Carlota of Mexico - The Mad Empress

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Carlota of Mexico - The Mad Empress - History Documentary

Рет қаралды 22,176

Күн бұрын

Empress Carlota was a Belgian princess who ended up ruling a country that had only recently shaken off the Spanish imperial yoke. Her reign was brief, and her husband was executed while she was in Europe trying to get military support to bolster their doomed adventure.
She never recovered and descended into a lifetime of despair and paranoia, spending the remaining 60 years of her life locked away in a castle, far removed from the dangerous world of international power politics.
Was she always destined to a life of madness by the inbreeding of European Royals, or was she plunged into depression by the death of her beloved husband or… was her illness caused by something more sinister…. strange Mexican poisons?
In this video I explore the life and torments of Empress Carlota of Mexico in an effort to understand her mental illness more fully.
Copyright Disclaimer
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.
References
Bénit, A. (2017). Charlotte de Belgique, impératrice du Mexique. Une plongée dans les ténèbres de la folie. Essai de reconstitution fictionnelle. Çédille, Revista de Estudios Franceses, 13-54.
Cheney R.H. (1926) The Ancient and Modern use of Plant Arrow Poisons. The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 23, pp. 552-555.
McAllen, M. M. (2014). Maximilian and Carlota. Europe's Last Empire in Mexico. Trinity University Press.
Macnayr L. (2008) Situating Charlotte: Reading Politics in Portraits of Belgian Princess Charlotte, Vicereine of Lombardy-Venetia, Empress of Mexico. PhD Thesis.
Moore, J. E. and Hopkins, H. H. (1930). Asymptomatic neurosyphilis: The prognosis of early and late asymptomatic neurosyphilis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 95(22), 1637-1641.
Images
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Wellcome Foundation
British Library
Other images and video samples Fair Use
Music via Wikimedia Commons
Frederic Chopin: Prelude in E minor. Ivan Ilić. CC3.0
Frederic Chopin - Nocturne in F sharp major, Op. 15, no. 2, Vadim Chaimovich. CC1.0
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem - Introït et Kyrie: Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Dir. Louis Frémaux and Chorale Philippe Caillard: Publid domain.
Gabriel Fauré: Fantasie: Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 15 In C Major K465, I. Adagio-Allegro. Quatuor Mosaïques CC0.
Jaume Nunó: Himno Nacional Mexicano: Police Band of Mexico (1928) Public domain.
Johann Strauss II: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka: Akkordeonorchesters Hof, Dir. Torsten Petzold. CC2.0.
Trad: Vals Chiapa de Corzo (Rec 1890): Courtesy of Museo de la Marimba Chiapas. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Trad: El Calala (El Tigre y el Venado) Courtesy of Museo de la Marimba Chiapas. CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
Sound Effects
Adharca: Shamanic Drum CC0 via Freesound
Volchonokilli: Utulation CC0 via Freesound
Written by Faye Denham and Graeme Yorston
Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Gabriel Isles

Пікірлер: 124

@ctsbathory8867 11 ай бұрын

The music is too distracting and ruins those parts of the video as it chokes out the narratiion which is sad because i found the subject very interesting and the narrator is great.

@fizzao1342 Жыл бұрын

I’ve always been interested in Charlotte of Belgium. Thank you for making this video. She had such a sad life. I never even considered syphilis as a possible cause of her madness. It also has schizophrenic features too. Rest in peace, Charlotte.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks Fizza, Syphilis as a cause of mental illness is a bit forgotten about now, but at the start of my career we still used to do routinely test for it in new cases.

@Duquedecastro 5 ай бұрын

She’s better known as Empress Carlota of Mexico

@PMaillet Жыл бұрын

Please be careful about the background noise (music). There were parts that were drowned out. But ...these videos are very interesting and well done.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thank you, I'm working on it.

@u-neekusername4430 Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston As someone who has tinnitus, I was unable to decipher the majority of the words spoken with the music. I got the gist of what happened (with single words combined w/pictures shown) but missed much detail.

@macymakesmagic 7 ай бұрын

I am hearing impaired. Background music hurts but the subtitles make up for it. Lower background music improves comprehension.

@jaredmn8580 Жыл бұрын

Underrated channel

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

I agree!

@farpointgamingdirect 11 ай бұрын

The movie "Juarez" was very well done. It's one of my favorite Paul Muni films. It's accuracy is surprisingly good

@user-nv8nt6gm2d 11 ай бұрын

It is a great movie. One of a few I will never delete from my Dvr queue.

@themajesticmagnificent386 4 ай бұрын

That certainly sounds a good movie to check out..

@sabineb.5616 8 ай бұрын

Thanks for looking into Charlotte of Belgium's perplexing case! As a psychologist I became interested in her sad fate after visiting Miramare, the beautiful retreat of the Austrian royal family near Triest. It's hard to find out reliable details about Charlotte and her mental decline, and many historians are satisfied with the explanation that the tragic fate of her husband and the unwillingness to help of the European political powers drove her over the edge and destroyed her sanity. I could never accept this explanation. While these tragic events might've temporarily clouded her mind, it doesn't explain why she remained mad for the rest of her very long life! It's of course possible that she was already mentally ill before she and her husband moved to Mexico. Personally I believe that contracting syphilis from her infected husband is the most likely explanation.

@professorgraemeyorston 8 ай бұрын

You can understand why the family never released much information on her illness, syphilis or schizophrenia - neither a great diagnosis for a royal.

@sabineb.5616 8 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston , yes, you are right! I read recently the memoirs of Stephanie of Belgium. She was the wife of the last Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf, who famously killed himself and his teenage mistress in Meyerling. He was was the only son of Emperor Franz Josef and the famous Empress Elisabeth, called Sisi. Stephanie knew Charlotte of Belgium since Stephanie was a child who occasionally visited Charlotte with her mother. She was very impressed by Charlotte's looks and her strong personality. She was apparently not mad all the time. She had lucid moments. Stephanie might've been also infected with syphilis or another veneric disease after she had her only daughter. She never had another child, although she eventually married again. It would explain why Rudolf's mind deteriorated in the last few years of his rather short life. It didn't help that he was treated with cocaine and morphium. Who knows what Charlotte was treated with???

@zin153 Жыл бұрын

The background music almost drowned out the narration

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Apologies, thanks for sticking with it.

@cosmosrunner2468 Жыл бұрын

The background music is a bit jarring at times. Just positive criticism.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the feedback.

@Darrigrande 10 ай бұрын

Carlota of Mexico was also related to the spanisch and napolitalian royal houses. Her maternal great mother was a princess of Napoles and daughter of Charles III of Spain.

@Duquedecastro 2 ай бұрын

Not to mention first cousin to the Queen of Great Britain, etc!

@adagietto2523 Жыл бұрын

I blame Napoleon III ! Whatever the other factors involved, it does seem to have been his betrayal and the way in which it was delivered that actually touched off her lasting mental disturbance.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

His withdrawal from Mexico undoubtedly contributed to her breakdown, but I think she would have have had mental health problems even if she had never left Europe.

@adagietto2523 Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston I was probably being unduly facetious, but I do wonder whether it might be the case that things would things might not have turned so desperately and permanently for the worse if it had not been for those external circumstances; in other words, that she might have had problems, but not have gone completely mad in the way that she did. It was as if she fell in a short space of time into a hole that she could never escape from.

@LuzMaria95 Жыл бұрын

Yes, his refusal did trigger her mental breakdown, unfortunately.

@mdc3148 7 ай бұрын

To be frank, Napoleon III may have had had to retreat but I don’t blame him for the loss and demise of the Mexican Empire. The Americans are the real culprits, constantly meddling and “losing” ammunition and guns on the border. Why would they stand to have a Mexican Empire aligned to Europe on their doorstep? The empire was already at a stage where even liberals were joining it. The US killed Maximiliano in many opinions.

@Eazy-ERyder 9 ай бұрын

Poor Maximillian really drew the short straw in this fiasco. Napoleon III was an absolutely inept monster.

@professorgraemeyorston 9 ай бұрын

I don't think anyone involved came out with any honour.

@mdc3148 7 ай бұрын

It wasn’t Napoleon III, that’s an American invention. It was the US who made sure the Mexican Empire didn’t succeed. Napoleon himself lost his throne.

@oriraykai3610 3 ай бұрын

@@mdc3148- There was no throne". He was the "people's emperor" UE the first commie "Emperor".

@Mamaosa63 11 ай бұрын

Dear sir, aren’t you aware that your noisy music behind your voice is very disturbing and annoying. I like your stories but please peacefully.

@ericktellez7632 11 ай бұрын

Its free content.

@timesawasting7532 11 ай бұрын

Ikr I’ve wanted video on this topic from someone and was excited to see it but I gave up due to the music-will watch it on captions later.

@facelquetglas8929 5 ай бұрын

The music didn’t bother me at all😂!

@rebeccawoolfolk5377 12 күн бұрын

I didn't even notice there *was* music.

@heliotrope6217 Жыл бұрын

Fascinating, thanks.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it.

@wardarcade7452 Ай бұрын

Her niece Princess Stephanie of Belgium wound up becoming the Imperial Crown Princess of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Long-short is that her niece's husband, the Crown Prince Rudolf (yes, Franz-Josef and Sisi's son and Maxillian's blood nephew) had died in an evident murder-suicide pact with a 17-year-old mistress in 1889. Anyway, not too long after that horrific tragedy, Stephanie visited her aunt and Carlota proclaimed (to Stephanie's horror),' They killed him, TOO!' It's also interesting that when the First World War erupted with Belgium getting brutally invaded and occupied by the German Empire, the castle she was living in was left completely untouched and for the entire occupation, she and her caretakers were provided ample foods and allowed to live in pre-War luxury- ALL due to her Carlota being the widowed sister-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II's reluctant ally Franz-Josef. While she lived in her own world with the world surrounding her undergoing drastic changes, she wasn't as untouched by the passage of time as one might think. One time one of her ladies-in-waiting was late to a picnic which prompted Carlota to sniff.' She can come here in an AEROPLANE!' Also, it should be noted that in none of Carlota's many destructive tantrums did she EVER destroy any item that had been Maximilian's. So she somehow knew when to stop. Lastly, since she had to cross her castle to the surrounding meadow via a moat, virtually to the end of her life, Carlota would gleefully proclaim, 'Today we're sailing to MEXICO!' BTW, her last husband Maximillian had started a votive church in Vienna to show gratitude for his elder brother Franz-Josef having survived an assassination attempt but it was incomplete by the time of his own execution. Thus, ironically, Franz-Josef would have it completed as a memorial to Maxmilian- including a chapel with highlighting Maxmilian having been Emperor of Mexico.

@MrEd9574 Жыл бұрын

the music drowns your soft voice out, otherwise it was delightful!

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thank you, the music editing has improved in more recent videos..

@tracyjohnson2992 Жыл бұрын

Another very interesting story Professor At least she found her peace bless her.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thanks Tracy,.

@BlueInk912 Жыл бұрын

Thank you.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it.

@lcassady 11 ай бұрын

Very difficult to understand some passages because of loud music.

@professorgraemeyorston 11 ай бұрын

Sorry, the sound balance wasn't right on that one.

@sedoff1948 5 ай бұрын

Nice music, My Yorston. 😀

@professorgraemeyorston 5 ай бұрын

Glad you like it!

@traceyolsen308 Жыл бұрын

Would it be possible to do an autopsy now on her corpse and work out what sort of illness or possible toxins she'd ingested , to work out what was affecting her ? or has the body deteriorated too much to be able to give much information? Again, another very interesting program, thank you.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Interesting question. I think some poisons can be detected after many years and bones can show signs of syphilis in some cases - but I'm sure nobody would ever agree to it.

@sabineb.5616 8 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston, I never heard the syphilis hypothesis, but I think that it is a very viable explanation! There are more known syphilis cases in the Austrian royal family. Crown Prince Rudolf, the son of Emperor Franz Josef l and the famous Empress Elisabeth, had syphilis, too, and he eventually killed his mistress and then committed suicide.

@marlsberlin7716 11 ай бұрын

I was very interested in the subject, but it's almost impossible to hear your narration over the music. Please if you have a technician to help you, tell them the music is too loud and your voice too low. I managed to stay till the end but it was a difficult and arduous effort instead of the pleasure it could be.

@KazgarothUsher 11 ай бұрын

I never knew about her. I loved the post. Subbed :)

@SophiaMusik 5 ай бұрын

I like how you used Mozart's "dissonance" string quartet. I am a new subscriber Professor Yorston. I will refer your fascinating channel to my friends. Cheers. Thomas

@professorgraemeyorston 5 ай бұрын

Thank you - it is one of my favourite pieces for conveying the turmoil of mental illness. I would like to also use more modern dissonant pieces, but there are often copyright problems!

@SophiaMusik 5 ай бұрын

@professorgraemeyorston You have definitely become one of my favorites! My father was a psychiatrist and loved history music and literature . The insights you provide are fascinating, Professor! I plan to tell my friends about your channel. I am a composer and amateur historian. My circle of friends love the subjects you cover. You are quite the outlier in your brilliant conclusions. Bravo!!

@hornybodhisattva Жыл бұрын

U forgot to mention Carlotta’s family background she was the dearest first cousin of Queen Victoria of England and the grand niece of Marie Antoinette 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽She also named Charlotte after her father’s first wife Charlotte Princess of Wales please update

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

All the royal families of Europe were related - I couldn't put in every connection or the video would have been two hours long!

@hornybodhisattva Жыл бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston yes But Mexico is unique because it’s the first and only nation to have a genuine European monarchy outside of Europe…. And not only that Prince Renenier of Monaco is also of Mexican descent.

@bonniea8189 11 ай бұрын

@@hornybodhisattva What about Pedro I of Brasil?

@mdc3148 7 ай бұрын

@@bonniea8189In a way, you’re correct, but these were elected Mexican monarchs. The Brazilian royal family was just the Portuguese royal family living in Brazil.

@jilltagmorris 19 күн бұрын

LOVE YOUR CONTENT AND STYLE❤❤❤❤❤❤

@etsugradlib 11 ай бұрын

This was interesting. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear any of the Mexican poison part when you brought in the spooky side effect. Even the background music is a little tough and competing with you talking.

@BrianJosephMorgan Жыл бұрын

Requiescat in pace.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Let's hope she is at peace.

@chicagogyrl4846 Жыл бұрын

Went to seek out botanical specimens...that’s a good one. 🤣😂

@Mougino7 2 ай бұрын

Hey, if you look at the painting (@10:41) carfeully, you would see some soliders wearing head cover "red fezz" tarboush. I would say that this depicts the Egyptian battalion in Mexico. " The French Emperor Napoleon III requested from Said Pasha, the wali of Egypt, to supply him with a brigade of Sudanese soldiers (Egypt and Sudan were at the time one country ruled by one ruler). Said Pasha dispatched a battalion of 453 soldiers and officers who were engaged in the Franco-Mexican War from 1863 until 1867."

@professorgraemeyorston 2 ай бұрын

It was thought that the Egyptian soldiers would cope better with the heat in Mexico!

@Mougino7 2 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston We have never been taught about this in school in Egypt I mean, I discovered it by pure chance. While school overlooked this, Egyptian novelists did not. If the 453 were (partly) brought because of the hot weather, we have two probabilities: -They did not withstand it so; their number was not increased by sending more troops. Or They did withstand it, but their numbers did not increase as well. (Of course, this ignores many other factors.) I think it all had to do with the relationship between Egypt and France. Perhaps, this represents an opportunity for some research and a new video!

@user-nv8nt6gm2d 11 ай бұрын

Omg! Syphillis!😱

@chrish2277 Жыл бұрын

Could Ayahuasca have been a part of it? While it seems to bring relief to many people it seems to have an enduring effect on those with an underlying mental illness.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Ayahuasca is a really interesting substance and as with other psychodelics there is a lot of research exploring it therapeutically in mental health. As far as I know it is from the Amazon and I don't know if it had reached Mexico in Carlota's era, and as with the other poisons, it is unlikely to have caused a lifetime of psychosis.

@CSchaeken Жыл бұрын

Thank you Dr. Yorston, again, a very interesting video. I am catching up with your older documentaries.

@oriraykai3610 3 ай бұрын

She never developed any of the deformities that syphilis was infamous for, so that doesn't seem likely.

@Dani68ABminus 10 ай бұрын

This is very interesting and well done. I much appreciate it. However, I only made it a little past the eight minute mark before I had to abandon ship. The background music is so loud that I have to unnecessarily concentrate on simply understanding your voice rather than letting the information enter. In short, it is stress inducing.

@allieeverett9017 11 ай бұрын

Whatever the reason for her illness, I'm glad she was cared for in subsequent years. If she were alive in America today she would be living on a street in Nowhere USA and probably have perished in a snowstorm 😑

@user-nv8nt6gm2d 11 ай бұрын

Yep. Thanks Reagan! 😠 He started the de-populating of the mental institutions.

@SuperUley 5 ай бұрын

I was unable to watch this through to the end because of the background music. This is a pity because it looks like a very interesting video.

@SanTropez680 Жыл бұрын

A direct ancestor Dr. David Richard Wallace of Texas was sent to try and help the empress. It is interesting as Dr. Wallace was a highly revolutionary surgeon and psychiatrist as well noted. Do you know of any information about his interaction with the empress?

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Most of the published biographies are in French, the one I used was the Empress of Farewells by Prince Michael of Greece, which has no index, so sadly, the details of her illness and treatment are rather lacking.

@adriannespring8598 Жыл бұрын

@Professor Graeme Yorston Oooohhh a better book is "The Crown of Mexico" by Joan Haslip.

@sabrinafelber Жыл бұрын

To her story is just sad.

@What_I_Think_Happened Жыл бұрын

LOOKING GOOD Professor!

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Thank you, I do my best!

@Mougino7 2 ай бұрын

Max was cornered by many: France, Spain, England, USA, The Pope and the Church, Carlota, and opposing Mexicans of course. Who can envy him!

@professorgraemeyorston 2 ай бұрын

He wasn't in an easy position, but he could have seen it coming.

@booksteer7057 8 ай бұрын

It sounds to me like she was schizophrenic. People would've recognized the symptoms of syphilis, and even if they would not admit she had it, someone somewhere would've recorded her receiving treatment for it. Poor woman. What a horrible existence. 😢

@richardshiggins704 Жыл бұрын

Historically the Mexican caper was one of the more eccentric . This was fuelled by 3 of Europe's nuttiest and ineffective dynasties especially Napoleon's peacock court . She was on a hiding to nowhere .

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

I agree.

@mdc3148 7 ай бұрын

Only your opinion. Many Mexicans don’t share it

@lynnschaeferle-zh4go Жыл бұрын

Ambition is a flaw for women still today. Imagine being married for life to a sterile (?) adulterer with a life threatening STD, and likely had no marital relationship

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

Very true.

@geetasingh3107 Ай бұрын

The background music is annoying

@triciashoemaker9047 Ай бұрын

I had to stop it halfway through because I could not stand the music anymore.

@oriraykai3610 3 ай бұрын

Seems like the softer he spoke, the louder the background got. Too bad since I also liked the topic.

@macymakesmagic 7 ай бұрын

Ayahuasca?

@professorgraemeyorston 7 ай бұрын

Ayahuasca can certainly cause a brief drug-induced psychosis, but its effects are not permanent.

@macymakesmagic 6 ай бұрын

@@professorgraemeyorston so my thought was that if she had encountered ayahuasca at some point, and she was afraid of being poisoned again. This would count for her unusual fear of being poisoned.

@JavierBonillaC Жыл бұрын

This woman did not deserve why come to her.

@professorgraemeyorston Жыл бұрын

I agree - perhaps she and her husband were naive, but they were used by bigger political players.

@pikeman80 10 ай бұрын

I don't know of anything in Cannabis that causes any sort of psychosis. But it sure makes a person hungry.

@professorgraemeyorston 10 ай бұрын

One of the main chemicals in cannabis is THC or tetrahydocannabinol - which absolutely does cause psychosis.

@erindanelleavilaavilaguerr7251 6 ай бұрын

When i feel like I've been halocausted, you abtain and hold my asylum for me at specific space.

@zin153 10 ай бұрын

Hideous soundtrack and far too loud

@felixaliaga 11 ай бұрын

Mexican historian, Martha Zamora, says Maximilian was homosexual, he didn't touch Carlota. By the end of their reign in Mexico, people would have noticed it and wrote graffiti on Mexico City's walls, saying "Maximilian pees seated like a woman". Martha Zamora also says Carlota got pregnant, probably by a French bodyguard, and with three months of pregnancy desperately fled Mexico, while common people sang a song saying "Como se alborota la gente al ver a Carlota tan gordota" (how excited people get when seeing Carlota so big-bellied).

@professorgraemeyorston 10 ай бұрын

Interesting, I don't think her book has been translated into English.

@mdc3148 7 ай бұрын

Republican lies!!

@Duquedecastro 5 ай бұрын

Mentirosa that author