The royal celebrations held in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the eighteenth century, as much as their written narratives, are the theme of this thesis. The first part describes these events and their connections with similar festive manifestations in other cities of the Portuguese empire in the atlantic world during the same period, especially Lisbon and Luanda. These festive pratices in homage to the Portuguese king are analyzed not to stress some type of homogeneity among them, but rather to seek the specific ways they expressed patterns and codes common to the Portuguese empire expressed not only in the celebrations themselves, but also in the narratives produces about them, called the Relações de Festas, written to articulate a certain memory about the monarchy and Empire. In turn, the second part contains a reflection on the way in which these patterns help shed light on three festive situations in the colonial city of Rio de Janeiro: the celebrations in 1762 of the birth of the Príncipe da Beira (heir apparent to the throne); the commemorations of the marriage of king João VI and Carlota Joaquina in 1782; and the celebrations of the birth of Prince Antônio in 1795. By trying to undestand the logic of each of these festive pratices, identifying individuals and groups that took part in them, I highlight the dynamics of the social relations in Rio de Janeiro in the period, to indicate how the different groups dramatized the festivities and claimed their place within the Portuguese empire.