In november 1695, when Dona Beatriz was eleven years old, Queen Ana Afonso de Leão, still living at Gando a Suka in Bonga, just a few miles from her town, announced that she was organizing a “Concert of Kongo” to attempt to resolve the disputes and win universal acceptance of one man as king. Politically active people, like those in Dona Beatriz' family, followed the events with interest, since contemplating another set of wars like those of 1690–3 was a gloomy prospect. To what degree would the royal candidates and their followers be prepared to put aside their personal ambitions for the common good?

Then, around Christmas of 1695, came the news that King Álvaro X, who had been Dona Beatriz' king virtually all her life, had died at Kibangu. He was promptly succeeded on the misty heights by his brother Pedro, now King Pedro IV. King Pedro was a young man of twenty-four when he came to the throne; he had been just a teenager when fighting alongside his brother in their overthrow of Manuel.

Pedro, too, was interested in the future of Kongo now that he was in a position to advance his family's claims. It was a good time – his long-standing rival Manuel was dead, he had recently defeated the armies of his other main rival, João, and Queen Ana, the self-announced peace mediator, was living within his territory and had once put her prestige behind his brother as king of all Kongo.