The Madness of Charlotte: Princess of Belgium, Empress of Mexico

Princess Charlotte, daughter of Leopold I, married Maximilian of Austria when she was seventeen. Seven years later, she became Empress of Mexico at his side. She was prepared for a glorious reign. Things turned out differently. Maximilian was executed during the Mexican Revolution. Charlotte had appealed in vain to the Pope and the French Emperor for help. She fled back to Europe, consumed by fits of persecution mania. The Austrian imperial family kept her in strict isolation. Until the Belgian queen, her sister-in-law Marie-Henriette, had her brought to the castle of Tervuren... which burned down ten years later. King Leopold II bought a castle in Meise for his sister, where she sank into fits of depression and capriciousness. A crazy bird in a golden cage. Much about the actions of members of royal families is sublimated in condescension. From the pleasure yachts, palaces and ceremonial carriages, royal offspring seem invariably normal. But sometimes crowned heads are crazy. Which in the case of Charlotte, leaves a number of authors daydreaming about forgotten rendezvous, faded manuscripts and vanished castles.