“Beloved treasure”: the letters of Empress Charlotte and Maximilian of Habsburg

Charlotte of Mexico and the Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg spent a long time apart, so the only way to communicate was through letters that were sent. The historian Konrad Katz mentioned that there are more than 300 letters that kept the couple together. The truth is that both were written affectionately, he called him “beloved angel”, while she opened the letters with a “dearly beloved treasure”.

Katz clarified that in his research on Maximilian, the role played by these letters is very important and personal: “These letters were written in absences, on trips, and are testimony to the relationship that was not disavenuous, because otherwise they would not have written so many letters. They were written almost daily. In Mexico he was absent for about 200 days.”

“It is above all a personal correspondence. They are very common, from one to the other, although the contents are different. Maximiliano tells what happens on trips, what he does, the agenda he has, how he is enthusiastically received or what happened in each case. She is in Mexico presiding over the councils of ministers, she is very energetic and what lack of experience makes up for with waste of energy. She is in the palace and makes political suggestions,” he said.

On page 43 of Katz's book Unpublished correspondence between Maximilian and Charlotte, it is mentioned that in all the letters there is a tone of great trust and conjugal affection of the time, in the letter Maximilian wrote on February 1, 1860 it reads: “I have been traveling in Brazil for 20 days and if it weren't for nostalgia for you, my life and my one true consolation, I would be completely unhappy.”

The Empress, for her part, worried about her husband's health, in a letter it reads: “I have spent a few bitter days because of my anguish about your health, for me not so expensive, you are not like other men. Therefore, I fear that whenever you get sick differently and more than what is said. I don't even know if you have a body anymore, because the story of your trip fills me with so much admiration that I have you for an angel. Adieu adored treasure, I embrace you and I can hardly wait to see you again, if you really are human and not angel and because I am only happy when I live by your side,” Carlota wrote on September 4, 1864.

The historian also stated that there was a belief that if love existed in marriage, it was on Charlotte's side; however the letters testify to the contrary. The sentimental components such as love, emotional dependence and deep pain for separations, belonged to Maximilian's sensitive side. While Carlota admired her husband and supported him psychologically.

On December 22, 1865, Carlota opened a letter with “My perfect treasure, dearly beloved: I can finally write to you again and thank you for the many loving letters that I found stacked here. I was deeply delighted by your praise and satisfaction, I was almost ashamed of pure pride.” And it closes with: “Embracing you affectionately and with true love, I remain your Carlota forever”.

It is known that Charlotte's last days were in madness and oblivion, even after Maximilian was shot she kept writing letters to him. Between February and June 1869, he wrote hundreds of letters, including 20 to Napoleon III and 245 to French officer Charles Joseph Marie Loysel, but his court never sent them.

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