The death of her daughter Leopoldina of typhoid fever on 7 February 1871 devastated the small Imperial Family. Pedro II decided on a trip to Europe that same year to "cheer up" his wife among other reasons (as stated in his own words) and to pay a visit to Leopoldina's four small boys, who had lived in Coburg with their parents since the late 1860s. The Imperial couple would travel abroad again during 1876 and 1887. Teresa Cristina preferred her ordinary life in Brazil, "dedicating herself to her family, religious devotions, and charitable works." In fact, visiting her native land only served to resurrect painful memories. Her family had been dethroned in 1861 and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies had been annexed to what would later become the unified Kingdom of Italy. Everyone she had known from her youth was gone. As she wrote in 1872: "I do not know how to tell what was the impression I had upon seeing again, after 28 years, my fatherland and not to find anyone for whom I cared."