Charlotte of Belgium

Life

Charlotte was the fourth and last child and only daughter of Leopold I of Belgium and Louise of Orléans. Her first name honored the late Princess Charlotte of Wales, her father's first wife. Born at the Palace of Laeken on 7 June 1840, she was initially a disappointment to her father because she was not a dynast in Belgium, but he gradually became charmed by her and she became his favorite child. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of Louis Philippe I and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, and through her father, a first-cousin of Queen Victoria.

She spent long holidays with her maternal grandparents in French royal residences and at Windsor Castle, and was close to her maternal grandmother, with whom she regularly corresponded. After the French Revolution of 1848 dethroned her grandparents and exiled them to England, she stayed with them in Claremont for a few weeks each year. Her mother died on 11 October 1850, when Charlotte was ten, and the boisterous girl became pensive and introverted.

Her late mother had overseen her education, and the king appointed Countess Denise d'Hulst as her governess. Leopold I had little presence with his children. Charlotte could express herself in French, English, and German. Her religious instruction was entrusted to Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, later Cardinal and Archbishop of Mechelen, and religion held a major place in her life.

Titles and honours

At birth, Charlotte was titled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony with the predicate of Royal Highness, and bore the unofficial title of Princess of Belgium, later regularized by Royal Decree on 14 March 1891. From 1864 to her death, she was styled Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of Mexico. She was Grand Mistress and Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of San Carlos for Noble Ladies, Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle, and Dame Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe. She was also a Dame of the Imperial Order of the Starry Cross, Dame Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion, Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Isabel from 19 April 1865, and the 525th Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa from 22 December 1857.

In popular culture

Bette Davis portrayed Empress Charlotte in the film Juarez (1939). Helena Rojo played the Empress in the film Those Years (1973). The historical opera Maximilien (1932) has a book by RS Hoffman inspired by Franz Werfel's drama and music by Darius Milhaud. The one-act opera Carlota (1948) is by Francisco Zendejas with music by Luis Sandi.

Charlotte's 'little homesick chapel' in Mexico City is referenced in Tennessee Williams's play The Night of the Iguana (1961). The opera La emperatriz de la mentira (2012) is by Ángel Norzagaray with music by Dmitri Dudin. María Rivas portrayed the Empress in the telenovela Maximiliano y Carlota (1965). The program Secrets d'Histoire on France 3 on 9 December 2019, titled Charlotte et Maximilien, les sombres héros de Mexico, was dedicated to her, with Charlotte Aftassi playing the Empress.

Belinda Peregrín is set to play Empress Charlotte in SPT's epic historical TV series Carlota. A biographical comic series Charlotte impératrice, by Matthieu Bonhomme and Fabien Nury, was published in four volumes from 2018 to 2025. In 1866, liberal writer Vicente Riva Palacio composed a satirical song Adiós, mamá Carlota, based on a poem by Ignacio Rodríguez Galván.