Leal da Câmara, born in India, studied at the Agronomie Institut. He gave up his studies, however, to defend his Republican ideals. These ideals were an important factor in his work. His strong and violent criticism directed against monarchy and the church in his work for magazines like A Marselhesa, Corja and O Diabo led to his suspension from these magazines. Leal da Câmara emigrated to Madrid in 1898, and in 1900 he moved to Paris, where he published in the caricatures newspaper L'Assiette au Beurre. After the abolition of the monarchy and the implantation of the Republic in Portugal, he returned to his native country. Disappointed by the cultural environment, he returned to Paris. In World War I, he went back to Portugal, where he started a teaching career.