CARLOTA FROM MEXICO: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2025

Charlotte of Mexico (1840 - 1927) was a Belgian princess, daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium known for being the first and last empress that Mexico had during the years 1864 and 1866, next to her husband, the Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg.

In the absence of Maximiliano de Habsburgo in Mexico, Carlota was the head of the government in the Latin American country. During that time, Carlota made political and social decisions, in addition to fulfilling executive functions.

Albert Gräfle, via Wikimedia Commons

On the other hand, she is known for being the first woman to rule Mexico, even if she was a foreigner. From a young age, she had a desire for power and was prepared by her father to fulfill it.

Carlota was characterized by supporting Maximiliano in all political decisions during his tenure in Europe and Mexico. When her husband died, she began to suffer from a terrible mental illness that affected him until the day of his death.

Biography

Early life and family

Carlota de México was born on June 7, 1840 in a peripheral town of Brussels, Belgium, under the name of María Carlota Amelia Augusta Victoria Clementina Leopoldina of Sajonia-Coburgo-Gotha y Orleans.

Carlota was the only daughter of the Belgian King Leopold I with his second wife Princess Luisa Maria de Orleans, daughter of King Louis Philippe I of Orleans. They named her Charlotte in honor of the death of her father's first wife, Princess Charlotte of Wales, who had died in childbirth in 1817.

Carlota had three brothers; the first of them was Luis Felipe, who died before his first birthday due to an inflammation of the mucous membranes. The second was Leopold, who became Leopold II of Belgium and Prince Philip of Belgium or also named as the Count of Flanders.

On the other hand, she was the cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Ireland, as was her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Also, she was the granddaughter of Maria Amalia de las Dos Sicilias, Queen of France.

At age 10, her mother died of tuberculosis, so Carlota spent much more time in the company of her grandmother María Amalia in her country house; which was why she had become his faithful advisor.

Relationship with Maximilian of Habsburg

In the summer of 1856, when he was just 16 years old, he met Ferdinand Maximilian of Habsburg (Archduke of Austria) and the younger brother of the Austrian Emperor of Habsburg, Franz Joseph I.

Maximilian's mother, Archduchess Sophia of Bavaria, was married to Archduke Frances Carlos of Austria. However, at the time there was a rumor that Maximilian's father was not the Archduke but Napoleon Bonaparte's son, Napoleon Frances.

According to the genealogy of both, Carlota and Maximiliano were second cousins, since both were descendants of Archduchess María Carolina de Austria and Ferdinand I de las Dos Sicilias (parents of Carlota's grandmother, María Amalia and Maximiliano's paternal grandmother, María Teresa Naples and Sicily).

Both Maximiliano and Carlota were attracted and immediately Maximiliano proposed marriage with Leopoldo I present. Although it had previously been shortened by Pedro V of Portugal and by Prince George of Saxony, Carlota decided on Maximiliano for possessing ideologies of liberalism.

For this reason, he passed over the preferences of his father, his relatives and his suitors, so that Leopold I had no choice but to approve his marriage. Her father was not entirely dissatisfied, but would have preferred a higher status suitor for his daughter.

Marriage

On July 27, 1857, Carlota and Maximiliano were married, eventually becoming the Archduchess of Austria.

Carlota's beauty, inherited from her mother, and her liberal ideals were well received by her mother-in-law, Maximiliano's mother; the archduchess thought that Carlota had been indicated as the wife of her son, so she was taken into account at the Court of Vienna.

The marriage of Carlota and Maximiliano was accepted by the two families; in fact, Napoleon III gave Carlota and her husband a beautiful bust of the new Archduchess as a wedding gift.

However, Carlota began to have a bad relationship with her sister-in-law, Empress Isabel, wife of Maximiliano's older brother, Francisco José I. Carlota was always jealous of the strong connection between the empress and Maximiliano.

Maximiliano took the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venice by intersection of Carlota's father, so Carlota spent time in Italy while her husband served as governor of the provinces.

However, both provinces were dominated by the Austrian Empire, so that the couple did not achieve the absolute power that they so longed for.

Disease

When the Second Italian War for Independence began, Maximiliano and Carlota had to flee. After the events, Maximiliano was removed from his position as governor, for which he had to travel to Brazil.

Carlota stayed at the palace while her husband arrived. Upon her return, Maximiliano contracted a venereal disease that infected Carlota, making it impossible for them to have children.

Although Carlota tried to maintain a good image of the marriage, she refused to continue the conjugal relationship to the point of sleeping in separate rooms.

French intervention in Mexico

In 1861, the Mexican president Benito Juárez had suspended the payment of the foreign debt, so France, Spain and the United Kingdom decided to join together to invade the country as a form of pressure.

After several negotiations with the Mexican government, the Spanish and English decided to accept the conditions and left the country; otherwise, France announced that it would also occupy the territory of the American country.

Napoleon III insisted on the intervention with the idea of ​​conquering Mexico and imposing a monarchy on that country. After the defeat of the French on May 5 in Puebla, the French did not cease their attempts to take control of Mexico City.

Even the pro-French Mexicans were in charge of establishing a monarchy. For this reason, Napoleon Bonaparte was in charge of looking for a figurehead to serve as emperor of the country, so he immediately thought of Maximilian of Habsburg.

Carlota was key to this decision, since she was the one who interceded so that Maximiliano accepted the position, and even urged him to renounce the rights to the Austrian throne.

Arrival of the emperors in Mexico

In 1864 Maximiliano and Carlota left Austria, whose first stop was the port of Veracruz until they finally reached Mexico City, where they were crowned.

At first, the pair of emperors believed that they would receive the support of the Mexicans, but they found that one group defended their nationalism and for others, the very liberal ideology of the foreigners did not fit with conservatism.

Carlota presided alongside Maximiliano, since from the beginning Carlota's mentality was to be active in political affairs like her husband. Since the couple arrived in Mexico, Carlota was the one who took the reins in imperial politics, noticing that her husband evaded his reform projects.

Despite the situation with the Benito Juárez guerrilla groups against foreigners, Carlota tried to neutralize the situation and help her husband as much as possible.

Since she was little she was prepared to rule; her father Leopoldo I was in charge of giving her extensive knowledge in the area of politics, geography and the arts. Also, she studied several languages, including Spanish.

Carlota as Empress of Mexico

Carlota assumed the power of empress for a few months while Maximiliano made visits to the cities of the interior of Mexico. In this sense, Carlota thought about the possibility of promulgating new decrees and carrying out other works within the Latin American country.

In the absence of her husband, Carlota made certain changes in order to favor the demands of the Mexicans. Among the first measures, he enacted the abolition of physical punishment, as well as a fair adjustment in working hours.

On the other hand, it boosted the growth of railway companies, steam transportation and, furthermore, an improvement in the telegraph. Also, he continued the constructions that Santa Anna had left unfinished.

Together with her husband, she had a series of portraits painted by the artists of the San Carlos Academy in order to pay tribute to the liberal and conservative heroes who participated in the wars of previous years. She also founded a music conservatory, as well as an academy of painting.

Carlota from Mexico was deeply concerned about the social situation of the country, for which she invested large amounts of money in charities for the poor; in fact, she opened nurseries and nursing homes for the same social purpose.

Fall of the empire

Due to the clashes within the empire, the guerrilla groups of Juárez and the distance between the conservative group, the stay of Carlota and Maximiliano was brief.

From the beginning the emperors failed to establish a balance within the Mexican territory and no matter how hard they tried, it was impossible to achieve it. Furthermore, Napoleon III had left Maximilian's empire months after her coronation in Mexico.

On the other hand, in 1866, France was threatened by Prussia, and the United States pressured them to withdraw by supporting groups that preferred the republic. Under the amount of obstacles presented to them, the empire of Carlota and Maximiliano fell apart.

Death of Carlota of Mexico

Although Carlota was in favor of saving her husband's throne, she failed to obtain the national support she needed. After the execution of her husband in the city of Querétaro, Carlota began to have episodes of dementia.

In 1866, he returned to Europe and spent several years under the care of his brother, the Count of Flanders. Since her husband's death, Carlota's mind has deteriorated, taking care of all the possessions she had with Maximiliano.

On January 19, 1927, she died of pneumonia caused by the influenza virus, becoming the last daughter of Leopold I of Belgium.

References

1. The Napoleonic Empire and the Monarchy in Mexico, Patricia Galeana, (2012). Taken from books.google.com
2. Carlota of Mexico, Wikipedia in English, (nd). Taken from wikipedia.org
3. Empress Carlota of Mexico, Jone Johnson Lewis, (nd). Taken from thoughtco.com
4. French Intervention in Mexico, 1862-1866, Website Geni, (nd). Taken from geni.com
5. Maximilian and Carlota, Patrick Scrivener, (nd). Taken from reformation.org