Empress Carlota of Mexico Her Tragic History

Empress Carlota, born Princess Charlotte of Belgium (June 7, 1840  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ January 19, 1927) was briefly the Empress of Mexico, from 1864 to 1867. She suffered from a lifetime of serious mental illness after her husband, Maximilian, was deposed in Mexico, but escaped his violent fate. Early Life Princess Charlotte, later to be known as Carlota, was the only daughter of Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, king of Belgium, a Protestant, and Louise of France, a Catholic. She was a first cousin of both Queen Victoria and Victorias husband, Prince Albert.  (Victorias mother Victoria and Alberts father Ernst were both siblings of Leopold.) Her father had been married to Princess Charlotte of Great Britain, who was expected to eventually become Britains Queen. Sadly, Charlotte died of complications the day after giving birth to a stillborn son after some fifty hours of labor.  Leopold later married Louise Marie of  Orlà ©ans, whose father was the king of France, and they named their daughter Charlotte in memory of Leopolds first wife.  They also had three sons. Louise Marie died of tuberculosis when Charlotte was only ten. From that point on, Charlotte lived most of the time with her grandmother, Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, Queen of France, married to Louis-Philippe of France. Charlotte was known as serious and intelligent, as well as beautiful. Meeting Emperor Maximilian Charlotte met Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of the Habsburg Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I, in the summer of 1856 when she was sixteen.  Maximilian was eight years Charlottes senior and was a career naval officer. Maximilians mother Archduchess Sophia of Bavaria was married to the Archduke Frances Charles of Austria. Rumors of the time assumed that Maximilians father was actually not the Archduke, but rather Napoleon Frances, son of Napoleon Bonaparte. Maximilian and Charlotte were second cousins, both descended from  Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria and Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, parents of Charlottes maternal grandmother Maria Amalia and Maximilians paternal grandmother Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. Maximilian and Charlotte were attracted to each other, and Maximilian proposed their marriage to Charlottes father  Leopold.  The princess had been courted as well by Pedro V of Portugal and Prince George of Saxony, but loved Maximilian and his liberal idealism. Charlotte chose Maximilian over her fathers preference, the Portuguese Pedro V, and her father approved the marriage, and began negotiations over a dowry. Marriage and Children Charlotte married Maximilian on July 27, 1857, at age 17. The young couple lived first in Italy  in a palace built by Maximilian on the Adriatic, where Maximilian was serving as governor of Lombardy and Venice beginning in 1857. Though Charlotte was devoted to him, he continued to attend wild parties and visit brothels. She was a favorite of her mother-in-law, Princess Sophie, and had a poor relationship with her sister-in-law, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of her husbands older brother, Franz Joseph. When the Italian war for freedom began, Maximilian and Charlotte fled. In 1859, he was removed form his governorship by his brother. Charlotte  stayed at the palace while Maximilian traveled to Brazil, and he is said to have brought back a venereal disease which infected Charlotte  and made it impossible for them to have children. Though they maintained the image of a devoted marriage in public, Charlotte is said to have refused to continue marital relations, insisting on separate bedrooms. Empress of Mexico Napoleon III had decided to conquer Mexico  for France. Among the motivations of the French was to weaken the United States by supporting the Confederacy. After a defeat at Puebla (still celebrated by Mexican-Americans as Cinco de Mayo), the French tried again, this time taking control of Mexico City. Pro-French Mexicans then moved to institute a monarchy, and Maximilian was selected as the Emperor. Charlotte  urged him to accept. (Her father had been offered the Mexican throne and rejected it, years earlier.)  Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, insisted that Maximilian give up his rights to the Austrian throne, and Charlotte talked him into renouncing his rights. The couple departed from Austria on April 14, 1864.  On May 24 Maximilian and Charlotte - now to be known as Carlota - arrived in Mexico, placed on the throne by Napoleon III as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. Maximilian and Carlota believed that they had the support of the Mexican people. But nationalism in Mexico was running high, and other factors were at play that would ultimately doom Maximilians reign. Maximilian was too liberal for the conservative Mexicans who supported the monarchy, lost the support of the papal nuncio (the envoy representing the Pope) when he declared freedom of religion, and the neighboring USA refused to recognize their rule as legitimate.  When the American Civil War ended, the United States backed  Juà ¡rez against the French troops in Mexico. Maximilian continued his habits of relationships with other women.  Concepcià ³n Sedano y Leguizano, a 17-year-old Mexican, gave birth to his son.  Maximilian and Carlota attempted to adopt as heirs the nephews of the daughter of Mexicos first emperor Agustin de Ità ºrbide,  but the American mother of the boys claimed that she had been forced to give up her sons. The idea that Maximilian and Carlota had, essentially, kidnapped the boys further eroded their credibility. Soon the Mexican people rejected foreign rule, and Napoleon, despite his promise to always support Maximilian, decided to withdraw his troops.  When Maximilian refused to leave after the French troops announced they would pull  out, the Mexican forces arrested the deposed Emperor. Carlota in Europe Carlota convinced her husband not to abdicate, and she returned to Europe to attempt to gain support for her husband and his precarious throne. Arriving in Paris, she was visited by Napoleons wife  Eugà ©nie, who then arranged for her to meet with Napoleon III to get his support for the Mexican Empire. He refused. At their second meeting, she began crying and could not stop.  At their third meeting, he told her that his decision to keep French troops out of Mexico was final.   She slipped into what was likely a serious depression, described at the time by her secretary as a grave attack of mental aberration. She became afraid that her food would be poisoned. She was described as laughing and weeping inappropriately, and talking incoherently.She behaved strangely. When she went to visit the pope, she behaved so strangely that the pope allowed her to stay overnight at the Vatican, unheard of for a woman.  Her brother finally came to take her to Triest, where she remained at Miramar. Maximilians End Maximilian, hearing of his wifes mental illness, still did not abdicate. He attempted to fight the troops of Juà ¡rez, but was defeated and was captured. Many Europeans advocated for his life to be spared, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.  Emperor Maximilian was executed by a firing squad on June 19, 1867. His body was buried in Europe. Carlota was taken back to Belgium that summer. From then on, Carlota lived in seclusion for the last nearly sixty years of her life. She spent her time in Belgium and Italy, never recovering her mental health, and perhaps never fully knowing of her husbands death. In 1879, she was removed from the castle at Tervuren, where she had retired, when the castle burned. She continued her strange behavior. During World War I, the German Emperor protected the castle at Bouchout where she was living.  She died on January 19, 1927, of pneumonia. She was 86 years old. Sources: Haslip, Joan. Crown of Mexico: Maximilian and His Empress Carlota.1971.Ridley, Jasper. Maximilian and Juarez. 1992, 2001.Smith, Gene. Maximilian and Carlota: A Tale of Romance and Tragedy. 1973.Taylor, John M. Maximilian Carlotta: A Story of Imperialism.