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The Empress of Farewells: The Story of Charlotte, Empress of Mexico

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Chronicles the dramatic and tragic life of Charlotte, the daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium, who fell in love with and married Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who became Emperor of Mexico, detailing her relationship with Maximilian, her breakdown and confinement at Miramar, and other aspects of her life.

336 pages, Hardcover

First published November 9, 1998

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About the author

Prince Michael of Greece

27 books26 followers
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, Michel de Grèce (modern Greek spelling: Μιχαήλ της Ελλάδας) is a member of the Greek royal family and descendant of the Romanovs. He is the author of several historical novels and biographies, as well as a contributing writer to Architectural Digest.

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5 stars
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43 (31%)
3 stars
45 (33%)
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13 (9%)
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
Profile Image for Jill H..
1,637 reviews100 followers
September 24, 2023
This is one of the few books that I am not going to do a written review as I can't make up my mind about it. It has it's problems but is somewhat interesting. I am going to leave it at that.



Profile Image for Pedro Fernández.
Author 17 books817 followers
August 23, 2023
Una biografía profunda de una de las gobernantes más polémicas que ha tenido México. Muy interesante. (Ese Max era un loquito) ⁣
Profile Image for Ghost of the Library.
364 reviews69 followers
December 20, 2019
How come no one has made a movie based on Maximilian and Charlotte yet? .... Or maybe they have and I just don't know...
Anyways, you know those stories and movies that you see a mile away will end badly but just can't stop yourself from reading/watching? .... here's a classic example!
I have long known about these two historical figures, but I had never sat down and read one book about them....just a chapter here, a documentary there.
Prince Michael, by virtue of tittle (and talent) has been lucky to be granted access to sources that would perhaps not talk as freely to other writers within this genre, and succeeds in putting together a book that reads like a mix of Romeo & Juliet meet King Lear and everyone dies in the end.
You know this won't end well, you can see it a mile away but you can't really bring yourself to stop before finishing this chapter..and the next....and the next.
The basics of this story are known to History geeks and nerds - the dashing Maximilian, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph (yup Sissi's husband) and the ravishing Princess Charlotte of Belgium meet, fall in love and marry, only to end up half way across the world in a last mad attempt of Old Europe to dominate the New World.
What comes before it, and what follows it is a mad and very sad journey that had so much potential but ends in such misery and sadness....like I said, movie please!
Anyways, this may not be a literary masterpiece but it certainly succeeds in engaging and transporting the reader to another world and gives a very solid (even if slightly soap operaish look into Maximilian and Charlotte's life).

Happy Readings!
Profile Image for Megan.
63 reviews52 followers
April 13, 2012
I was in love with this book. Once I started I couldn't stop reading. It told the true story of Charlotte, and how sad that was! It was beautifully written and every page flowed onto the next.
Profile Image for Deyanira C..
307 reviews4 followers
November 5, 2023
I learned a lot from the once empress of Mexico but 😭😭😭😭😭 I cried a lot and stayed up late with this book like never before.

Charlotte was born a Belgian princess, daughter of King Leopold I, therefore first cousin to Queen Victoria, by her mother, granddaughter of the Orleans branch of France and the last French king, so it is not a surprise that she grew up dignified, proud, and sure of her status, but she was also beautiful and smart, and if all that were not enough, she was the only daughter and favorite of her father, who always defended her, saw her as perfection and the princess of the world, so anyone would have thought that her future would be great but NO!

Prince Michael's impeccable research makes it clear that Charlotte's childhood was peculiar. She was orphaned by her mother when she was little, but she was cared by the French royal family, and cared by her father. She was the center of attention not only of her father, but also of her brothers and her maternal grandmother, Carlota's life passes between luxury and pampering but also culture and an education that made her an intelligent and conscious woman of her time. She grows up, marries an archduke, is an efficient and obedient consort but then her path goes through a dark place, her husband accepts the crown of Mexico and she becomes the consort of a country mired in civil war, poverty, injustice and no monarchical concept. At first that seems exciting, but in the long run becomes disastrous, her husband ends up executed, and she begs in Europe for help for her dream empire, but that doesn't work and she ends up confined to a palace, plagued by madness.

Her life was unique but very sad to read which is ironic because unlike most women of her time Carlota had options, she could choose who to marry, she could choose to accept a throne or not, she could choose to abdicate and save herself, she could leave her husband and separate if she had wanted to, but she did not choose any of that, she followed the marked path which, however it did not save her from 60 years of madness 😭😭😭.

The book carefully analyzes and explores the two most complex aspects of her life, her madness and her marriage.

Their marriage: at the time, their family and friends described it as a marriage for love, because their relatives did not marry them, it was not an arrangement between countries or a political agreement, they met and chose each other, Carlota had many proposals including from the king of Portugal who was only 3 years older and seemed in love with her, but she was enchanted with Maximilian 8 years older than her , which no one understood, he was not handsome, he was sickly, he was not heir to any throne, he was not charming, and he showed no interest in her, Leopold did not understand that saw his daughter in him, being she rich, beautiful and intelligent, but she was his princess and she would have whatever she wanted, so as a good father he invited Maximilian to be interested in Carlota. At that moment Maximilian was still crying the death of his fiancee, a Portuguese princess whom he never forgot even after 3 years, but he needed money and decided to obtain a huge dowry from Carlota, Leopoldo was not happy but agreed to pay everything in order to see his princess happy, eventually Maximilian is delighted with Carlota, they marry, they rule in Italy, they take refuge in Miramar where, however, they practically lead separate lives, a time in which he had nothing to do do but he was going on trips and leaving her alone, Carlota's family is perplexed and they question her to know if everything is okay, which she responds firmly making it clear that she is happy, maybe she was lying for her family we don't know, then they leave to Mexico and they end up as we already know, but their relationship was always a mystery, no one understood how it worked, it is clear that they did not share a bed, apparently they never consummated the marriage, why? Nobody knows, maybe he had syphilis, maybe he was almost certainly impotent, maybe he was homosexual (although that doesn't explain the lack of consummation).

He distanced himself from her whenever he could, going on trips even he could have taken her, and when they were in the same city he sent her to another residence, according to some employees he even had women sleeping with him at that time, which was common at the time and would explain the apparent coldness between them, but the employees contradict each other, others assure that he never cheated on her, others assure that from Italy he had lovers which led her to not want to share her bed with him but we are talking about an empire, they needed children, I doubt that she would have let something like her pride get in the way, in general the testimonies are confusing and contradictory, many describe her as jealous and obsessive, but her ladies assured that in reality she was courted by officers to whom she never paid attention, because In fact, Carlota did not have the capacity to love, they assured that she did not even love Maximilian, ok maybe they were only together for politics, but Maximilian's private letters reveal a man in love and passionate about Carlota, whom he calls his angel, his star, his life, his happiness and his beloved, to the point of getting sick when she left him, and depressed without her and that's not something he wrote to make himself look good, it's something that everyone noticed and that caused his employees to conclude that he couldn't live without her, then there's the fact that his last words as he fell to the floor dying were "poor Charlotte", Prince Michael concludes that Maximilian was a selfish and vain man, an idealist who loved more what he could not have, which is why his love resurfaced and grew when she was not there, but definitely a man in love, explaining that the test of love clearer than he gave, was not to abdicate when he wanted to, he was tired of the problems and devastated of having her away, so he dissolved his armies to go after her to Europe but she asks him not to abdicate, she tells him that if he does abdicate, It would break her heart and then he stays, knowing that he would lose.

Now her feelings are more complicated because she was less expressive, she idealize him when she was young, then we don't know if she just got disappointed or frustrated, or was as she always said deeply in love, but what is clear is that she always look after him and take care of him, miss him in her madness and never forget him... But did she truly love him ? No one will ever know, in general I think we will never understand her marriage, not even her family or his family understood it.

The issue of her madness is just as complex, many assumptions, no definitive conclusion, if she was poisoned in Mexico who would do it, the conservatives? She was after all the power behind the throne, a woman who defended the poor while ignoring the rich so it makes sense that the powerful would see her as an enemy, but Prince Michael believes that it is more possible than a woman in love with Maximilian crazy with Jealousy would like to remove Carlota from the picture, or maybe it was Maximiliano? Wanting to administer aphrodisiacs to make her more desirable, did he overdose her? It seems unlikely to me but we don't know, or if she was as she always claimed poisoned in France? , or if her madness was the result of family losses and the catastrophic fall of her dream empire?, again we do not know, the testimonies and even the letters are contradictory, all that is known is that he suffered from paranoia and madness. Where did it come from? ? we will never know. But the fact is that it happened and her life tragically ended in confinement, in which she was mistreated in the begging even beaten, her favorite brother left her and said the best was to keep her locked, her enormous inheritance resulting from the love of her father and her grandmother ended up lost, almost certainly spent on her brother's lovers, ironically in her madness it is her sister-in-law who treats her not only as a human but as royalty Henrietta whom Carlota had treated badly when she arrived in Belgium, another irony is that her arch-enemy Sisi whom Carlota shamelessly called crazy, also appears kind by answering her letters with affection and patience.

As I said, her life was tragic and ironic, and heartbreaking to read, one wonders if her biggest mistake was marrying Maximilian, if she would have been happier and loved with any other man, even alone, but she made her choice and defended it until the end.

This book is more than a biography, it is a summary of many biographies, a compilation of pieces of letters, chronicles and analyzes that Prince Michael makes, it is not very brief, it is direct and organized, although I did not agree with some of its conclusions, in general other moments he leaves us alone with the information, which I didn't like, but it is a good book and favorable to her in many aspects since Michael considers that most of the bad rumors about her, including that of her supposed son, and exaggerated episodes of her madness, were said by the servants who hated her and who seemed to blame her for Maximilian's death, likewise he describes a smart, efficient woman, a better governor than her husband although he was very good, but deep down an obedient woman, a loyal wife , who never criticized him and always defended him.
13 reviews
September 8, 2012
having visited so many places in Mexico where Charlotte and Maximillion lived and visited, I was always fascinated by this beautiful empress and wanted to know more about her. This book revealed so much of her life and thoughts. Prince Michael had access to her personal diaries and correspondence and journals of her contemporaries. By all accounts she was a brilliant politician, beautiful woman and devoted wife who lived an absolutely unreal life that was more the stuff of fiction than the truth. I loaned my book to a friend but told her I wanted it back, I never wish to part with it.
Profile Image for Marina.
213 reviews12 followers
February 12, 2020
Exceptional book. A detailed description of an Era (the Era of kings and emperors) coming to an end in Europe.
The writer tells a story with an almost journalistic way, dates names and characters all at once in a pace that's very difficult to follow.
In this book we learn the story of the Emperor and Empress of Mexico, their very short story as sovereigns.
A truly interesting story!
101 reviews
April 7, 2020
I really enjoyed this historical biography! I did not know (I am embarrassed to say) about this era of Mexican history and was intrigued by tidbits learned from a tour guide in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. This book reads like a novel in its recounting of the audacious exploits and heartbreaking tragedies of Empress Charlotte and Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. Thanks to Prince Michael's access to the royal family's archived documents, the reader is treated to intimate insights into Charlotte's thoughts, aspirations and distresses.

Although the book occasionally dragged for me, I withheld 5 stars primarily for selfish reasons. Spoiled by abundant movies and novels, I wanted all of the gaps of this incredible story to be filled-in; however, history doesn't usually give us that. I believe that Prince Michael wrote a fair and accurate account, framed by Charlotte's letters and other documents. I want to see someone do a film adaptation with liberal poetic license!
Profile Image for Alenka of Bohemia.
1,280 reviews30 followers
February 20, 2018
This is really well written and reads easily, and I consider it a very accessible introduction to the tragic story of Empress Charlotte. However i cannot give the book more than 3 stars from a simple reason: Prince Michael of Greece is unreliable as a historian. In his other books I have encountered numerous (some important, some less) inncauracies, mixed-up names etc. Unfamiliar with Charlotte, I cannot judge if the inaccuracies are significant in this book, but they are most certainly there (for example the one I did notice was identifying Sophie, sister of Empress Sisi, as the Queen of Naples, when it fact it was Maria).
Another big problem which bothered me was the lack of footnotes or even proper bibliography at the end. Some things stated in the books and many quotations seem made up and should be referenced if they are not.
Profile Image for Shannon.
7 reviews
October 31, 2017
This reads like a bad translation. At times really interesting but the writing was frustrating. There are repetitive phases and idioms that don't completely fit. I ended up returning it without finishing the book.
Profile Image for Ratratrat.
614 reviews8 followers
November 1, 2017
Un po' romanzato ( l'autore scrive pure romanzai) ma sostenuto da ricerche poco note su manoscritti e lettere di famiglie reali , di cui l'autore è membro.
rimangono i misteri:
come mai una coppia giovane e apparentemente innamorata non ebbe figli? pensando poi di fondare una dinastia? le possibili risposte sono tante, a partire dal matrimonio mai consumato, che spiegherebbe il ripiegamento sulla politica di Carlotta.
Quando visito il castelletto, penso sempre ai maltrattamenti che la povera Carlotta sembra abbia subito nella sua detenzione.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for longtimewish.
293 reviews2 followers
January 2, 2023
3.5

La puntuación sería más alta si no fuera porque el autor no cita ABSOLUTAMENTE NADA y es imposible saber si lo que escribe tiene alguna fuente o es solo su imaginación
Profile Image for Juan.
80 reviews
August 13, 2014
Escrita por Miguel de Grecia (Michel de Grèce) “La emperatriz del adiós” es una biografía de Carlota, emperatriz de México. Una mujer muy inteligente y con un futuro prometedor. Hija del primer rey de los belgas y nieta por vía materna de los últimos monarcas franceses acaba por elegir como marido a Maximiliano, archiduque y hermano del emperador de Austria. Es interesante observar cómo acaba siendo nombrada emperatriz de México y todos los avatares que ello conlleva. Además el autor a través de esta mujer única narra todos los acontecimientos que marcaron su época, abarcando parte de los siglos XIX y XX: la independencia de varios países, la Guerra de Secesión, el declive de varios imperios europeos, la Primera Guerra Mundial, etc. y por supuesto el México al que ella llegó con su esposo Maximiliano como emperadores de un turbulento país que les deparaba un final trágico. A partir de aquí se abren interrogantes que el escritor intenta esclarecer como la causa de la repentina locura de Carlota, su posible envenenamiento, el más de medio siglo que pasa aislada por su demencia y el paradero de su enorme fortuna.
Miguel de Grecia a través de la correspondencia de Carlota y muy bien documentado construye un fidedigno retrato de la prodigiosa –y triste- vida de esta princesa belga. Como siempre, es un gusto leer a Miguel de Grecia, recomendable para todos aquellos a los que les guste leer biografías.
Profile Image for Kem.
37 reviews
September 2, 2008
Sad and dramatic story. The trouble is, although the story is fact, the people involved come off as trivial as most of Fitzgerald's fictional characters.
Profile Image for Kazia Trujillo.
205 reviews7 followers
May 7, 2009
In honor of Cinco De Mayo....THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE BOOK!
Charlotte is married to Maximillian the last Emperor of Mexico.
Her story in unforgettable!
A must read for any history buff.
Profile Image for Pablo.
58 reviews
September 21, 2011
Excelente bio de Carlota de Bélgica y Maximiliano de Habsburgo
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

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