Members of the Brazilian Royal Family carry a rich medical history of epileptic seizures and alike. OBJECTIVE: To present the medical knowledge about epilepsy by the time of the Brazilian Empire, as reported by the royal family. METHOD: Narrative review of historical facts about D. Pedro I's family health. RESULTS: The Royal Family, since D. João VI's generation is full of members with epilepsy or acute symptomatic seizures of different etiologies. CONCLUSION: The reported cases suggest that Dom Pedro I's family presented epilepsy with tonic-clonic generalized seizures, besides psychogenic, organic non epileptic events and acute symptomatic seizures. As a whole, this familial epilepsy could fit the diagnosis of generalized epilepsy with febrile convulsion plus.
epilepsy; genetics; generalized epilepsy with febrile convulsion plus; history; medicine; Brazil