She lost her mother at the age of four and saw her father leave for the Kingdom of Portugal with her stepmother and her older sister at nine to fight the Liberal Wars.

To express our gratitude, we, sister Chica and I, your daughter Januária, will not eat sugar until Pedro's birthday, December 2.

On August 4, 1836, Januária (then 14 years old) entered the hall of the palace of the Senate, wearing a rich gold dress on which was distinguished the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross and, In the presence of the deputies, with his hand on the missal, solemnly declared in a moving voice: I swear to keep the Catholic, Apostolic, Roman religion; Observe the Political Constitution of the Brazilian Nation and be obedient to the laws and the Emperor.

As only a Brazilian member of the Imperial House could inherit the throne, it became critically important for marriages to be arranged for Januária Maria, Pedro II, and their sister Francisca.

Her marriage to Prince Louis of the Two Sicilies, Count of Aquila (brother of Pedro II's new wife, Empress Teresa Cristina) was celebrated on 28 April 1844 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In 1845, Januária Maria's position as heir presumptive, and the restrictions it entailed, was lost with the birth of Pedro II's first child, Afonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil.

[3] At the time of their marriage, according to article 2, it was guaranteed that even with the birth of the children of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil the couple would enjoy the honor of being treated by Imperial Highness.