With the Emperor ill and Isabel withdrawn from public life, no effort was made to capitalize on the public popularity engendered by the end of slavery. They had lost the support of slave-owning plantation owners, who held great political, economic and social power. Isabel was uninterested in politics and did not cultivate politicians or public support. Her religious zeal was distrusted, and it was widely assumed that if she became Empress Gaston would hold power, but Gaston was isolated because of his increasing deafness, and was unpopular because of his foreign birth. Her position was further weakened by the intrigues of her nephew Prince Pedro Augusto of Saxe-Coburg, who was maneuvering to be recognized as Pedro II's heir. Pedro Augusto was told bluntly by his younger brother, "the succession does not belong to her nor to the maimed [Isabel's eldest son Pedro, nor to the deaf , nor to you either."