Charlotte of Mexico

Charlotta of Mexico (born María Carlota Amelia Augusta Victoria Clementina Leopoldina of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Brussels, June 7, 1840-Meise, January 19, 1927) was the second and last empress consort of Mexico; she being by birth princess of Belgium and by her marriage archduchess of Austria, princess of Hungary and Bohemia and viceroy of Lombardy-Veneto among other titles.

In accordance with the provisions of article 2 of the provisional Statute of the Empire, which recognized her as regent and head of government in the absence of Emperor Maximilian I; and considering that in effect said regency occurred (during the monarch's tours to the interior of the country), exercising different executive functions, the empress was the first female ruler in the history of Mexico.

Princess of Belgium

The First Royal Belgian Family, King Leopoldo I of Belgium, Queen Louisa Maria, Crown Prince Leopoldo, Prince Philip, Count of Flanders and Princess Carlota.

Carlotta of Belgium by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in 1842.

Princess Carlota (c. 1850), by Hermann Winterhalter.

She was born in the castle of Laeken near Brussels, Belgium, on June 7, 1840. She was the only child, of the four, of the marriage formed by King Leopold I of the Belgians and Princess Louise Marie of France (daughter of King Luis Felipe I of Orléans, descendant of Luis XIII, and Princess María Amelia of the Two Sicilies, daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies.

Named after her father's first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales who died during a botched childbirth, Charlotte had three brothers: Louis Philippe, who died in infancy, Leopold, who after the death of his father became King of Belgium and Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders.

Her grandmother, Queen Marie-Amelia of France, was the wife of Louis-Philippe I of France, and niece of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was beheaded as a victim of the French Revolution. María Amalia was Carlota's close confidante, and during her wedding in 1857, she wore a bracelet with a miniature portrait of her grandmother, and they corresponded regularly, especially later while Carlota was in Mexico.

When Charlotte was ten, her mother, Queen Louise Marie, died of tuberculosis and Charlotte was entrusted to the Countess of Hulste, a close family friend. Although young, the princess had her own home, but for a few weeks each year, she stayed at Claremont House, the country house where Queen Marie-Amelia and the rest of the royal family of France spent their time in exile.

He belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which took its name from the tiny German duchy that was the homeland of his father, the first King of Belgium.

Archduchess of Austria

Photograph by the young Archduke Maximiliano and Archiduquesa Carlota.

On July 27, 1857, Charlotte married the Archduke of Austria, Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg, the idealistic younger brother of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, later becoming Archduchess of Austria. At the Court of Vienna she was highly appreciated by her mother-in-law, who saw in her the perfect example of a wife of an Austrian archduke. Carlota had a tense relationship with Empress Isabel, known as Sissi, wife of her brother-in-law Francisco José I. Carlota apparently felt rejection due to the deep connection that existed between the Empress and Maximilian.

Later, due to pressure from his father, King Leopold I, it was decided to appoint Maximilian as viceroy of Lombardy-Venice. Charlotte spent several relatively happy years in Italy as Maximilian's wife while he served in his capacity as governor of the provinces of Lombardy and Venice. Although Lombardy and Venice were under the rule of the Austrian Empire, neither Maximilian nor Charlotte had any real power, and both were eager for more challenging roles in life.

Years later, the young couple accepted the offer of the throne of Mexico made by the Junta de Notables, a group of outstanding Mexicans from all over the territory (hence the "Notables") opposed to the government headed by Benito Juárez), including José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, Juan Nepomuceno Almonte and Dr. José Pablo Martínez del Río among others. They longed for a monarchy to solve the political instability of Mexico. Ironically, Juan Nepomuceno Almonte was the son of Generalissimo José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the main insurgents in the War of Independence against Spain.

Remains of Carlota de México in Cripta Real in Laeken, Belgium

Empress of Mexico

The Empress Carlota Amalia stayed at the San Pedro Chimay hacienda in 1865 during her trip along the Camino Real to Campeche.

Home

In the early 1860s, Napoleon III of France initiated the French Intervention in Mexico. France, impatient to turn Mexico into a satellite state, sought a suitable figurehead to serve as the nominal emperor. Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg accepted the proposal and the couple sailed for the New World, arriving at the Port of Veracruz in 1864 aboard the frigate Novara which anchored in the port's bay. They were crowned in the Cathedral of Mexico City on April 10, 1864 and chose Chapultepec Castle as their Imperial Residence.

The first female ruler of Mexico

As the new Empress, Charlotte began with her husband Maximilian to set up a court with a rigid protocol influenced by their life together in Austria. Carlota, together with Maximiliano, presided over the great balls and receptions that were held in the National Palace of Mexico and his new imperial residence, Chapultepec. The new empress tried, from the beginning, to maintain an active attitude towards political affairs. With a determined character, Carlota intervened in imperial politics (more critical with each passing day), while Maximilian evaded his projects to reform Mexico. Carrying out actions to try to curb the unstable situation outside of Mexico City, especially with regard to the guerrilla groups and the liberal army loyal to Benito Juárez, she Carlota tried to help Emperor Maximilian as much as possible.

In her short reign, Carlota of Mexico assumed the duties of her rank, and for a few months, while Maximilian visited the interior of the country, she headed the regency of the Empire. The empress came to promulgate the abolition of corporal punishment and a fair limitation of working hours; she promoted companies such as railways, the telegraph, steam transport and charity. She resumed, with her husband, the project for the monument to the Heroes of Independence that Santa Anna had left unfinished and entrusted Ramón Rodríguez Arangoity with the comprehensive remodeling of the Zócalo. She founded a music conservatory and a painting academy. She spent huge amounts of money on charity. She opened nurseries, nursing homes and nurseries. She expelled the robbers from the outskirts of the city. In the conflict between the Second Empire and the Catholic Church, Carlota played a very important role: a fervent Catholic, but skeptical of the Mexican clergy, she negotiated without giving in, causing the relationship between the State and the Church to break definitively. She promulgated the public instruction law in which primary, compulsory and free education was guaranteed. The empress had been educated by her father, King Leopold I, to govern, for which she had extensive knowledge in politics, geography, music, and the arts. She spoke French, German, English, Italian and Spanish. She even went so far as to draw up a draft constitution. Her attitude and determination towards the exercise of power, added to her liberal ideas and the influence she exerted on her husband, not only made her an important counterweight in power, but she was seen as a figure who could strengthen the position of the empire against to the Republican advance, to such an extent that she was nicknamed "La Roja" for her radical positions.

In the private sphere, the imperial couple gradually distanced themselves over the months. Carlota and Maximilian had separate rooms and beds and the emperor's visit to his wife's rooms was less and less frequent. On the other hand, rumors of infidelity from Maximiliano soon arose, fascinated by young Mexican women.

Fall of the empire

The Second Mexican Empire (1864-1867) was brief and eventful due to clashes between the Republican guerrillas and the Mexican and French imperial armies. From the beginning the emperors could not balance their liberal policies with the platform of conservative interests that had called them to rule. Just a few months after the coronation, Napoleon III began to point out his abandonment to Maximilian. In 1866 France, under the threat of Prussia, the pressure of the United States and especially the defeats suffered by the guerrillas of Benito Juárez, withdrew its troops. This strategic obstacle dealt a fatal blow to the Mexican monarchy, and the Empire fell apart. The situation was exacerbated by a US blockade that prevented French reinforcements from coming.

Empress Carlota Amalia, who had already stood out as a daring traveler going to the Yucatán Peninsula to meet the Mayans and the ruins of Uxmal in 1865, decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean in search of help in Europe in a desperate attempt to save her husband's throne, meeting with the European nobility in Paris and Vienna, to whom she reminded in vain of their engagement four years earlier; but the little success of her request could be one of the reasons why she began to show symptoms of mental imbalance, helped by the continuous rudeness of the French Emperor Napoleon III. From France, she went to Trieste to rest and then to Rome, with the intention of enlisting papal support and inclining Mexican conservatives to her cause. She went to Pope Pius IX, to whom she implored a concordat for the tottering empire, however, from the pope she only got vague promises that made her desperate. In one of those interviews, she began to show alterations in her intellect and even mentioned that they wanted to poison her, even taking the water from the public fountains in Rome. Even after one of the interviews with the Holy Father, she slept in the Holy See, being up to now the only woman who has slept in that place. This was how she, Carlota Amalia, failed in the attempt to achieve European support for the Mexican monarchy. From that moment on, under her pressure, her madness increased, with episodes of lucidity and dementia, aggravated (if possible) by the firing squad of her husband. Maximilian I had been apprehended in Querétaro and on trial for the state of war in the country, he was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out on June 19, 1867, at Cerro de las Campanas in Santiago de Querétaro, accompanied by generals Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía.

The Empress Dowager

Portrait of the empress Carlota, by Francisco Javier Winterhalter, at the Castle of Chapultepec.

The Empire had collapsed after only three years just as she had predicted that if Napoleon III pulled his troops out of Mexico the second Mexican Empire would collapse like a house of cards^{[citation needed]}. The President of Mexico Benito Juárez approved the execution of Maximilian I on June 19, 1867 decided by a Military Court. The last words of the deposed emperor about his wife were: & # 34; Poor Charlotte! & # 34;. A few months before, Carlota had left Mexico in her vain attempt to obtain help from France and the Pope. Upon reaching Europe and failing in her mission, she began to show signs of madness. Her brother, Prince Felipe, Count of Flanders, had her examined by doctors, who declared her insane. She spent the rest of her life in seclusion, first in the garden pavilion (the Gartenhaus ) of her Miramar Castle. Then she Charlotte was transferred to the Castle of Tervuren and finally to the Château de Bouchout in Meise, Belgium.

During World War I, her Belgian property was surrounded by the German army, but because Austria was one of Germany's main allies and she was the widowed sister-in-law of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, she was not attacked. An American correspondent at the time captured for posterity the sign that was put up outside the castle.

There is a hypothesis that Carlota's madness was real and it was due to the ingestion of the teyhuinti mushroom, it is said that Carlota went to a herbalist in Mexico City to whom she asked for help to conceive. she hides her identity with a veil, but the herbalist, a supporter of Benito Juárez, recognized her. Teyhuinti is known as the meat of the gods^{[citation needed]}, and it is used in very dilute solutions, as a tonic, because at high concentrations it can produce a state of permanent insanity.

Death

“Nothing can, but death, which has still prayed for it, release this soul in sorrow of the night in which it wanders for more than half a century”

Carlota died of pneumonia caused by influenza on January 19, 1927, at the age of 87, at 7 in the morning at the Château de Bouchout, Brussels.

After his death, the Chambers of Belgium adjourned in mourning; mourning was kept at court for ten days; They exposed his body in the Imperial Chamber of Bouchout, on an oak bed covered with roses and cyclamen and a light blue canopy. The royal family watched over her. The following day the funeral was held, his body was transferred to the parish church of Meysse in a carriage adorned with the imperial arms, and followed by King Albert I, Princes Leopold and Charles, Count de Mérode, General Hanatiau and the Baron de Goffinet. For her part, Queen Elizabeth, the princesses, the Duchess of Vendôme, Princess Genevieve of Orleans and the Countess of Chaponay were waiting for her in the church. The blessing was given by Cardinal Mercier. On her coffin was read:

“Your MAJESTY THE EMPERATRIZ AMAL MARY CARLOTA VICTORIA CLEMENTINA LEOPOLDINA, PRINCESA DE BÉLGICA. _

Her remains rest in the crypt of the Church of Laeken, far from her husband's mortal remains, which rest in the Imperial Crypt of the Church of the Capuchins in Vienna.

The Princess Carlota of Belgium, Empress of Mexico in Bouchout around 1914.

Carlota's funeral in Laeken on January 22, 1927.

Last words

According to various authors, on her bed just before she died, Empress Carlota said the following words:

According to Miguel of Grecia, she sighed holding a rosary and murmuring:

"Mexique"

According to Iturriaga De la Fuente:

"Remember the universe to the beautiful stranger of blond hair. God willing to remind us of sadness, but without hatred."

According to S. van Eckhaus:

All that ended without success (Tout cela est fini et n'aboutira pas).

According to Carolina de Brasner, in relation to having been laid on her bed instead of her deckchair as she wished:

“I expressed myself wrong in words and I will regret it” (Je m'ai mal exprimée en paroles et j'en piitirai).

Titles

• 7 June 1840-27 July 1857: Her Royal Highness the Princess Carlota of Belgium, Princess of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Saxony.
• 27 July 1857-10 April 1864: Her Imperial and Royal Highness the Archduke Charlete of Austria, Royal Princess of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, Princess of Belgium, Princess of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Saxony.
• 10 April 1864-19 June 1867: His Imperial Majesty the Empress of Mexico.
• 19 May 1867-19 January 1927: Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Carlota of Mexico, archduchess of Austria, royal princess of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, princess of Belgium, princess of Saxony-Coburg-Gotha, duchess of Saxony.

Awards

Carlota de México received the following decorations during her lifetime:

Second Mexican Empire

• April 10, 1865: Grand Master of the Order of San Carlos (Mexico).
• Lady Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe.
• Lady Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle.

Austro-Hungarian Empire

• First class Lady of the Order of the Starry Cross.

Kingdom of Spain

• 22 December 1857: 525va. Lady of the Order of the Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa.

Kingdom of Portugal

• Grand Cross of the Order of the Queen Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

Order of Malta

• Grand cross of honor and devotion of the Order of Malta (Order of Malta).

The Second Empire as a theme for works of art

Operas

• Maximilien, historical opera in three acts and 9 scenes; R.S. libretto. Hoffman based on drama Juarez und Maximilian by Franz Werfel; music by Darius Milhaud. Premiere: 1932.
• Carlota, opera in an act. Francisco Zendejas libretto; music by Luis Sandi. Premiere: 1948.
• Carlotaopera. Unknown author's book; Robert Avalon's music. Unpublished.
• The Empress of the Lie, opera, Angel Norzagaray Book; music by Dmitri Dudin. Premiere: September 21, 2012.

Music

• • The Mexican song known as La Paloma was the favorite melody of the Empress Carlota, which heard it when it arrived in Mexico.
  • The album Carlota: The Last Empress (2017) Khyaam Haque.
  • The Musical Carlota: Serpentine Crown (2009) by Marcel Wick, with Renate van Dijk as Carlota and Ruwen Doyens as Maximilian.

Drama

• Juarez und Maximilian (1925), drama by Franz Werfel.
• Shadow crown (1947), drama of Rodolfo Usigli.
• The Dream of a Crown (2005), Konrad Historical Musical Drama and Wolfgang Ratz.
• Bye, Mother Carlota. (2019), historical work by Luis Valdez and the San Jose Stage Company.
• Throne of Shadows. Audio drama by Thomas E. Fuller, presented by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company.

Novels

• News of the Empire (1987) by Fernando del Paso.

I am Maria Carlota of Belgium, Empress of Mexico and America. I am Maria Carlota Amelia, cousin of the Queen Victoria of England, Grand Master of the Cross of Saint Charles and Virrein of the provinces of Lombardoveneto welcomed by the piety and the Austrian clemency under the wings of the Bicephala eagle of the House of Habsburg. I am Mary Carlotta Amelia Victoria, daughter of Leopoldo Prince of Saxony-Coburg and King of Belgium, whom they called the Nestor of the Rulers and who sat me on their legs, stroked my chestnut hair and told me that I was the little syllide of the palace of Laeken. I am María Carlota Amelia Clementina, daughter of Luisa María de Orleáns, the holy queen of the blue eyes and the Bourbon nose that died of consunction and sadness for the exile and death of Luis Felipe, my grandfather, who when he was still King of France filled me with the lap of chestnuts and the face of kisses in the gardens of the Tuileries. I am Maria Carlota Amelia Victoria Clementina Leopoldina, niece of Prince Joinville and cousin of the Count of Paris, sister of the Duke of Brabante who was King of Belgium and conqueror of the Congo and sister of the Count of Flanders, in whose arms I learned to dance, when I was ten years old, in the shadow of the thorns in bloom. I am Carlota Amelia, wife of Fernando Maximiliano José, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Count of Habsburg, Prince of Lorraine, Emperor of Mexico and King of the world, who was born in the Palace of Schönbrunn and was the first descendant of the Catholic Kings Fernando and Isabel who crossed the ocean and stepped on the lands of America, and who ordered to build for me I am Carlota Amelia, Regent of Anáhuac, Queen of Nicaragua, Baroness of the Mato Grosso, Princess of Chichen Itza. I am Carlota Amelia of Belgium, Empress of Mexico and America: I am eighty-six years old and sixty years old to drink, crazy thirst, in the fountains of Rome.

Thus begins the book by narrator Fernando del Paso, Noticias del Imperio, based on the tragic story of an ephemeral empire; whose main protagonist was Charlotte, the Belgian princess, along with Prince Maximilian of Habsburg.

• Mama Carlota (2008) by Adolfo Arrioja Vizcaíno.
• The last prince of the Mexican Empire (2010) by C.M. Mayo.
• The hill of the bells (1868) by John A. Matthews.
• Juarez in the Capuchins Convent: The Secret Meeting with Maximilian (2014) by Adam J. Oderoll.
• Carlota. The Empress who freaked out love (2017) by Laura Martínez-Belli.

Graphic Novel

Empress Charlotte written by Fabien Nury and illustrated by Matthieu Bonhomme. Two parts have been published so far:

• Volume 1: The Princess and the Archduke (17 October 2018)
• Volume 2: The Empire (12 June 2020)

Filmography

Ancestors

Succession

Predecessor: Ana María Huarte y Muñiz 1822-1823

Empress of Mexico 10 April 1864 - 19 June 1867

Successor: Abolited Monarchy

Heraldry

Shield

Blasón

In matching with the weapons of Mexico and Belgium. First: in the silver field a royal eagle, devouring a serpent, inn on a double nopal, planted on a rock, moving herself between calm water. Second: in the field of sable, a rampant lion of gold, linguado, nailed, armed with gluttons; in scuson sprouts to the lion, in quarters, I and IV, in quarters, in first and fourth, field of gulls with three leopards of gold, linguados, clutches (from England); in the second in the field of gold, a leopard Outside: The shield is surrounded by the silver cord of the ladies of the Order of Queen Mary Louise and stamped with the crown of the Second Mexican Empire. Details: Union of arms of her husband, Maximiliano I of Mexico, and of his father, Leopoldo I of Belgium.

Civil certificates

• 

  Birth Act (7 June 1840).

• 

  Marriage act (27 July 1857).

Literature

• Bénit, André: Charlotte, princesse de Belgique et impératrice du Mexique (1840-1927). A count of fees qui tourne au délire... Essai de reconstitution historique, Plougastel, Historic’one Editions, 2017 (ISBN: 978-2-912994-62-4).
• Bénit, André: «Charlotte de Belgique, impératrice du Mexique. Une plongée dans les ténèbres de la folie. Essai de reconstitution fictionnelle”, Masses en littérature de la folie, Çédille, Journal of French Studies, Monographs of Çédille 7, 2017, pp.13-54 (ISSN: 1699-4949).
• Bénit, André: Légendes, intrigues et médisances autour des « archidupes ». Charlotte de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha, princesse de Belgique / Maximilien de Habsbourg, archiduc d’Autriche. Récits historique et fictionnel, Bruxelles, Peter Lang, Éditions scientifiques internationales, 2020, 438 pages (ISBN: 978-2-8076-1470-3).
• Bibesco, Princesse Marthe: Charlotte et Maximilien. Paris 1962.
• Castelot, André: Maximiliano and Carlota. Tragedy of ambition. Mexico 1985.
• Corti, Count Egon Caesar: Maximilian und Charlotte von Mexiko. Nach dem bisher unveröffentlichten Geheimarchive des Kaisers Maximilian und sonstigen unbekannten Quellen. 2 Vols. Zurich, Leipzig, Vienna 1924.
• Corti, Count Egon Caesar: Maximilian von Mexiko. Die Tragödie eines Kaisers. Frankfurt am Main 1953.
• Desternes, Suzanne; Chandet, Henriette: Maximilien et Charlotte. Paris 1964.
• Del Paso, Fernando: News of the Empire, Mexico, 1986, Fund for Economic Culture, first edition, 2014, p. 708.
• Gómez Tepexicuapan, Amparo: “Carlota in Mexico.” In: English, Susanne; Spiller, Roland (eds.): Newer from the empire. Interdisciplinary studies about Carlota de México. Frankfurt am Main 2001. (Erlanger Lateinamerika-Studien. 45). p. 27-40.
• Michael of Greece: The Empress of Goodbye. The tragic fate of Emperor Maximilian and his wife Carlotta. Barcelona 2000.
• Harding, Bertita: Phantom Crown. The story of Maximilian and Carlota of Mexico. 3rd edition. Mexico 1967 [1935].
• Haslip, Joan: The Crown of Mexico: Maximilian and his Empress Carlota. 2nd edition. New York 1972.
• Hyde, Montgomery H.: Mexican Empire. The history of Maximilian and Carlota of Mexico. London 1946.
• English, Susanne: Carlota de México. Mexico 2002. (=Grandes Protagonists of Mexican History) [second edition: 2006].
• Igler, Susanne: From the intruder infamous to the madman of the castle: Carlotta of Mexico in the literature of his 'adoptive homeland'. Frankfurt: Peter Lang 2007 (Studien und Dokumente zur Geschichte der Romanischen Literaturen, 58).
• Kerckvoorde, Mia: Charlotte. La passion et la fatalité. Paris 1981.
• Maria y Campos, Armando: Carlota de Belgium. The unfortunate Empress of Mexico. Mexico 1944.
• Praviel, Armand: The tragic life of Empress Carlota. Buenos Aires 1937.
• Perfors Barradas, Gerardo: 60 Years of Madness. Universiteit van Amsterdam 2009.
• Ratz, Konrad (ed.): Vor Sehnsucht nach dir vergehend. Der private Briefwechsel zwischen Maximilian von Mexiko und seiner Frau Charlotte. Vienna, Munich 2000.
• Vázquez Lozano, Gustavo: Sixty years of solitude. Carlotta's life after the Mexican empire, 1867-1927. Mexico: Grijalbo, 2019.
• Del Paso Fernando: News of the Empire. Mexico 2008
• Fuentes Aguirre, Armando (Catòn): The other story of Mexico, Juarez and Maximilian, the rock and the dream