As the political situation Charlotte found herself in in Mexico always confused me with the political wrangling and assorted betrayals, here's some information of her time post-Mexico:
Once in Europe, Charlotte began to evidence symptoms of rampant paranoia: in a letter to Maximilian, Charlotte wrote that Napoleon III was "possessed by the devil". While she was travelling from Paris to Triest, she told her lady-in-waiting that she had identified a farmer in the field as an assassin. She ordered the coachman to increase speed and held an handkerchief in front of her face during the remainder of the ride. Friends began to comment on her strange behaviour. In the villa of Miramar a courier arrived with a request from Maximilian imploring her to go to the pope for help. Charlotte duly left for Rome where she met twice with the pope. Then, one morning, she burst into the pope's quarters, knelt before him and yelled that her staff were trying to kill her by poison: "All food they give me contains poison and I am starving".She insisted on spending the night in the Vatican and the astonished pope had a bed prepared in the library. Officially, it was the only time ever that a woman stayed a night in the Vatican. The next day, the mother superior of a nearby convent persuaded Charlotte to visit an orphanage and talk to the children. She travelled by coach again wearing a handkerchief in front of her face to fool any potential assassins. Afterwards, she was lead about the convent and was going through the kitchen when, without warning, she snatched a piece of meat cooking on the stove. As a result, she fainted from the pain and was rushed to her hotel. Her strange behavior continued: when she was thirsty, she took the pope's glass and walked with it to a public fountain. Her relatives were informed of her condition and soon her brother Philip (Count of Flanders, father of Albert I of Belgium) arrived and escorted her to Triest.
From then on Charlotte was confined to Miramar by Maximilian's relatives (not necessarily for her own good but rather to avoid further embarrassment) and was allowed no visitors. She occupied herself with reading books and writing letters. As a result of the quietness and good food, her health improved (physically anyway) but apparently her strange behaviour continued. People were afraid to disturb her and she was not invited for the marriage of Philip to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in May. As a result of her long seclusion at Miramar, rumours began to circulate that she had been pregnant when she left Mexico and had given birth in early 1867. Some tried to identify the child as Maxime Weygand but it is unlikely that Charlotte, devoted to Maximilian and conscious of her position, would have taken a lover.
In early 1867 French troops were withdrawn from Mexico and Maximilian cabled his family that he would return to Austria. Neither he nor his family comprehended the seriousness of the situation and his mother wrote to him : "I must still wish that you hold out in Mexico as long as you can with honour do so." Thus, when the supporters of Juarez advanced on Mexico City, Maximilian retreated and, with only a small army , he met Juarez in battle. Not surprisingly, he was quickly defeated, captured and sentenced to death. Many liberals, like Victor Hugo and Garibaldi, took pity on the naive and well-meaning Maximilian and petitioned Juarez to spare his life. It was all for naught: on the morning of June 19, 1867 Maximilian was led out on the hill near Queretaro. Once there, he reportedly presented each man on the firing squad with a gold piece, asking them to aim carefully at his heart. Nevertheless, the first salvo did not kill him, and one of the bullets pierced his face. The second salvo achieved its deadly purpose.
Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium (who Charlotte had always intensely disliked) travelled that summer to Miramar in order to escort Charlotte to Belgium. There at the palace at Laken Charlotte lived contentedly amongst her relatives until the following summer when she was suddenly overcome by fits of frenzy and confined to castle Tervuren. She was able to return to Laeken during the winter but by the spring her condition again deteriorated. From then on Charlotte was to remain at Tervuren. She alternated between fits of wild laughter and tears, held long discussions aloud to herself and babbled incoherently. She still had occasional periods of lucidity during which time she behaved like the Empress she had once been: dignified, perfectly mannered, concerned with her appearance (she was in fact still a beauty despite her troubles) and resonded to normally to questions. She read books, painted and played the paino.
In March 1879, soon after her return, the castle caught fire. Charlotte was tied to her carriage with a shawl and brought to Laken. After remaining there for a few weeks she was confined to castle Bouchout. Once there, her condition deteriorated alarmingly. In her frenzied atacks she smashed furniture and knick-knacks, tore up her books and slashed her paintings. Despite this manic behavior, she never damaged any belongings which reminded her of her late husband. Leopold II , unsuprisingly considering his selfishness and self-absorption, never visited his sister but Queen Marie Henriëtte and her daughters did. Stephanie wrote in her autobiography that even as a small child she her Aunt never frightened her. Charlotte's life thus continued for decades. During WW1 the Kaiser decreed that Bouchout was not to be disturbed, because Charlotte was the sister-in-law of his ally, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Despite her life of hardship and mental illness, Charlotte was not released from her sufferings until January 1927 when she died of pneumonia at age 86. She not only outlived many of her relatives (both her brothers, her brother-in-law, a nephew, etc) she had outlived her husband by roughly 60 years.
