Birth and early years , 1842. Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, better known under the name
Charlotte, was the daughter of
Leopold I of Belgium and
Louise of Orléans. Her first name pays homage to the late
Princess Charlotte of Wales, her father's first wife. She was the fourth and last child and the only daughter of the Belgian royal couple, after
Louis-Philippe (who died less than one year old in 1834),
Leopold (born in 1835) and
Philippe (born in 1837). Queen Louise's last pregnancy was so difficult there were fears of a miscarriage in April, but on 7 June 1840 at 1 a.m., Charlotte was born healthy at the
Palace of Laeken. Initially disappointed by the birth of a daughter, who was not a dynast in Belgium at that time, King Leopold I was gradually charmed by his daughter, who became in time his favorite child. Through her mother, Charlotte was a granddaughter of
Louis Philippe I and
Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies,
King and Queen of the French and through her father, she was a first-cousin of
Queen Victoria of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; thanks to these relations, and in addition to regular stays in the city of
Ostend in the summer, Charlotte spent long holidays with her maternal grandparents in the French royal residences and at her cousin's in
Windsor Castle. She was close to her maternal grandmother, Queen Maria Amalia, and the two regularly corresponded; after the
French Revolution of 1848 which dethroned her grandparents and exiled them to England, for a few weeks out of the year, Charlotte stayed in
Claremont with her mother's family in exile. and his family, by Charles Baugniet, . When her mother died on 11 October 1850, Charlotte was only 10 years old. The boisterous and expansive little girl quickly became a pensive and introverted teenager. The late Queen Louise had personally overseen the education and instruction of the royal children. Respecting the wishes of his deceased wife, the King appointed Countess Denise d'Hulst, a French aristocrat, to take particular care of Charlotte, of whom she became governess. Fleeing
Laeken as soon as he could, Leopold I had little presence with his children, who suffered as a result. Very early on, Charlotte was able to express herself orally and in writing in French, English and German. Her religious instruction was entrusted to
Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, later
Cardinal and
Archbishop of Mechelen and therefore
Primate of Belgium. Religion held a major place in the life of the princess. Leopold I demanded that his children carry out frequent examinations of conscience, believing that crowned heads must possess great strength of character. After Madame d'Hulst returned to France, it was Countess Marie-Auguste de Bovée, her new governess, who educated Charlotte, urging her to read and meditate daily on
The Imitation of Christ. At the age of 13, her favorite author was
Plutarch, while she judged
Ovid to be childish. Very early on, she was convinced that royalty would have to be more accountable to God than the rest of humanity. Her obsession with learning made society bland, she wrote at 15. At this age, Charlotte was seen as a distant beauty, aware of her dignity and seeking to achieve unattainable moral perfection. She had a tendency to judge those around her harshly and got along more with her brother Philippe than with Leopold.
Marriage . Photography by Louis-Joseph Ghémar, 1857. In her youth, Charlotte resembled her mother, and was noted as being a beauty possessing delicate features. This, combined with her status as the only daughter of the King of the Belgians, made her a desirable match. In 1856, as she was preparing to celebrate her sixteenth birthday, two suitors sought her hand: Prince
George of Saxony (who was quickly rejected) and King
Pedro V of Portugal. The latter was the favorite candidate of both Queen Victoria and King Leopold I. By personal choice, and under the influence of Madame d'Hulst (who affirmed that at the Portuguese court no priest would understand her), Charlotte declined the offer of marriage with King Pedro V. She explained: "As for Pedro, it is a throne, it is true, I would be Queen and Majesty but what is that, the crowns nowadays are heavy burdens and how one regrets later to have yielded to such crazy considerations". In the month of May 1856, Charlotte met in Brussels with
Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor
Franz Joseph I. She was immediately charmed by this prince who was eight years her senior. Reportedly she stated: "it will be him that I will marry". Her father left Charlotte the choice of her future husband; as she testified in a letter addressed to her grandmother Maria Amalia: "He wrote me the most impartial letter, putting before my eyes the advantages of one and the other without wanting to influence me in any way". As for Leopold I, he wrote to his future son-in-law: "You won in May [...] all my confidence and my benevolence. I also noticed that my little girl shared these dispositions; however it was my duty to proceed with precaution". Charlotte declared: "If, as it is in question, the Archduke was invested with the Viceroyalty of Italy, that would be charming, that's all I want". The official engagement was celebrated on 23 December 1856. Charlotte appeared elated by the prospect of her marriage to Maximilian, praising a fiancé for whom she envisioned an exceptional destiny. Maximilian appeared less enthusiastic when negotiating the dowry of his bride. The Archduke said of his fiancée: "She's short, I'm tall, which must be. She's brunette, I'm blonde, which is good too. She is very intelligent, which is a bit annoying, but I will undoubtedly get over it". The marriage ceremony was celebrated on 27 July 1857 at the
Royal Palace of Brussels. This alliance with the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine enhanced the legitimacy of the recently established Belgian dynasty. Emperor
Napoleon III presented the couple with a
bisque bust of Charlotte as a wedding gift. In the Court of
Vienna she was welcomed by her mother-in-law,
Archduchess Sophie, who saw in her the perfect example of a wife for an Austrian Archduke. This contributed to the strained relationship between Charlotte and
Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph I, 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 charm.
Life in Italy and Miramare , 1865. Charlotte (in pink dress) welcomes
Elisabeth while her husband
Maximilian and his brother
Franz Joseph I wait on the boat. at the beginning of the 20th century. In September 1857, Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria appointed his brother Maximilian as Viceroy of the
Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. After a short stop in
Schönbrunn, where they met the Austrian Imperial family, the newlyweds went to Maximilian's
Miramare Castle where they stayed for eight days. They then visited
Venice and
Verona. On 6 September 1857, Charlotte and Maximilian made a solemn entry into
Milan, where they were warmly welcomed. Some newspapers claimed their entry was made to appear ridiculous because of excessively ornate carriages and
liveries.
Leopold, Duke of Brabant, wrote to the
Count of Flanders: "All the servants wore
halberds! In Paris, we talked a lot about this [...]. If we sin here through too much simplicity, they are blamed for a buffoonish luxury from another time and which nowadays seems too out of place". In
Italy, the Archducal couple officially resided in Milan, seat of the government of Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. Sometimes staying at the
Royal Palace they also spent time at the more intimate
Villa of Monza. In his capacity as Viceroy, Maximilian was served by a substantial important court including
chamberlains and
majordomos. Charlotte was surrounded by a grand-mistress,
ladies-in-waiting and a large suite. Charlotte appears to have enjoyed her time in Venice. During
Easter of 1858, she and Maximilian journeyed down the
Grand Canal aboard a ceremonial
gondola. Charlotte also visited several charitable institutions and schools. Feasts and balls were given in their honour but the local aristocrats were conspicuous with their absences. In 1859, Charlotte acquired the island of
Lokrum and its ruined convent. She and Maximilian proceeded to transform the Benedictine abbey into a secondary residence. On a private level, Maximilian began to neglect his wife, who complained, after a year of marriage, of loneliness and boredom. On 10 April 1859, Maximilian was obliged by his brother the Emperor to resign from his office as Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia. He had sought to undertake reforms considered as being too
liberal by the government in Vienna, as well as showing indulgence towards Italian rebels and being too much of a spendthrift. Charlotte and Maximilian therefore retired to Miramare Castle at one end of the
Gulf of Trieste. The construction of the castle continued throughout 1860, according to plans prepared by Maximilian and financed in part from Charlotte's dowry. Her brother, the future Leopold II, noted in his diary: "The construction of this palace in these days is a limitless madness". In correspondence Charlotte painted an idyllic portrait of this time in Miramare, though the estrangement of the two spouses appeared to become more marked. Charlotte practiced horseback riding, painting and swimming. She played a major part in planning the layout and statuary of the extensive gardens of Miramare, while contributing some of her own paintings to the gallery of the palace. In December 1859 Charlotte and Maximilian embarked on a voyage aboard the yacht
Fantasia, which took them to
Madeira in December 1859, on the spot where
Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil, once engaged to Maximilian, had died six years previously. In this place, the Archduke experienced intense regret and melancholic thoughts. Charlotte remained alone in
Funchal for three months while her husband continued his journey to Brazil, where he visited three states: first
Bahia, then
Rio de Janeiro and finally
Espírito Santo. On his return from his trip, Maximilian returned via Funchal where he and Charlotte prepared to return to Trieste. First they made a stopover in
Tétouan, where they docked on 18 March 1860. On 3 October 1863, a delegation of conservative Mexican notables arrived at Miramare Castle to formally offer the Archduke the crown of their country. They were mostly reactionary expatriates who were resident in Europe and enjoyed only limited support in their native country. In reality, negotiations on this subject had been underway for more than two years: Emperor
Napoleon III envisaged creating a "Latin and Catholic"
satellite state in Mexico, which would limit the influence of the
United States of America, then in the grip of the
Civil War. He was encouraged in this project by the prospect of recovering French investments and loans put at risk by the chaotic political situation in Mexico. With Papal support he accordingly searched for a suitable
figurehead to serve as the nominal emperor of Mexico. His choice was Maximilian, who no longer held any power in the Austrian-ruled parts of northern Italy and was eager for a more challenging role. The Emperor of the French promised to support Maximilian militarily if he agreed to leave for
Mexico. However, Maximilian hesitated and was slow to agree to this venture. Emperor Franz Joseph I was ambivalent to the proposal and his ministers questioned its wisdom. Maximilian made his assent subject to ratification by the Mexican people. The strong-willed Charlotte believed that restoring the Mexican crown would constitute a mission to bring order and civilization under the
House of Habsburg, who would once again rule
an empire where the sun never sets; she argued decisively to overcome her husband's doubts. Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown and the couple prepared for their trip for the New World.
Empress of Mexico Departure for Mexico SMS Novara'', by Josef Püttner, after 1862. On 10 April 1864, in a state apartment of Miramare Castle, Maximilian and Charlotte were informally proclaimed as
Emperor and Empress of Mexico. He affirmed that the wishes of the Mexican people allowed him to consider himself as the legitimate elected representative of the people. In reality, the Archduke was persuaded by a few Mexican conservatives who incorrectly assured him of massive popular support. For supporting documents, the Mexican deputation produced "acts of adhesion" containing population numbers for localities within Mexico that were purportedly surveyed. Maximilian instructed the delegation "to ensure by all means the well-being, prosperity, independence and integrity of this nation". on 19 April 1864. Engraving by
Ferdinand Laufberger. The same evening, an official dinner was planned at Miramare in the large salon at Les Mouettes. Now on the verge of a
nervous breakdown, Maximilian retired to his apartments, where he was examined by his doctor
August von Jilek, who found the new Emperor prostrate and so overwhelmed that the doctor instructed him to rest in the garden house of the estate. Charlotte therefore presided at the banquet alone. The departure for Mexico was set for 14 April. Once on board the Austrian
frigate SMS Novara and escorted by the French frigate
Thémis, Maximilian became more serene. He and Charlotte made a stopover in
Rome to receive the blessing of
Pope Pius IX. On 19 April, during the pontifical audience at the
Palace of Maffei Marescotti, the subject of the recovery of church property confiscated by the Mexican republican government was avoided. However, the Pope stressed that Maximilian would have to respect the rights of the Church. During the long crossing, Charlotte and Maximilian rarely discussed the serious diplomatic and political difficulties which they were to be confronted with in Mexico. Instead, they spent their time preparing the
etiquette of their future court in great detail. They began to write a 600-page manuscript relating to ceremonial functions, regulating protocol in its most minute aspects. The
SMS Novara stopped in Madeira and
Jamaica. The ships encountered heavy thunderstorms before a final stopover was made in
Martinique. With the port of
Veracruz in front of her, Charlotte wrote to her grandmother: "In a few hours we will touch the ground of our new homeland...I am delighted with the Tropics and I only dream of butterflies and hummingbirds [...] I would never have believed that in what regards the regions where we are going to live, my wishes were also completely fulfilled".
Reign Maximilian and Charlotte arrived at the port of Veracruz on 28 May 1864 and made entry into
Mexico City on 12 June with a warm welcome. Unimpressed by the
National Palace, which required major refurbishment, they preferred
Chapultepec Castle as their new Imperial residence. They also chose the
Palace of Cortés in
Cuernavaca as a summer residence. Shortly after their arrival in Mexico, they commenced costly improvements to their various properties and surroundings, despite the Mexican treasury being in a critical condition. Charlotte took a leading role in the various festivals, military parades, balls and theatrical performances presented in their honour. She also presided over the newly created Mexican
Imperial Order of Saint Charles, or 'Orden Imperial de San Carlos', designed to reward charitable or other service to the Mexican nation. costume by
Jean-François Portaels Despite the idyllic descriptions of Mexico that Maximilian and Charlotte wrote to their relatives in Europe, it did not take long for them to realize the insecurity and disorder which plagued their Empire. Their residences were perpetually monitored by a large armed guard intended to push back the rebel bands which roamed nearby. French intervention, supported by the Belgian and Austrian contingents and local Mexican Imperial troops, was followed by a long civil war which disrupted every aspect of Mexican life. The approximately 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers of the
French expeditionary force, led by Marshal
Bazaine, had to counter multiple skirmishes led by the guerrillas over a territory four times larger than that of France. A conservative minority of the Mexican people supported the Second Mexican Empire, along with the
Mexican nobility, clergy, and some native groups. The Emperor tried in vain to reconcile the liberal and conservative parties. He decided to pursue a liberal policy by approving the
secularization of ecclesiastical property for the benefit of the national domain, which alienated the conservatives and the clergy. When he was absent from Mexico City, sometimes for several months, Maximilian appointed Charlotte as
Regent: she presided over the
Council of Ministers and gave public audiences on Sundays. The popularity of the sovereigns was already dwindling before the end of the first year of their reign. in the beginning of 20th century. Without a child from his marriage, Maximilian, to Charlotte's disapproval, decided in September 1865 to adopt
Agustín de Iturbide y Green and
Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán, grandsons of
Agustín I de Iturbide, an earlier Emperor of Mexico (r. 1822–1823). Agustín was only two years old when he was adopted and was forcibly separated from his mother, under Maximilian's orders. This situation upset Charlotte, who was forced by her husband to go and fetch the child herself from his biological parents. By this point, public opinion of Maximilian was almost unanimously negative. He gave Agustín de Iturbide y Green the title of "
His Highness, The Prince of Iturbide" and similar imperial titles were accorded to various members of the child's extended family. He also ensured that the secret treaty between him and the House of Iturbide was published in European newspapers, which prevented Charlotte or anyone else from being able to attempt a reversal of the adoption. Despite these actions, it appears Maximilian never intended to give Agustín or Salvador the throne, because they were not of royal blood. He himself explained that it was all a charade to convince his younger brother
Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria to give him one of his sons to act as heir. Faced with this complex situation, Maximilian resolved, under pressure from Marshal Bazaine and the French army, to adopt a policy of harsh repression against the rebels. He published the "Black Decree" on 3 October 1865, which, while promising an
amnesty to the dissidents who surrendered, declared in its first article: "All individuals belonging to bands or armed gatherings existing without legal authorization, whether or not they proclaim a political pretext [...] will be tried militarily by the martial courts. If they are guilty, even though it is only the mere fact of belonging to an armed gang, they will be condemned to death and the sentence will be executed in 24 hours". Under this decree, several hundred rebels and political opponents were
summarily executed.
Trip to Yucatán in the 19th century On 6 November 1865, Charlotte began an official visit to the remote province of
Yucatán, which lasted almost two months. Without Maximilian, but accompanied by an imposing retinue, she departed on the
Tabasco, a ship in poor condition whose pitching made the crossing of the
Gulf of Mexico very difficult. Yucatán, far from the tragic events that bloodied the rest of Mexico, gave a relatively warm welcome to the Empress. This trip commenced with a succession of festivities preceding her arrival in
Mérida, capital of the province. Charlotte then took the opportunity to visit the ruins of the ancient
Maya city of
Uxmal, where she admired the archaeological curiosities. 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. When Charlotte met Maximilian again in Cuernavaca, the day before New Year's Day 1866, he informed her of the new legislative projects he had conceived. Charlotte and her husband stayed for a few days in Cuernavaca, where on the morning of 6 January, she learned of the death of her father King
Leopold I of Belgium almost four weeks before. Two months later, on 24 March, Charlotte heard that her maternal grandmother
Maria Amalia, Dowager Queen consort of the French; to whom she was deeply attached, had died in England.
Departure from Mexico In January 1866, Emperor Napoleon III, influenced by French public hostility to the Mexican expedition, decided to begin the withdrawal of his troops supporting the Imperial cause in Mexico. This strategic pullback was a potentially fatal blow to the infant Mexican monarchy; at the end of the withdrawal of the French expeditionary force, Maximilian would only have the support of a small force of imperial Mexican soldiers and a contingent of Belgian and Austrian volunteers, which were easily outnumbered by rebel forces. The announcement of the French withdrawal encouraged the Belgian legation to leave the country. In a desperate attempt to save her husband's throne, Charlotte resolved to personally persuade Napoleon III to reconsider his decision. On 9 July 1866, Charlotte, with Maximilian's concurrence, set sail for Europe from the port of Veracruz upon the transatlantic ocean liner
Impératrice Eugénie. She was accompanied by Martín del Castillo y Cos, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and her two adoptive sons, the Princes of Iturbide. Subsequently, a rumor circulated that Charlotte, shortly before her trip to Europe, had become pregnant by her
aide-de-camp Alfred van der Smissen and had given birth to a son in early 1867. The feasibility of this rumor is uncertain.
Return to Europe On 8 August 1866, Empress Charlotte arrived in Europe with her two adoptive sons and Martín del Castillo, at the harbour of
Saint-Nazaire, where they were greeted by
Juan Almonte and his wife, instead of an official welcoming ceremony. From there, she took a train for
Paris, where she arrived on 9 August. During the trip, Charlotte had received a telegraph from Napoleon III, informing her that he was terribly ill, but this did little to dissuade her. At the
Château de Saint-Cloud, the bedridden Napoleon III received a telegram from Charlotte requesting an interview. He first sent his wife Empress
Eugénie to the
Le Grand Hôtel where Charlotte was staying, hoping to deter the determined Empress of Mexico from her plans to meet him in person. But Charlotte could not be dissuaded and Eugénie made arrangements for a first meeting between the two of them the next day, 11 August, at Saint-Cloud. Despite carefully preparing her arguments in a twenty-page brief, the meeting between Charlotte and Napoleon III ended in complete failure. She gave a long, impassioned speech reminding Napoleon III of his promises and the
Treaty of Miramar, but the Emperor was unwavering in his position, affirming that he could not decide anything without the approval of his ministers and that he refused to negotiate new financial and military guarantees in favour of Mexico. Her mission ruined, Charlotte began manifesting symptoms of
paranoia and had profound cognitive and emotional collapse. Two days later, she returned to Saint-Cloud to attempt another negotiation with Napoleon III. A lively discussion broke out in the presence of Empress Eugénie, who sank into an armchair, pretending to faint. The first signs of Charlotte's mental breakdown became evident here, when, overwhelmed by sadness, she threw herself into a nearby armchair, sobbing hysterically. The
Council of Ministers of 18 August 1866 confirmed the position of Napoleon III and formally opposed maintaining any military presence by France in Mexico. On 19 August, Napoleon III went personally to Le Grand Hôtel for a third and final meeting with Charlotte, to confirm to her that France would no longer continue to act in Mexico. Shaken by Napoleon III's refusal, on 21 August Charlotte left France for Miramare Castle in Trieste; on the journey there, her mental health showed signs of worsening — passing by a farmer, she became convinced that he was an assassin. She persistently shouted at her coachman to drive faster. She avoided going through Brussels and Vienna due to the withdrawal of the Belgian and Austrian troops from Mexico, and Charlotte did not seek help from either her or her husband's families. Charlotte's late father, King
Leopold I, had been doubtful of the Mexican adventure, and his son, now
Leopold II, while once a staunch supporter of his sister's ambitions, could no longer ignore the hostility of the Belgians towards further involvement in Mexico, especially in view of the significant losses incurred there by the Belgian Legion. Charlotte was now isolated and could no longer count on further European support. Once at Miramare, Charlotte found a message from Maximilian waiting for her, imploring her to seek an audience with
Pope Pius IX in Rome. After a one-month stay in Trieste, Charlotte left for the Vatican to try and win continuing support from the pontiff for the Imperial regime in Mexico. Pope Pius IX, however, saw no reason to further implicate the Church in the disastrous Mexican venture. On her way to Rome, Charlotte showed further signs of deteriorating mental health; while stopping for the night at the city of
Bolzano (
German:
Bozen) in
South Tyrol, then part of the Austrian Empire, Charlotte informed Martín del Castillo that she felt unwell and insisted that it was due to being poisoned by spies and traitors among her party. , 1867. On 24 September 1866, Charlotte arrived in Rome. Three days later, on 27 September, she had an audience with Pope Pius IX, but as was expected, the pontiff was reluctant to use his influence to intervene in French politics on the behalf of the Mexican Empire. Charlotte became despondent. Overwhelmed by despair and paranoia, she shut herself within her hotel. She dressed in mourning clothes and, in fear of poison, denied herself food and water. She asked to be taken to the
Trevi Fountain to quench her thirst after not having consumed any liquid since the previous day. On 1 October, Charlotte went to the
Vatican for a further meeting with the Pope, still dressed in mourning and with her face reportedly displaying sunken eyes and flushed cheeks. Crying hysterically, she refused to return to her hotel and begged to be sheltered for the night in the papal apartments, convinced that assassins sent by Napoleon III were waiting for her outside. The Pope let Charlotte eat part of his own dinner and, breaking the rules of the
Holy See, had a bed moved into the pontifical library for her, making Charlotte the first woman known to have slept in the Vatican. In the following days, she confined herself to her hotel room, leaving only to drink water from public fountains, with a goblet that she had taken from the papal apartments. King Leopold II grew worried about the news he received from Charlotte, so he sent his brother Prince
Philippe, Count of Flanders to Rome, where he arrived on 8 October 1866. Two days later, Prince Philippe escorted his very depressed and unstable sister, and the two princes of Iturbide, to Miramare Castle. The residence, however, was insufficiently furnished and poorly heated in the winter. She therefore joined King Leopold II and Queen Marie Henriette at the Palace of Laeken, where she moved into the former apartments of her brothers. When Charlotte finally learned, in January 1868, of the execution of her husband six months prior, she was shattered. In a set of nearly 400 letters found in 1995 (mainly intended for a French officer whom she had met in Mexico,
Charles Loysel), she declares herself "dead" at the fall of the Mexican Empire. These letters by their number and their length (sometimes up to twenty pages) also offer the testimony of her daily life punctuated by paranoia attacks and the treatment given to her. Charlotte's two adopted sons, the Princes of Iturbide, followed her to Belgium, but later both were sent to study in
England. Agustín de Iturbide y Green later emigrated to the United States, while Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán remained in Europe. In May 1869, Charlotte left the Palace of Laeken to return to the Pavilion of Tervuren, where 37 people were assigned to her service. She continued a passionate worship of her late husband's memory, collecting everything that had belonged to him. After the Pavilion of Tervuren was destroyed by a fire on 2 March 1879 (which Charlotte was paradoxically delighted by), she resided permanently at
Bouchout Castle in
Meise (not far from the Palace of Laeken), which her brother, King Leopold II, acquired for her. In the final years of his life, the King diligently supervised the care of his sister. The Dowager Empress of Mexico wrote notes of profound gratitude for the care she received from her brother and nephews.
Later years Charlotte disappeared completely from the public sphere, protected by the high gates of her domain and the guards which protected them. She received visits only from her family: mainly from her sisters-in-law, Queen Marie Henriette and the
Countess of Flanders. On Sundays, an abbot came to say mass at Bouchout Castle. To distract herself, she went on walks, embroidered, played cards, and listened to her newly-invented
gramophone. She was not informed of the deaths of her close relatives (King Leopold II in 1909 and her sister-in-law, the Countess of Flanders, wife of her brother Philippe, in 1912), nor those of her servants, because she never asked questions about their absence. Her lady-in-waiting, Hélène, Countess of Reinach-Foussemagne, said about Charlotte: "Most of the time, the unfortunate woman was absorbed in long silences, or on the contrary in heated discussions in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, with imaginary interlocutors, discussions too incoherent, too disjointed for one to be able to guess what thoughts occupied this brain. [...] In her soliloquies pass from time to time, very rarely, sentences, interjections which prove that sometimes her obscured thought returns on these lamentable memories:
Sir, one told you that one had had a husband; a husband, sir, and then madness! Madness is made of events! If he had been helped by Napoleon!...". For their part, Princess
Marie-José and Prince
Charles recalled their visits to their great-aunt, remembering an elderly lady making confused remarks. Periods of lucidity became rarer over time. In crises of destructive
mood swings, she gave in to outbursts of uncontrollable anger and destroyed crockery and crystal vases, set her hounds on a maid, and tore up pictures and books. This alternated with periods of calm when she peacefully undertook simple occupations. During
World War I, Belgium was invaded. Only a tiny part of the country remained free of German occupation, the town of
De Panne, where King
Albert I, Charlotte's nephew, lived until the signing of the
Armistice of 11 November 1918. Charlotte did not see her family during the war. Despite the conflict, her status as Archduchess of Austria protected her from the German occupier, and her way of life remained unchanged. She flew the
Austro-Hungarian flag on the roof of Bouchout Castle; and in March 1916, a German officer inquired as to why the Austrian colors flew on a property in occupied Belgium. In response, General
Moritz von Bissing, at the head of the
Imperial German General Government of Belgium, had a sign affixed to the gates of the castle, which read as follows: "This domain, property of the Crown of Belgium, is occupied by Her Majesty the Empress of Mexico, Archduchess Maximilian of Austria, sister-in-law of Emperor Franz Joseph, our illustrious ally. I order the German soldiers passing by here not to ring the bell and to leave the place untouched."
Death , on 22 January 1927. Charlotte died at Bouchout Castle on 19 January 1927, at the age of 86, after developing
pneumonia brought on by
influenza. Various versions exist regarding the last words spoken by Charlotte on her deathbed: • According to
Prince Michael of Greece, she sighed holding a
rosary and murmuring: • According to José Iturriaga De la Fuente: • According to S. van Eckhaus: • According to Caroline de Bransner, one of her ladies-in-waiting, in relation to having been reclined on her bed instead of her lounger as she wished: Three days later, on 22 January, and under heavy snow, her coffin was carried by six former
Belgian Legionaries who survived the Expedition to Mexico. She was buried in the
Royal Crypt of the
Church of Our Lady of Laeken, in the presence of King Albert I and his sons, the
Duke of Brabant and the
Count of Flanders. On 25 January, a funeral service was celebrated in the church of Meise in the presence of the entire Belgian Royal family: King Albert I, Queen
Elisabeth, their three children the Duke of Brabant, the Count of Flanders and Princess
Marie-José, the
Duchess of Brabant, the
Prince and
Princess Napoleon, as well as Princess
Clémentine. Since 1902, Charlotte had hosted the painter
Edwin Ganz in her domain of Bouchout, who was a specialist in the representation of horses and close to the royal family, in particular Princess Clémentine. After Charlotte's death, the artist continued to occupy the outbuildings of the castle until his death in 1948. In 1938, the Belgian State bought Bouchout Castle with the intention to establish the National Botanical Garden of Belgium, which had grown too cramped on its Brussels site, and the land was inaugurated 20 years later. This garden took the name of
Meise Botanic Garden in 2014; the interior of the castle was redeveloped from 1980 into meeting and conference rooms, to accommodate congresses, exhibitions and other festive events.
Mental illness The nature of Charlotte's mental pathology -
psychosis, paranoia, or monomania - proved extremely difficult to determine with certainty
a posteriori, giving rise to several hypotheses. Several authors have suggested the illness originated from ingestion of toxic chemicals. This hypothesis was notably put forward by
Joan Haslip, who noted that one of the Mexican court doctors added
bromide to Charlotte's coffee without her knowing. In Mexico, from July 1867, rumours spread that the madness of the Empress was attributed to a poison which had been given to her regularly in small doses.
Roger Heim's research corroborates this possibility, namely that Charlotte could have been "little by little intoxicated while she was still in Mexico, by the introduction in her food for a prolonged time of a psychotropic drug". When she made an official visit to
Yucatán, Charlotte wrote to her husband on 8 December 1865: "The doctor is very nice. Without her well-suited little medications, I would probably have fallen ill and could not have taken all of this. On several occasions it seemed to me that there was poison in the air." Other authors, such as Laurence Van Ypersele, Émile Meurice, Dominique Paoli, and Coralie Vankerkhoven, relying both on Charlotte's correspondence (in the year 1869 alone, from February to June, she wrote some 400 letters and notes) and on the reports written by the doctors who examined her, favoured the study of the psychological aspect of the pathology of Charlotte. They evoke biographical and personal influences to explain the Empress' dementia, namely: the loss of her mother at only 10 years old (which originated the radical transformation of her playful and expansive character towards introversion), her keen sense of duty, her high
religiosity, her latent
mysticism, her
euphoria during her engagement, her idealization of Maximilian, the absence of conjugal life, and the disenchantments and disillusions in Italy and then in Mexico. Coralie Vankerkhoven also mentions the
first warning signs of the disease: notably, the discomfort she felt in
Uxmal (where the first signs of her psychosis arose from the strangeness of the conditions during her stay in Yucatán), and her reaction to the successive announcements of the deaths of her father and grandmother, until her arrival in Europe where her
delusional disorder settled permanently.
Gustavo Vazquez-Lozano interprets the letters of 1869 within the matrix of apocalyptic language,
i.e. relating to the final fate of humanity and the consummation of things, where one or more otherworldly figures reveal a transcendental reality to the visionary. In this view, Charlotte utilized the language of the
Book of Revelation to reorder her inner world. ==Titles and honours==