomatic agent António Galvão Castelo Branco. The letters exchanged prove it. However, nothing tells us that it was for Mother Paula," he explains. "It's a silver-gilt bathtub with sculptural decoration and we know it had a Neptune on it. It arrived in Lisbon and, personally, I think it was for the king." Luxury at the table Gastronomy was also ostentatious. The king's wedding banquet, which lasted several days with fireworks, dances, bullfights and music, was a case in point. 84 different delicacies were served, describes Guida Cândido in her book Eating Like a Queen. But luxuries at the table were the order of the day. The 18th century is considered the "golden age of Portuguese sweets", says the professor at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) to SÁBADO. And the drinks that had been fashionable in Paris since the end of the 17th century, such as coffee, tea and chocolate, were part of the court. "During the reign of King João V, there was a relative increase in the consumption of such drinks, to the point where the king himself was portrayed being served a chocolate drink," says Guida Cândido. Luxury, although criticized in the 19th century, had a function, "it was a way of ensuring the king's power," concludes João Paulo Oliveira e Costa. Coinage New gold coins were created in 1722. The Mint gained great prominence during the reign of King João V Found in river gravel in Serro Frio, Minas Gerais, while searching for gold. Lourenço de Almeida, the governor, only notified the Crown in 1729. There were so many shipments that the price of diamonds in Europe fell, says historian Maria Beatriz Nizza da Silva. There were stones of 26 carats, but most were under 12. Chefs? The king had several chefs, such as Vincent La Chapelle, who published The Modern Cook with a recipe for Indian curry, a Portuguese influence. Vanda Marques 28 minutes ago