[2][3] After his return from Asia, in 1530 King João put his diplomatic experience to use on a mission to France when Dr. Lourenço Garcês died shortly after his appointment to the French court.

The grant extended from the Southern banks of the Rio Igaraçu (adjacent the island of Ilha de Itamaracá) South to the São Francisco River.

[1] In 1553, Duarte died in Portugal, having returned there to petition the King, and having left the governance of Pernambuco with his wife, Dona Brites, assisted by her brother, Jerónimo de Albuquerque.

During his twenty years as the Lord Proprietor he had fought many battles with the indigenous tribes, established the colony as the premier source of sugar for most of Europe, began the import of Africans as slaves for the sugar plantations, explored much of the Rio São Francisco, and established Pernambuco as the most successful captaincy in Brazil the early colonial period.

However, both returned to Portugal and in 1578, both accompanied Dom Sebastião on his ill-fated expedition to North Africa where both were captured, imprisoned, ransomed, and subsequently Duarte died.

The Fourth and last Lord Proprietor, Duarte de Albuquerque Coelho, was a minor when he inherited and his proprietorship was interrupted by the Dutch incursion into Northeast Brazil beginning in 1630.