Yellow fever, bed bugs, poverty and dirt were just some of the situations with which Mexico received its European monarchs. However, political activities had been forged from the trip aboard the Novara. There The Provisional Statute of the Mexican Empire Where, to the surprise of the conservative group, the emperors ratified the reform laws and many of Juárez's liberal policies. The story did not paint well from that moment.
Its policies, although liberals, completely broke with Mexican democracy that Benito Juárez and who, from the formal establishment of the Empire, would lead an itinerant government for several states of the Republic such as Chihuahua, Veracruz or Guanajuato as president in 1861. Both factions would face each other in a civil war that was weakening the empire That, almost since his arrival, he had lost the support of France for the liberal and democratizing proposals – including conciliation with the Juarez government – that they proposed as part of their political agenda.
Carlota had been educated to govern under the liberal principles prevailing in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth centuryDisderi, ca. 1863, Felipe Teixidor Collection, National Photo Library, INAH
Maximiliano would become the first habsburg to reach the American continent to govern MexicoFelipe Teixidor Collection, National Photo Library, INAH
Carlota Amelia, the first woman to govern Mexico
Carlota's role within this form of government gained a relevant role. According to him Statutebeing outside the capital the emperor, The Empress would take the role of regent of the Empire. That is, during the long tours of Maximiliano for the states of the country – and his constant escapes to Cuernavaca – Carlota was at the forefront of the government and under these periods was that beneficial programs were established, of the creation of institutions for cultural and artistic development and preservation of archaeological sites that still prevail today. According to some historians, Carlota's importance in political matters is perhaps more prominent and important than that of Maximiliano himself.
There are many rumors: that if the emperor always had a venereal disease product of his trip through Brazil that prevented him from pregnant – or even – having sexual contact with Carlota; that if Maximiliano himself had a lover who was constantly visited in Cuernavaca or if the Empress when leaving the country carried in her belly the fruit of a relationship outside the marriage with any of her servants. Nothing is verifiable more than the facts: The emperors appointed as successors of the crown the descendants of that first failed empire, that of Agustín de Iturbide. Then, to the death of the emperors (if it had happened like this), who would take their place would have been Agustín de Iturbide and Green (grandson of the former emperor) and his cousin, Salvador de Iturbide and Marzán. Both lived in Mexico during the second empire and were treated with the title of «Princes», together with the paternal aunt of both – the daughter of Agustín de Iturbide – Josefa de Iturbide and Huarte.
The end of the empire arrived in 1864 When France decided to completely withdraw support to Maximiliano and his army was almost reduced to nothing. Faced with this situation, Carlota decided to undertake a trip back to Europe in search of alliances that they could send weapons and military to Mexico, to be able to fight for their government. What happened on this trip to Europe and what could Carlota achieve with his visits? Really very little.