Charlotte of Belgium, the hapless Empress of Mexico
Valeria Pietrantonio
Charlotte of Belgium was not only the rival sister-in-law of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Click here to discover the sad story of the Empress of Mexico.
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Quello che piace a Valeria
On June 7, 1840, Princess Charlotte of Belgium was born, unfortunate Empress of Mexico, often remembered only as the rival sister-in-law of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Yet Princess Charlotte had intense blue blood in her veins: the only daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and Louise of Orléans, Charlotte was a cousin of Queen Victoria of England and her husband Prince Albert, as well as of King Ferdinand II of Portugal.

As if this were not enough, her favorite grandmother Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of the French was the wife of King Louis Philippe of France and niece of Marie Antoinette of France.

In May 1856, the princess met Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph in Brussels and, from the very first meeting, Max (as he was sweetly called in the family) became the favorite of her heart, among the various important suitors who wanted her in marriage.

The following year the dream comes true and Charlotte marries her Max, acquiring the title of Archduchess of Austria.

At the Wien court she was greatly appreciated by her mother-in-law Sophia of Bavaria (as opposed to the cold relationship she had with her more august daughter-in-law, Elizabeth of Austria), who saw in her the perfect example of a wife for an Austrian archduke.

Charlotte hated Empress Elizabeth. It was said, among other things, that the archduchess did not like the deep bond existing between the empress and Maximilian, her husband, who were confidants and shared the same taste for many things: both had indeed the romantic, idealistic, sensitive character and imaginative of the Wittelsbachs.

After the wedding, Charlotte followed her husband to Italy, first to Milan when he was appointed viceroy of the Empire and then to Trieste in the splendid and evocative Miramare Castle, that Maximilian had built for the two of them.

These are the most carefree years: Maximilian and Charlotte, who had married for true love and not for political designs (even if Maximilian had a first great love for Maria Amelia of Braganza who unfortunately died young, in 1853), live their romantic history and spend a peaceful existence taking walks, listening to music, taking an interest in culture and painting. Charlotte herself was an interesting artist: she delighted in painting views, many of which are still visible in the halls of the Miramare Castle.

In the early 1860s, the ambitious Napoleon III began the French intervention in Mexico. He was looking for a suitable figurehead to serve as Mexico‘s nominal emperor and knew that Maximilian was eager to find a more prominent political role. Franz Joseph was against it but Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown and the couple set sail for the New World.

The imperial couple was crowned in 1864, choosing Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City as a base.

The new rulers found a disorganized and insecure country, with pockets of rebellion in inland areas, further threatened by corruption and anarchy.

It soon became apparent, too, that it was a minority of the population that had appealed to them, foreign rulers, and not the majority.

Despite everything, they began their reign with generous confidence: the emperor initially managed to reconcile the political parties, while the empress became popular by visiting the city of Veracruz during a yellow fever epidemic.

The political situation, however, quickly degenerated.

Charlotte then returned to Europe to seek political support for her husband’s regime, going to Paris, Wien and finally to Rome to the Pope and precisely in the presence of Pius IX there were the first evident signs of her mental imbalance, probably caused by the emotional collapse of the Empress who had lost all hope of finding support for her husband.

On 7 October 1866 her brother Philip rushed her to Rome to help and led her to Miramare. Charlotte is, in fact, prey to a fixation, she believes that everyone wants to poison her.

The empress remained segregated in Miramare Castle, guarded by Austrian security agents, and it was almost by force that the wife of her brother Leopold, Queen Maria Enrichetta, took the unfortunate and led her back to Belgium.

Perhaps the return of Emperor Maximilian to Europe could have restored Charlotte’s psychic balance.

Unfortunately, on June 19, 1867, the Emperor of Mexico was shot by the republicans in Querétaro.

Charlotte sank definitively into the darkness of madness.

Much has been said about Charlotte’s “madness” because she actually alternated moments of lucidity with moments of “alienation”, attributable to a bipolar disorder rather than a real schizophrenia.

Her brother, King Leopold II of Belgium, tied to her sister by a deep affection, bought for her the Bouchout Castle, where Charlotte lived for a long time, finally dying of pneumonia on January 19, 1927.

How many figures of beautiful and important women, yet sad and complex, does history give us!

For further reading

Gustavo Vazquez-Lozano, Sixty Years of Solitude: The Life of Empress Charlotte of Mexico, 2023

M. M. Mcallen, Maximilian and Carlota: Europe’s Last Empire in Mexico, 2015