Carlota de Mexico

Princess of Belgium and Early Life

The only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, by his second wife, Louise of Orléans, Charlotte was born at the Royal Castle of Laeken, Belgium. She was named after her father's first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales, who had died in childbirth in 1817. Charlotte had three brothers: Louis-Philippe, who died in infancy, Leopold, who on the death of their father became Leopold II of Belgium and Philippe, Count of Flanders. She was also a first cousin to both Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, as well as Ferdinand II of Portugal. She belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her favorite grandparent Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, Queen of France, was the consort of Louis-Philippe of France, and a niece of Marie Antoinette. Maria Amalia was Charlotte's close confidante, and on her wedding day in 1857, she wore a bracelet with a miniature portrait of her. They regularly corresponded, especially later while Charlotte was in Mexico.

When Charlotte was ten years old, her mother, Louise-Marie, died of tuberculosis and Charlotte was entrusted to the Countess of Hulst, a close family friend. Although young, the princess had her own household; but for a few weeks out of the year, Charlotte stayed in Claremont with Maria Amalia and the rest of her mother's family in exile.

Archduchess of Austria

In her youth, Charlotte resembled her mother, and was noted to be a beauty, possessing delicate features. Combined with her status as the only daughter of King Leopold, she was a desirable bride. On July 27, 1857, Charlotte married her second cousin Archduke Maximilian of Austria in Brussels, the idealistic younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria. Napoleon III gave Charlotte and her husband Maximilian a beautiful bisque bust of Charlotte as a wedding gift. In the Court of Vienna she was much prized by her mother-in-law, Princess Sophie, who saw in her the perfect example of a wife to an Austrian Archduke. This contributed to the strained relationship between Charlotte and Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph, whom Sophie treated rather cruelly. It is said that Charlotte disliked the deep connection that existed between Elisabeth and Maximilian, who were confidantes and shared the same tastes for many things, especially because her sister-in-law was universally admired for her beauty and charms.

Charlotte spent several relatively happy years in Italy as Maximilian's wife while the archduke served as the governor of the Austrian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia. The position was purely nominal, as power rested in the hand of the Emperor and his officers.

With the loss of Lombardy to the Kingdom of Piedmont in 1859, the unemployed Maximillian and Charlotte began the construction of the castle of Miramare, on the Adriatic coast near Trieste. Charlotte played a major part in planning the layout and statuary of the extensive gardens, while contributing some of her own paintings to the gallery of the palace. Empress of Mexico

n the early 1860s, the ambitious Napoleon III initiated the French intervention in Mexico. France, eager to turn Mexico into a satellite state, searched for a suitable figurehead to serve as the nominal emperor of Mexico. His choice was Maximilian, who held no real power in Italy and was eager for a more challenging role. Against his brother's advice, Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown and the couple sailed for the New World. The imperial couple were crowned at the Catedral Metropolitana in 1864 and chose as their seat Mexico City, making their home in the Neoclassical Chapultepec Castle. As Empress, she took the name of Carlota (Spanish for Charlotte).

Carlota tried to take her imperial duties seriously and even undertook a tour of the remote Yucatán frontier in November of 1865, visiting the ruins of Uxmal. While there she wrote a series of letters and reports on the peninsula that are now archived in the National Archives of Austria and the Library of Congress.

Fall of an Empire

Only months after the coronation, however, Napoleon III began signaling his abandonment of Maximilian, and the French began to withdraw their troops from Mexico. This strategic pullback was a potentially fatal blow to the infant Mexican monarchy. The situation was exacerbated by a United States blockade that prevented French reinforcements from landing. In a desperate attempt to save her husband's throne, Carlota set sail for Europe from the port of Veracruz upon the transatlantic ocean liner Empress Eugénie on July 13, 1866, determined to persuade Napeoleon III to reverse his decision to withdraw French troops. To help legitimize her visit she was accompanied by M. Martin Castillo, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Carlota arrived in France at the harbor of Saint-Nazaire on August 8 and was greeted by Juan Almonte and his wife. From there Carlota took a train and arrived in Paris on August 9—on the way she had received a telegraph from Napoleon III, informing her that he was terribly ill, but this did little to dissuade her. She stayed at the Le Grand Hôtel and upon arriving was greeted by Napoleon III's wife, Eugénie de Montijo, hoping to deter the determined empress. But again, Carlota could not be dissuaded and Eugénie came to arrange the first of three meetings between the two of them.

Carlota gave long impassioned speeches, reminding Napoleon III of his promises and the Treaty of Miramar. But he and his ministers were unwavering in their position, viewing the Mexican Empire as a lost cause and feeling there were greater concerns on the home front with Prussia. With her efforts all falling to ruin Carlota began manifesting symptoms of paranoia and suffered a profound cognitive and emotional collapse. The first signs of this could be seen with her second meeting with Napoleon, where she became overwhelmed by sadness and threw herself into a nearby armchair, sobbing hysterically. On August 19 in Le Grand Hôtel, Napoleon III met Carlota for the third and final time, declaring with finality his decision to cease providing aid and encouraged her to have Maximilian abdicate the throne.

Dowager Empress The empress was sent to Europe in 1866 to find help from family. After an unsuccessful audience with Napoleon III she left on August 21 for Miramare, Maximilian's castle near Trieste, Italy. On the journey there, Carlota's mental health showed signs of worsening—passing by a farmer, she became convinced that it was an assassin after her and persistently shouted at her coachman to drive faster. Once at Miramare she found a message from Maximilian waiting for her, imploring Carlota to seek an audience with Pope Pius IX in Rome. On the way to Rome she showed further signs of deteriorating mental health; while stopping for the night at the city of Bolzano, Italy, Carlota informed Martin Castillo that she felt unwell and insisted that it was due to being poisoned by spies and traitors of Napoleon III among them.

Carlota finally had her audience with Pope Pius IX on September 27, but he was reluctant to use his influence to intervene with Napoleon III on her empire's behalf. She became despondent and distant thereafter, overwhelmed by despair and paranoia, and remained within her hotel for the next two days. She had begun to deny herself food and water, fearful that someone was out to poison her. On October 1, Carlota went to the Vatican to meet with the Pope, dressed in clothes of mourning, her face reportedly displaying sunken eyes and flushed cheeks. Crying hysterically, she begged to be sheltered for the night out of fear of assassins sent by Napoleon waiting outside, refusing to leave the premises even if it meant having to sleep on the stone floor. The pope conceded to her request and had a bed moved into the library for her, making her one of the few women to ever stay overnight in the Vatican. Carlota spent most of that night writing her will and farewell letters. The following days Carlota confined herself to her hotel room, leaving only on occasion to drink public water from the fountains in Rome with a goblet she had stolen from the Pope's apartment.

When her family eventually became informed of her activities they were shocked and King Leopold sent the count of Flanders to Italy to visit his sister. The Empress, who was very depressed and unstable, took her court to Miramare on advice of her brother the Count of Flanders. Dr. Riedel, Director of the Lunatic Asylum of Vienna visited her, to report the Emperor. After failing she would return to Mexico as the situation there has stabilized and started to rule with her son