title: Christian right

text: The media has played a major role in the rise of the Christian right since the 1920s and has continued to be a powerful force for political Christianity today. The role of the media for the Religious right has been influential in its ability to connect Christian audiences to the larger American culture while at the same time bringing and keeping religion into play as both a political and a cultural force. The political agenda of the Christian right has been disseminated to the public through a variety of media outlets including radio broadcasting, television, and literature.


title: Christian right

text: Religious broadcasting began in the 1920s through the radio. Between the 1950s and 1980s, TV became a powerful way for the Christian right to influence the public through shows such as Pat Robertson's "The 700 Club" and The Family Channel (now Freeform). The Internet has also helped the Christian right reach a much larger audience. Organization's websites play a strong role in popularising the Christian right's stances on cultural and political issues, and informed interested viewers on how to get involved. The Christian Coalition, for example, has used the Internet to inform the public, as well as to sell merchandise and gather members.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right strongly advocates for a system of educational choice, using a system of school vouchers, instead of public education. Vouchers would be government funded and could be redeemed for "a specified maximum sum per child per years if spent on approved educational services". This method would allow parents to determine which school their child attends while relieving the economic burden associated with private schools. The concept is popular among constituents of church-related schools, including those affiliated with Roman Catholicism.


title: Christian right

text: The Protestant members of the Christian right in the United States generally promote the teaching of creationism and intelligent design as opposed to, or alongside, biological evolution. Some supporters of the Christian right have opposed the teaching of evolution in the past, but they did not have the ability to stop it being taught in public schools as was done during the Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, in which a science teacher went on trial for teaching about the subject of evolution in a public school. Other "Christian right organizations supported the teaching of creationism, along with evolution, in public schools", specifically promoting theistic evolution (also known as evolutionary creationism) in which God is regarded as the originator of the process.


title: Christian right

text: Members of and organizations associated with the Christian right, such as the Discovery Institute, created and popularized the modern concept of intelligent design, which became widely known only with the publication of the book "Of Pandas and People" in 1989. The Discovery Institute, through their intelligent design initiative called the "Center for Science and Culture", has endorsed the teach the controversy approach. According to its proponents, such an approach would ensure that both the strengths and weaknesses of evolutionary theory were discussed in the curriculum. This tactic was criticized by Judge John E. Jones III in "Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District", describing it as "at best disingenuous, and at worst a canard." The overwhelming majority of scientific research, both in the United States and elsewhere, has concluded that the theory of evolution, using the technical definition of the word theory, is the only viable explanation of the development of life, and an overwhelming majority of biologists strongly support its presentation in public school science classes. Outside the United States, as well as among American Catholics and Mainline Protestants, Christian conservatives have generally come to accept the theory of evolution.


title: Christian right

text: Some Christian groups advocate for the removal of sex education literature from public schools, for parental opt-out of comprehensive sex education, or for abstinence-only sex education. Sam Harris has written that thirty percent of America's sexual-education programs are abstinence based, and they are ineffective.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right promotes homeschooling and private schooling as a valid alternative to public education for parents who object to the content being taught at school. In recent years, the percentage of children being homeschooled has risen from 1.7% of the student population in 1999 to 2.2% in 2003. Much of this increase has been attributed to the desire to incorporate Christian teachings into the curriculum. In 2003, 72% of parents who homeschooled their children cited the ability to provide religious or moral instruction as the reason for removing their children from public schools. The "Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District" case established that creationism cannot be taught in public schools, and in response officials have increasingly appropriated public funds for charter schools that teach curricula like Accelerated Christian Education.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right is in favour of legislation that maintains and promotes Sunday Sabbatarianism, such as Sunday blue laws that forbid shopping and restrict the sale of alcohol on Sundays, which is the Lord's Day in mainstream Christianity.


title: Christian right

text: Supporters of the Christian right have no one unified stance on the role of government since the movement is primarily one that advocates social conservatism; in fact, "struggles [have] broken out in state party organizations" between supporters of the Christian right and other conservatives. It promotes conservative interpretations of the Bible as the basis for moral values and enforcing such values by legislation. Some members of the Christian right, especially Catholics, accept the Catholic Church's strong support for labor unions.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right believes that separation of church and state is not explicit in the American Constitution, believing instead that such separation is a creation of what it claims are activist judges in the judicial system. In the United States, the Christian right often supports their claims by asserting that the country was "founded by Christians as a Christian Nation." Members of the Christian right take the position that the Establishment Clause bars the federal government from establishing or sponsoring a state church (e.g., the Church of England), but does not prevent the government from acknowledging religion. The Christian right points out that the term "separation of church and state" is derived from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, not from the Constitution itself. Furthermore, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) takes the view that the concept of "separation of church and state" has been used by the American Civil Liberties Union and its allies to inhibit public acknowledgment of Christianity and restrict the religious freedoms of Christians.


title: Christian right

text: Thus, Christian right leaders have argued that the Establishment Clause does not prohibit the display of religion in the public sphere. Leaders, therefore, believe that public institutions should be allowed, or even required, to display the Ten Commandments. This interpretation has been repeatedly rejected by the courts, which have found that such displays violate the Establishment Clause. Public officials though are prohibited from using their authority in which the primary effect is "advancing or prohibiting religion", according to the Lemon Supreme Court test, and there cannot be an "excessive entanglement with religion" and the government. Some, such as Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, argue that the First Amendment, which specifically restricts Congress, applies only to the Congress and not the states. This position rejects the incorporation of the Bill of Rights.


title: Christian right

text: Generally, the Christian right supports the presence of religious institutions within government and the public sphere, and advocates for fewer restrictions on government funding for religious charities and schools. Both Catholics and Protestants, according to a 2005 Gallup study, have been supportive of school prayer in public schools.


title: Christian right

text: Early American fundamentalists, such as John R. Rice often favored "laissez-faire" economics and were outspoken critics of the New Deal and later the Great Society. The contemporary Christian right supports economic conservative policies such as tax cuts and social conservative policies such as child tax credits.


title: Christian right

text: Many evangelical Protestant supporters of the religious right have strongly supported the state of Israel in recent decades, encouraging support for Israel within the United States government. Some of them have linked Israel to Biblical prophesies; for example, Ed McAteer, founder of the Moral Majority, said "I believe that we are seeing prophecy unfold so rapidly and dramatically and wonderfully and, without exaggerating, makes me breathless." This belief, an example of dispensationalism, arises from the idea that the establishment of Israel is a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus, because it represents the Biblically prophesied Gathering of Israel. A 2017 poll indicates that this belief is held by 80% of evangelicals, and that half of evangelicals consider it an important cause of their support for the state of Israel.


title: Christian right

text: During the Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975 and ended in 1990, many Christian parties endorsed the right's political viewpoints such as the Christian Lebanese phalanges which is known as the Kataeb Party, and later, the right's political viewpoints were also endorsed by the Lebanese Armed Forces because their power and influence were threatened by the growing power and influence of the more radical Islamist and left-wing movements, such as the Shiite Amal Movement, and the Progressive Socialist Party in the 1980s.


title: Christian right

text: Historically, large percentages of American Catholics and Evangelical Protestants oppose and have opposed abortion, believing that life begins at conception and that abortion is murder. Therefore, those in the movement have worked toward the overturning of "Roe v. Wade (1973)", and "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" (1992). The Christian right has also supported incremental steps to make abortion less available. Such efforts include bans on late-term abortion (including intact dilation and extraction), prohibitions against Medicaid funding and other public funding for elective abortions, removal of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide abortion services, legislation requiring parental consent or notification for abortions performed on minors, legal protections for unborn victims of violence, legal protections for infants born alive following failed abortions, and bans on abortifacient medications.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right element in the Reagan coalition strongly supported him in 1980, in the belief that he would appoint Supreme Court justices to overturn "Roe v. Wade". They were astonished and dismayed when his first appointment was Sandra Day O'Connor, whom they feared would tolerate abortion. They worked hard to defeat her confirmation but failed.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right contends that morning-after pills such as Plan B and Ella are possible abortifacients, able to interfere with a fertilized egg's implantation in the uterine wall. The labeling mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Plan B and Ella state that they may interfere with implantation, but according to a June 2012, "The New York Times" article, many scientists believe that they work only by interfering with ovulation and are arguing to have the implantation language removed from product labels. The Christian right maintains that the chemical properties of morning-after pills make them abortifacients and that the politics of abortion is influencing scientific judgments. Jonathan Imbody of the Christian Medical Association says he questions "whether ideological considerations are driving these decisions." Specifically, many Catholic members, as well as some conservative Protestant members, of the Christian right have campaigned against contraception altogether.


title: Christian right

text: In May 2022, "Politico" published a leaked draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. It would overturn "Roe" and "Casey" by nullifying the specific privacy rights in question, eliminating federal involvement, and leaving the issue to be determined by the states. Through a statement made by the Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, the Court confirmed the document's authenticity but said that it was not a final decision or the Justice's final decision, which was expected by June or July.


title: Christian right

text: The decision was issued on June 24, 2022, ruling 6–3 to reverse the lower court rulings; a more narrow 5–4 ruling overturned "Roe" and "Casey". The majority opinion stated that abortion was not a constitutional right, and that states should have discretion in regulating abortion. The majority opinion, written by Alito, was substantially similar to the leaked draft. Chief Justice Roberts agreed with the judgment upholding the Mississippi law but did not join the majority in the opinion to overturn "Roe" and "Casey".


title: Christian right

text: Due to the Christian right's views regarding ethics and to an extent due to negative views of eugenics common to most ideologies in North America, it has worked for the regulation and restriction of certain applications of biotechnology. In particular, the Christian right opposes therapeutic and reproductive human cloning, championing a 2005 United Nations ban on the practice, and human embryonic stem cell research, which involves the extraction of one or more cells from a human embryo. The Christian right supports research with adult stem cells, amniotic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells which do not use cells from human embryos, as they view the harvesting of biological material from an embryo lacking the ability to give permission as an assault on a living being.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right also opposes euthanasia, and, in one highly publicized case, took an active role in seeking governmental intervention to prevent Terri Schiavo from being deprived of nutrition and hydration.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right has historically supported the temperance movement, thus supporting causes such as maintaining Sunday blue laws, adding alcohol packaging warning messages to bottles and limiting alcohol advertising. It has advocated for the prohibition of drugs and has opposed efforts to legalize marijuana.


title: Christian right

text: The modern roots of the Christian right's views on sexual matters were evident in the years 1950s–1960s, a period in which many conservative Christians in the United States viewed sexual promiscuity as not only excessive, but in fact as a threat to their ideal vision of the country. Beginning in the 1970s, conservative Christian protests against promiscuity began to surface, largely as a reaction to the "permissive Sixties" and an emerging prominence of sexual rights arising from "Roe v. Wade" and the LGBT rights movement. The Christian right proceeded to make sexuality issues a priority political cause. Anita Bryant organized Save Our Children, a widespread campaign to oppose legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The group argued that gay people were "recruiting" or "molesting children" in order to make them gay. Bryant infamously claimed that "As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," and also claimed that "If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters." The Bryant campaign achieved success in repealing some city anti-discrimination laws, and proposed other citizen initiatives such as a failed California ballot question designed to ban gay people or those who supported LGBT rights from holding public teaching jobs. Bryant's campaign attracted widespread opposition and boycotts which put her out of business and destroyed her reputation.


title: Christian right

text: From the late 1970s onwards, some conservative Christian organizations such as the Christian Broadcasting Network, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the American Family Association, and the Christian Coalition of America, along with right-wing Christian hate groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church, have been outspoken against LGBT rights. Late in 1979, a new religious revival among conservative Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics ushered in the Republican coalition politically aligned with the Christian right that would reign in the United States between the years 1970s and 1980s, becoming another obstacle for the progress of the LGBTQ rights movement. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, LGBTQ communities were further stigmatized as they became the focus of mass hysteria, suffered isolation and marginalization, and were targeted with extreme acts of violence.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right champions itself as the "self-appointed conscience of American society". During the 1980s, the movement was largely dismissed by political pundits and mainstream religious leaders as "a collection of buffoonish has-beens". Later, it re-emerged, better organized and more focused, taking firm positions against abortion, pornography, sexual deviancy, and extreme feminism. Beginning around the presidency of Donald Trump, Christian conservatives have largely refrained from engaging in debates about sexual morality.


title: Christian right

text: Influential Christian right organizations at the forefront of the anti-gay rights movement in the United States include Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, and the Family Research Institute. An important stratagem in Christian right anti-gay politics is in its rejection of "the edicts of a Big Brother" state, allowing it to profit from "a general feeling of discontent and demoralization with government". As a result, the Christian right has endorsed smaller government, restricting its ability to arbitrate in disputes regarding values and traditions. In this context, gay rights laws have come to symbolize the government's allegedly unconstitutional "[interference] with individual freedom".


title: Christian right

text: The central tenets of Focus on the Family and similar organizations, such as the Family Research Council, emphasise issues such as abortion and the necessity of gender roles. A number of organizations, including the New Christian Right, "have in various ways rejected liberal America in favor of the regulation of pornography, anti-abortion legislation, the criminalization of homosexuality, and the virtues of faithfulness and loyalty in sexual partnerships", according to sociologist Bryan Turner.


title: Christian right

text: A large number of the Christian right view same-sex marriage as a central issue in the culture wars, more so than other gay rights issues and even more significantly than abortion. The legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts in 2004 changed the Christian right, causing it to put its opposition to these marriages above most other issues. It also created previously unknown interracial and ecumenical coalitions, and stimulated new electoral activity in pastors and congregations.


title: Christian right

text: Criticisms of the Christian right often come from Christians who believe Jesus' message was centered on social responsibility and social justice. Theologian Michael Lerner has summarized: "The unholy alliance of the Political Right and the Religious Right threatens to destroy the America we love. It also threatens to generate a revulsion against God and religion by identifying them with militarism, ecological irresponsibility, fundamentalist antagonism to science and rational thought, and insensitivity to the needs of the poor and the powerless." Commentators from all sides of the aisle such as Rob Schenck, Randall Balmer, and Charles M. Blow criticized the Christian right for its tolerance and embrace of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election despite Trump's failure to adhere to any of the principles advocated by the Christian right groups for decades.


title: Christian right

text: One argument which questions the legitimacy of the Christian right posits that Jesus Christ may be considered a leftist on the modern political spectrum. Jesus' concern with the poor and feeding the hungry, among other things, are argued, by proponents of Christian leftism, to be core attributes of modern-day socialism and social justice. However, others contend that while Jesus' concern for the poor and hungry is virtuous and that individuals have a moral obligation to help others, the relationship between charity and the state should not be construed in the same manner.


title: Christian right

text: According to Frank Newport of Gallup, "there are fewer Americans today who are both highly religious and liberal than there are Americans who are both highly religious and conservative." Newport also noted that 52% of white conservatives identify as "highly religious" while only 16% of white liberals identify as the same. However, African-Americans, "the most religious of any major racial or ethnic group in the country", are "strongly oriented to voting Democratic". While observing that African-American Democrats are more religious than their white Democrat counterparts, Newport further noted, however, that African-American Democrats are "much more likely to be ideologically moderate or conservative."


title: Christian right

text: Some criticize what they see as a politicization of Christianity because they say Jesus transcends political concepts.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right has tried to recruit social conservatives in the black church. Prior to the 2016 United States presidential election, African-American Republican Ben Carson emerged as a leader of the Christian right. Other Christian African-Americans who identify with conservatism are Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, rapper Kanye West, Alveda King, and pastor Tony Evans.


title: Christian right

text: Whilst the Christian right in the United States generally identifies with aspects of LGBT rights opposition, other Christian movements argue that the biblical texts only oppose specific types of divergent sexual behaviour, such as paederasty (i.e. sexual intercourse between boys and men). During the Trump administration, there was a growing push for religious liberty bills, aimed to exempt individuals and businesses from anti-discrimination laws intended to protect LGBT people, if they claimed that their actions were motivated by religious beliefs. Among the most powerful organizations that promoted anti-LGBT and anti-transgender legislation under the Trump administration is the Alliance Defending Freedom.


title: Christian right

text: Some social scientists have used the word "dominionism" to refer to adherence of dominion theology as well as to the influence in the broader Christian Right of ideas inspired by Dominion Theology. Although such influence (particularly of Reconstructionism) has been described by many authors, full adherents to Reconstructionism are few and marginalized among conservative Christians. In the early 1990s, sociologist Sara Diamond defined "dominionism" in her PhD dissertation as a movement that, while it includes Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right. She was followed by journalists who included Frederick Clarkson and Chris Hedges and others who have stressed the influence of Dominionist ideas on the Christian right.


title: Christian right

text: The terms "dominionist" and "dominionism" are rarely used for self-description, and their usage has been attacked from right-leaning quarters. Stanley Kurtz labeled it "conspiratorial nonsense", "political paranoia", and "guilt by association", and decried Hedges' "vague characterizations" that allow him to "paint a highly questionable picture of a virtually faceless and nameless 'Dominionist' Christian mass." Kurtz also complained about a perceived link between average Christian evangelicals and extremism such as Christian Reconstructionism:


title: Christian right

text: The notion that conservative Christians want to reinstitute slavery and rule by genocide is not just crazy, it's downright dangerous. The most disturbing part of the "Harper's" cover story (the one by Chris Hedges) was the attempt to link Christian conservatives with Hitler and fascism. Once we acknowledge the similarity between conservative Christians and fascists, Hedges appears to suggest, we can confront Christian evil by setting aside "the old polite rules of democracy." So wild conspiracy theories and visions of genocide are really excuses for the Left to disregard the rules of democracy and defeat conservative Christians – by any means necessary.


title: Christian right

text: Lisa Miller of "Newsweek" said that many warnings about "dominionism" are "paranoid" and she also said that "the word creates a siege mentality in which 'we' need to guard against 'them. Ross Douthat of "The New York Times" noted that "many of the people that writers like Diamond and others describe as 'dominionists' would disavow the label, many definitions of dominionism conflate several very different Christian political theologies, and there's a lively debate about whether the term is even useful at all." According to Joe Carter of "First Things", "the term was coined in the 1980s by Diamond and is never used outside liberal blogs and websites. No reputable scholars use the term for it is a meaningless neologism that Diamond concocted for her dissertation", while Jeremy Pierce of "First Things" coined the word "dominionismist" to describe those who promote the idea that there is a dominionist conspiracy.


title: Christian right

text: Another criticism has focused on the proper use of the term. Berlet wrote that "some critics of the Christian Right have stretched the term dominionism past its breaking point", and argued that, rather than labeling conservatives as extremists, it would be better to "talk to these people" and "engage them". Sara Diamond wrote that "[l]iberals' writing about the Christian Right's take-over plans has generally taken the form of conspiracy theory", and argued that instead one should "analyze the subtle ways" that ideas like Dominionism "take hold within movements and why."


title: Christian right

text: Dan Olinger, a professor at the fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina, said, "We want to be good citizens and participants, but we're not really interested in using the iron fist of the law to compel people to do everything Christians should do." Bob Marcaurelle, interim pastor at Mountain Springs Baptist Church in Piedmont, said the Middle Ages were proof enough that Christian ruling groups are almost always corrupted by power. "When Christianity becomes the government, the question is whose Christianity?" Marcaurelle asked.


title: Christian right

text: While the Christian Right is a strong movement in the United States, it also has a presence in Canada. Alan Curtis suggests that the American Christian right "is a phenomenon that is very hard for Europeans to understand." Robin Pettitt, a professor at Kingston University London, states, however, that like the Christian right in the US, Christian Democratic movements in Europe and Latin America are "equally driven by the debate over the role of the state and the church in political, social and moral life."


title: Christian right

text: Religion has been a key factor in Canadian politics since well before the Canadian Confederation was established in 1867, when the Conservatives were the party of traditionalist Catholics and Anglicans and the Liberals were the party of Protestant dissenters and anti-clerical Catholics. This pattern largely remained until the mid-twentieth century when a new division emerged between the Christian left (represented by the Social Gospel philosophy and ecumenicism) and the Christian right (represented by fundamentalism and biblical literalism). The Christian left (along with the secular and anti-religious left) became supporters of the New Democratic Party while the right moved to the Social Credit Party, especially in Western Canada, and to a lesser extent the Progressive Conservatives.


title: Christian right

text: The Social Credit Party, founded in 1935, represented a major change in Canadian religious politics. Until that time, fundamentalists had shunned politics as "worldly", and a distraction from the proper practice of religion. However, the new party was founded by fundamentalist radio preacher and Bible school teacher William Aberhart or "Bible Bill". Aberhart mixed his own interpretation of scripture and prophecy with the monetary reform theories of social credit to create a movement that swept across Alberta, winning the provincial election of 1935 in a landslide. Aberhart and his disciple Ernest Manning then governed the province for the next forty years, several times trying to expand into the rest of Canada. In 1987 Manning's son, Preston Manning, founded the new Reform Party of Canada, which soon became the main party of the religious right. It won majorities of the seats in Western Canada in repeated elections, but was unable to break through in Eastern Canada, though it became the official opposition from 1997 to 2003 (Reform was renamed the Canadian Alliance in 2000). In 2003 the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives merged to create the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Stephen Harper, a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, who went on to become prime minister in 2006.


title: Christian right

text: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, introduced by the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982, has been controversial within the Christian right in Canada. Although this Charter entrenches rights and freedoms (such as the freedom of religion) that central in the belief systems of the Christian right, it has also been interpreted by the Supreme Court of Canada to strike down many laws supported by the Christian right. In 1982, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's "Lords' Day Act," which required many stored to be closed on Sundays, as an infringement the freedom of conscience and religion. Abortion, partly decriminalized in 1969 by an act of Parliament, was completely decriminalized after the two R. v. Morgentaler cases (in 1988 and in 1993). Parliament attempted to pass a new law governing abortion in 1993, but this legislation failed after a tie vote in the Senate. A series of provincial superior court decisions which legalized same-sex marriage led the federal government to introduce legislation that legalized same-sex marriage in all of Canada. Before he took office, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper stated that he would hold a free vote on the issue, and declared the issue closed after it was voted down in the House of Commons in 2006.


title: Christian right

text: In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's prostitution law in "Canada v Bedford", prompting the Stephen Harper government to introduce a new prostitution law fashioned after the Nordic Model. In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down Canada's prohibition on euthanasia in "Carter v Canada", again leading Parliament to pass a new law governing euthanasia. The Christian right has been critical of all these judicial decisions and have generally been the greatest advocates for the stringent laws against abortion, same-sex marriage, prostitution, and euthanasia, though in differing degrees. For instance, the Christian right in Canada is strongly and vocally organized on the topic of abortion, but criticism of same-sex marriage is far more seldom.


title: Christian right

text: Christian right politics in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa is strongly connected with the growing propagation of the Evangelical-Pentecostal movement in the Global South and Third World countries. Roman Catholics in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, despite being normally socially conservative, tend to be more left-wing in economics due to the traditional teachings of the Catholic social doctrine. Evangelical-Pentecostal Christians, on the other hand, are mostly from the neo-Pentecostal movement, and thus believers in the Prosperity theology that justifies most of their neoliberal economic ideas. They are also strongly socially conservative, even for Latin American standards.


title: Christian right

text: In the Netherlands, Calvinist Protestants have long had their own political parties, now called the Reformed Political Party (SGP) on the right, and the ChristianUnion (CU) in the center. For generations they operated their own newspapers and broadcasting association. The SGP has about 28,000 members, and three out of 150 members of the Dutch parliament's lower house. It has always been in opposition to the government.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right draws from both Catholics and Protestants in Australia. Historically, the first Christian right party was the Democratic Labor Party. The Democratic Labor Party was formed in 1955 as a split from the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In Victoria, and New South Wales, state executive members, parliamentarians and branch members associated with the Industrial Groups or B. A. Santamaria and "The Movement" (and therefore strongly identified with Roman Catholicism) were expelled from the party, and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). Later in 1957, a similar split occurred in Queensland, with the resulting group subsequently joining the DLP. The party also had sitting members from Tasmania and New South Wales at various times, though it was much stronger in the former mentioned states. The goals of the party were anti communism, the decentralization of industry, population, administration and ownership. The party decided, in its view that the ALP was filled with communists, that it would preference the ruling conservative Liberal and Country parties over the ALP. However, it was more morally conservative, militantly anti-communist and socially compassionate than the Liberals. The DLP heavily lost ground in the federal election of 1974 that saw its primary vote cut by nearly two-thirds, and the election of an ALP government. The DLP never regained its previous support in subsequent elections and formally disbanded in 1978, but a small group within the party refused to accept this decision and created a small, reformed successor party (now the Democratic Labour Party). Though his party was effectively gone, Santamaria and his National Civic Council (NCC) took a strong diametrically opposed stance to dominant Third Way/neoliberal/New Right tendencies within both the ALP and Liberal parties throughout the eighties and early nineties.


title: Christian right

text: The B. A Santamaria and the Democratic Labor party produced many alumni who became the base of the Christian right in Australia. In Liberal party, these were Tony Abbott and Kevin Andrews. Outside the Liberal party, conservative commentator's such as Greg Sheridan and Gerrard Henderson also had links to Santamaria. Within the Australian Labor Party (ALP), this alumni can be found in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), which de-affiliated from the ALP with the industrial Groups in the 1950s, and then re-affiliated in the 1980s. The SDA opposed gay marriage and abortion, which were some reasons for workers to form another competing union. Tony Burke, who opposed euthanasia, came from the SDA. Currently, the NCC functions as a minority organization within the Christian Right.


title: Christian right

text: The more Protestant strands of the Christian Right have been far more diverse. Fundamentalist Christianity directly inspired Fred Nile and his parties. Nile in 1967–68 was assistant director of the Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. The Christian Democratic Party (initially known as the "Call to Australia" party) is on the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum, promoting social conservatism, opposing gay rights and abortion. It gained 9.1% of the vote in the New South Wales (NSW) state election of 1981, Its support base has generally been restricted to NSW and Western Australia, where it usually gains between 2–4% of votes, with its support being minuscule in other states. The party started to fall apart in 2019 when the moderate faction member, Paul Green, lost his seat, and when a faction of younger people attempted to dismiss the governing board. Whilst this failed, it opened up a rift between the traditional party factions that led to prolonged legal disputes and the party winding up in 2022. Fred Nile would quickly join a new party. The Family First Party is a former political party which was linked with Pentecostal Church and other smaller Christian denominations, and was also identified with the strongly religious conservative end of the Australian political spectrum. It has had one or two members in the SA parliament since 2002, and in 2004 also managed to elect a Victorian senator. Its electoral support is small, with the largest constituencies being South Australia (4–6%), and Victoria (around 4%). Family First generally receives lower support in national elections than in state elections. Family First was merged with the Australian Conservatives Party in 2017.


title: Christian right

text: Outside of the Catholic links to B.A. Santamaria and the minor Protestant parties, some party members of the Liberal and National Party Coalition and the Australian Labor Party also support some of the values of the Christian right on abortion and gay rights. The Australian Christian Lobby argues for opposition to same-sex marriage in state and federal politics.


title: Christian right

text: In Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley led a Protestant fundamentalist party, the Democratic Unionist Party, which had a considerable influence on the province's culture. For a time after the 2017 United Kingdom general election, the DUP provided confidence and supply to the governing Conservative Party, although this agreement provoked concern from socially liberal elements of the party about possible DUP influence on social policy. Although there is no evidence this occurred. Karen Armstrong has mentioned British evangelical leader Colin Urquhart as advocating positions similar to the Christian Right. Some members of the Conservative Party including Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries, Matthew Offord and Peter Bone also support some of the values of the Christian right.


title: Christian right

text: In the Philippines, due to Spanish colonization, and the introduction of the Catholic Church, religious conservatism has a strong influence on national policies. Some have argued that the U.S. Christian right may have roots in the Philippines.


title: Christian right

text: The Swiss Federal Democratic Union is a small conservative Protestant party with about 1% of the vote.


title: Christian right

text: In Scandinavia, the Faroe Island's Centre Party is a bible-oriented fundamentalist party with about 4% of the vote. However, the Norwegian Christian People's Party, the Swedish Christian Democrats and Danish Christian Democrats are less religiously orthodox and are similar to mainstream European Christian Democracy.


title: Christian right

text: In Fiji, Sodelpa is a conservative, nationalist party which seeks to make Christianity the state religion, while the constitution makes Fiji a secular republic. Following the 2014 general election, Sodelpa is the main opposition party in Parliament.


title: Christian right

text: In Mexico, the interests of the Christian right are represented by different political organisations and civil associations. The most notable case is the National Action Party, a conservative party aligned with Christian Democratic ideas, notably influenced by the Social teaching of the Catholic Church, and which has held the presidency of Mexico twice. The party's platform states strong opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage and the legalisation of drugs, among many other conservative policies. In addition, prominent figures in the party have been linked to Catholic Church organisations. The evangelical caucus, albeit for a relatively short time, was represented by the Social Encounter Party and the Solidarity Encounter Party, the latter being the successor to the former. Both parties were founded by Hugo Eric Flores, who according to some sources was an evangelical minister before entering politics. Initially statewide for Baja California, Social Encounter came to govern that state in coalition with the National Action Party. The party would later be officialised as a political party at the federal level. Other organisations and associations adhering to the ideals of the Christian right include the Frente Nacional por la Familia, the Organización del Bien Común, colloquially known as El Yunque and with close ties to the PAN, and the Legionaries of Christ, a Roman Catholic clerical religious order of priests and candidates for the priesthood established in Mexico.


title: Christian right

text: In Brazil, the evangelical caucus have a great influence at the parliament and in the society in general. The bloc promotes strong socially conservative positions, like opposition to abortion, LGBT rights, marijuana legalization, sexual and gender education at schools and support to decrease of age of defense of infancy. Except for left-wing and far-left parties with strong social progressive beliefs like Workers' Party or Socialism and Liberty Party, Christian conservatives can be found in all political parties of Brazil, but nevertheless they are more common associated with parties like Social Democratic Party, Democratas, PSL, Social Christian Party, Brazilian Republican Party, Patriota and in the Party of the Republic. In 2016, Marcelo Crivella, a licensed pentecostal pastor from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, won in a runoff the election to mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the second biggest city in Brazil, with the Brazilian Republican Party, making for the first time an evangelical bloc member mayor of a big city in Brazil. In 2018, Jair Bolsonaro was elected president with massive support of conservative Catholics, Charismatics, Evangelicals and Pentecostals; Another candidate, Cabo Daciolo, from Patriota, attracted much attention from media and public in general, despite a lower votation. Both had a right-wing populist, Christian Nationalist program, but Bolsonaro was near to a national conservative and economic liberal one, contrasting with an Ultranationalist, theocratic and protectionist style of Daciolo.


title: Christian right

text: In Poland, the Roman Catholic national-conservative party Law and Justice can be considered to be a party of the Christian right.


title: Christian right

text: In Hungary, the ruling national-conservative party Fidesz can also be considered to be a party of the Christian right. Viktor Orbán is known for his use of conservative Christian values against immigration and the rise of Islam in Europe.


title: Christian right

text: The Christian right has a strong position in several Conservative parties worldwide, although many members of these parties would also, paradoxically, strongly oppose such views.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the ancient Olympics. The modern pentathlon was first held in 1912, and its rules have changed several times over the years. The latest structure, as of the 2020 Olympics, consists of three separate events for fencing, swimming, and equestrian, which determine each athlete's starting time in the final event. The last event, called the laser-run, alternates four legs of laser pistol shooting followed by an 800 m run (for 3200 m in total).


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The sport has been a feature of the Summer Olympic Games since 1912, despite several attempts to remove it. A world championships for modern pentathlon has been held annually since 1949.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The governing body, Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM), administers the international sport in more than 90 countries.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The format of the modern pentathlon has changed frequently through the sport's history. Described below is the format used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics:


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Most sources state that the creator of the modern pentathlon was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. However, researcher Sandra Heck concluded that Viktor Balck, the President of the Organizing Committee for the 1912 Games, made use of the long tradition of Swedish military multi-sports events to create the modern pentathlon.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The name derives from the Greek "péntathlon" "contest of five events". The addition of "modern" to the name distinguishes it from the original pentathlon of the ancient Olympic Games, which consisted of the "stadion" foot race, wrestling, long jump, javelin, and discus. As the events of the ancient pentathlon were modeled after the skills of the ideal soldier to defend a fortification of that time, Coubertin created the contest to simulate the experience of a 19th-century cavalry soldier behind enemy lines: he must ride an unfamiliar horse, fight enemies with pistol and sword, swim, and run to return to his own soldiers. Originally, only amateur competitors, i.e. upper-class cavalry officers, were allowed to compete in the modern pentathlon at the Olympics. In the 1912 Games, as only amateur officers competed, the competitors were permitted to use their own horses. Up to the 1952 Olympics the ordinary cavalry soldier was considered a professional athlete, as he was riding and training horses for a living, and as such unable to participate, while the officer was considered the amateur and therefore allowed to compete.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The event was first held at the 1912 Olympic Games and has been on the Olympic program continuously since 1912. Modern pentathlon, despite its long Olympic history, has had to justify its inclusion in the modern Olympic Games several times. On February 11, 2013, in Lausanne, the IOC confirmed modern pentathlon once again as one of the 25 core sports of the Olympic program through to 2020.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: A team event was added to the Olympic Games in 1952 and discontinued in 1992. An event for women was added to the Olympic Games in 2000.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Originally, the competition took place over four or five days. In 1996, a one-day format was adopted in an effort to be more audience-friendly. To enhance the experience for spectators, the UIPM proposed that all five events should be held in a single venue. This was planned for the 2016 Summer Olympics but held for the first time at the 2020 Summer Olympics. For the 2024 Summer Olympics, a condensed format of 90 minutes with eliminations is planned.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: As long as there was no official international federation for Modern Pentathlon an IOC committee was set up for the sport making use of the expertise of IOC members. The governing body, Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) was founded in 1948.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: A world championship has been held every year since 1949. The competitions include men and women's individual and team events together with relay events for men and women and, since 2010, a mixed relay event.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: After much lobby work of the president of the German Modern Pentathlon Federation, Wilhelm Henze, women were for the first time admitted at the world championships in 1977, and at the official world championships in 1981.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The Modern Pentathlon World Cup is an annual series of modern pentathlon competitions. The first was held in 1999.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: In 2015 — and for the first time in the 2016 Summer Olympics — a system of an additional bonus round was added to épée fencing in international competitions. Before that, there was only the round-robin format.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Until the 2000 Olympics, the distance for swimming was 300 metres; at that time it was changed to 200 metres.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The distance of the cross-country riding event was reduced from 5 km to 4 km in 1972. For the 1988 Summer Olympics cross-country riding was changed to show jumping.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: From 1912 to 1988 regular pistols or later sport pistols were used for shooting. From 1989 until 2009, the shooting discipline involved firing a 4.5 mm (.177 cal) air pistol in the standing position from 10 metres distance at a stationary target. The format was that of the 10 metre air pistol competition: each competitor had 20 shots, with 40 seconds allowed for each shot. Beginning with the World Cup events in 2011, laser pistols were used instead of pistols with actual projectiles. There is a slight delay between the trigger pull and the laser firing, simulating the time it would take for a pellet to clear the muzzle. Air pistols with laser transmitters were introduced during the transitional period and are still in use. Purpose-built laser pistols are developed and commonly used since the middle of the 2010s. Laser pistols and targets have to be homologated by the UIPM.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Until the 2000 Olympics, the running distance was 4 kilometres. The running discipline was shortened to a 3 km cross-country run afterwards.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: In 2009, the running and shooting events were combined into three 1000 m laps with each preceded by laser shooting at five targets in 70 seconds or less. From the start of the 2013 season, the laser-run was changed to consist of four 800 m laps (increasing the distance to 3.2 kilometres) each preceded by laser shooting at five targets in 50 seconds or less. This change was intended to restore some of the importance of the shooting skill felt to have been lost in the original 2009 combined event.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Scoring was originally done by a points-for-place system with the lowest score winning. Since the 1954 World Cup points tables are used for each of the five events and points are added for the final score. This scoring was first used in the 1956 Summer Olympics. The five disciplines were held on a single day — instead of four to six — from the 1996 Summer Olympics onwards.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The riding discipline attracted criticism during the 2020 Summer Olympics after multiple athletes in the women's event struggled to control their randomly-assigned horses. This culminated in the German team's coach, Kim Raisner, being removed from the event after striking a horse with her fist. Following the Games, in November 2021 it was reported that the UIPM was opening consultations on the proposed replacement of riding with another discipline. The decision was ratified during the UIPM's congress on 27 November 2021, with the changes intended to be implemented for the 2028 Summer Olympics.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The decision was met with criticism from various athletes and bodies, who considered riding to be integral to Modern pentathlon. Some also accused the UIPM of hindering debate in favour of riding during the congress. More than 650 modern pentathletes signed a letter calling for the UIPM executive board to resign. A group known as "Pentathlon United" called for the IOC to investigate the UIPM's governance, and proposed a plan to maintain riding with rule changes to bring them in line with those of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), and a focus on animal welfare.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: In May 2022, the UIPM announced it would hold an obstacle racing test event alongside the 2022 Modern Pentathlon World Cup final in Ankara, citing that it had received the most support out of the over 60 disciplines proposed, was more cost-effective, would help make the event more attractive to a younger audience, and was "compatible with the DNA of modern pentathlon." The competition course was developed with input from World Obstacle, and the event featured a mix of athletes from both the obstacle racing and modern pentathlon communities.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: Modern pentathlon's inclusion in the Summer Olympics has frequently been criticised for being obscure, unpopular, and complex, especially as the IOC limits each Summer Olympics to 28 disciplines.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The switch to a one-day format in the 1990s was criticised for changing the steady character of modern pentathlon to a more fast-paced competition.


title: Modern pentathlon

text: The laser-run has been criticized as altering too radically the nature of the skills required. "The New York Times" asked whether the name ought to be changed to "tetrathlon" given that two of the five disciplines had been combined into a single event.


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan was held from 24 July to 8 August 2021. The basketball competitions were held at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, while the 3x3 competitions were held at the temporary Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo.


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: The National Olympic Committees may enter only one 12-player men's team and only one 12-player women's team. The men's qualification was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic whereas the women's qualification ended on time and unaffected.


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Twelve teams qualified for the women's tournament. The host nation and the 2018 World Cup winners qualified. Those two teams, however, had to play in the pre-qualifying and qualifying tournaments and each took up one of the qualifying spots from those tournaments. Thus, while two of the World Qualifying Tournaments provided quota spots to their three top teams, the other two tournaments provided quota spots only to the top two teams plus either the host nation or the World Cup winners.


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Teams had to qualify for the World Olympic Qualifying Tournaments through Women's EuroBasket or Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (which themselves had to be qualified for through Continental Cups).


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: On June 9, 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that 3x3 basketball would be contested at the Summer Olympics for the first time in 2020.


title: Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Qualification for 3x3 determined the eight teams in each of the men's and women's tournaments. The host country, Japan, was guaranteed only one place, not one per gender. Four teams per gender (reduced to three if Japan uses its guaranteed place) were determined via world ranking. Three teams per gender were selected through an Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The final team per gender were determined in a Universality Olympic Qualifying Tournament.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte of Belgium ("Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine"; 7 June 1840 – 19 January 1927), known by the Spanish version of her name, Carlota, was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of Wettin in the branch of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (as such she was also styled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony). As the wife of Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia and later Emperor of Mexico, she became Archduchess of Austria (in 1857) and Empress consort of Mexico (in 1864). She was daughter, granddaughter, sister, sister in-law, cousin and wife of reigning or deposed sovereigns throughout Europe and Mexico.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Since the beginning of her marriage, she feuded with Empress Elisabeth in Vienna, and was glad when her husband was posted to Italy as Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia. At this time, he was selected by the Emperor Napoleon III as a figurehead for his proposed French Empire in Mexico, and Charlotte overcame her husband's doubts about the plan. Maximilian and Charlotte (known by the Spanish Carlota) duly arrived to Mexico City in 1864, but their reign lasted a little over three years. She assisted her husband, who let her rule as regent during his absences from Mexico, for which reason she is considered the first woman to rule in the Americas. When Emperor Napoleon III ordered the withdrawal of French military aid intended to support Maximilian, the situation of the Mexican imperial couple became untenable.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On her own initiative, Charlotte decided to go personally to Europe in order to attempt a final approach to Paris and the Vatican. She landed in France in August 1866, but suffered the successive refusals of both Emperor Napoleon III and Pope Pius IX. In Rome, the failure of her mission appeared to compromise her mental health to the point that an alienist doctor advocated the confinement of Charlotte in Miramare Castle. It was during her stay under house arrest that Emperor Maximilian was deposed and executed by Benito Juárez in June 1867. Unaware that she was now a widow, Charlotte was brought back to Belgium and confined successively in the Pavilion de Tervueren (in 1867 and again during 1869–1879), the Palace of Laeken (during 1867–1869) and finally at Bouchout Castle in Meise (from 1879), where she remained for the next 48 years in a deleterious mental state, giving rise to much speculation ever since, before dying in 1927 aged 86.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, better known under the name "Charlotte", was the daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Louise of Orléans. Her first name pays homage to the late Princess Charlotte of Wales, her father's first wife. She was the fourth and last child and the only daughter of the Belgian royal couple, after Louis-Philippe (who died less than one year old in 1834), Leopold (born in 1835) and Philippe (born in 1837). Queen Louise's last pregnancy was so difficult there were fears of a miscarriage in April, but on 7 June 1840 at 1 a.m., Charlotte was born healthy at the Palace of Laeken. Initially disappointed by the birth of a daughter, who was not a dynast in Belgium at that time, King Leopold I was gradually charmed by his daughter, who became in time his favorite child. Through her mother, Charlotte was a granddaughter of Louis Philippe I and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, King and Queen of the French and through her father, she was a first-cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; thanks to these relations, and in addition to regular stays in the city of Ostend in the summer, Charlotte spent long holidays with her maternal grandparents in the French royal residences and at her cousin's in Windsor Castle. She was close to her maternal grandmother, Queen Maria Amalia, and the two regularly corresponded; after the French Revolution of 1848 which dethroned her grandparents and exiled them to England, for a few weeks out of the year, Charlotte stayed in Claremont with her mother's family in exile.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: When her mother died on 11 October 1850, Charlotte was only 10 years old. The boisterous and expansive little girl quickly became a pensive and introverted teenager. The late Queen Louise had personally overseen the education and instruction of the royal children. Respecting the wishes of his deceased wife, the King appointed Countess Denise d'Hulst, a French aristocrat, to take particular care of Charlotte, of whom she became governess. Fleeing Laeken as soon as he could, Leopold I had little presence with his children, who suffered as a result. Very early on, Charlotte was able to express herself orally and in writing in French, English and German. Her religious instruction was in charge of Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, later Cardinal and Archbishop of Mechelen and therefore Primate of Belgium. Religion held a major place in the life of the princess.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Leopold I demanded that his children carry out frequent examinations of conscience, believing that crowned heads must possess great strength of character. After Madame d'Hulst returned to France, it was Countess Marie-Auguste de Bovée, her new governess, who educated Charlotte, urging her to read and meditate daily on "The Imitation of Christ". At the age of 13, her favorite author was Plutarch, while she judged Ovid to be childish. Very early on, she was convinced that royalty would have to be more accountable to God than the rest of humanity. Her obsession with learning made society bland, she wrote at 15. At this age, Charlotte was seen as a distant beauty, aware of her dignity and seeking to achieve unattainable moral perfection. She had a tendency to judge those around her harshly and got along more with her brother Philippe than with Leopold.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In her youth, Charlotte resembled her mother, and was noted as being a beauty possessing delicate features. This, combined with her status as the only daughter of the King of the Belgians, made her a desirable match. In 1856, as she was preparing to celebrate her sixteenth birthday, two suitors sought her hand: Prince George of Saxony (who was quickly rejected) and King Pedro V of Portugal. The latter was the favorite candidate of both Queen Victoria and King Leopold I. By personal choice, and under the influence of Madame d'Hulst (who affirmed that at the Portuguese court no priest would understand her), Charlotte declined the offer of marriage with King Pedro V. She explained: "As for Pedro, it is a throne, it is true, I would be Queen and Majesty but what is that, the crowns nowadays are heavy burdens and how one regrets later to have yielded to such crazy considerations".


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In the month of May 1856, Charlotte met in Brussels with Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I. She was immediately charmed by this prince who was eight years her senior. Reportedly she stated: "it will be him that I will marry". Her father left Charlotte the choice of her future husband; as she testified in a letter addressed to her grandmother Maria Amalia: "He wrote me the most impartial letter, putting before my eyes the advantages of one and the other without wanting to influence me in any way". As for Leopold I, he wrote to his future son-in-law: "You won in May [...] all my confidence and my benevolence. I also noticed that my little girl shared these dispositions; however it was my duty to proceed with precaution". Charlotte declared: "If, as it is in question, the Archduke was invested with the Viceroyalty of Italy, that would be charming, that's all I want". The official engagement was celebrated on 23 December 1856.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte appeared elated by the prospect of her marriage to Maximilian, praising a fiancé for whom she envisioned an exceptional destiny. Maximilian appeared less enthusiastic when negotiating the dowry of his bride. The Archduke said of his fiancée: "She's short, I'm tall, which must be. She's brunette, I'm blonde, which is good too. She is very intelligent, which is a bit annoying, but I will undoubtedly get over it". The marriage ceremony was celebrated on 27 July 1857 at the Royal Palace of Brussels. This alliance with the House of Habsburg-Lorraine enhanced the legitimacy of the recently established Belgian dynasty.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Emperor Napoleon III presented the couple with a bisque bust of Charlotte as a wedding gift. In the Court of Vienna she was welcomed by her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who saw in her the perfect example of a wife for an Austrian Archduke. This contributed to the strained relationship between Charlotte and Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Franz Joseph I, whom Sophie treated rather cruelly. It is said that Charlotte disliked the deep connection that existed between Elisabeth and Maximilian, who were confidantes and shared the same tastes for many things, especially because her sister-in-law was universally admired for her beauty and charm.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In September 1857, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria appointed his brother Maximilian as Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. After a short stop in Schönbrunn, where they met the Austrian Imperial family, the newlyweds went to Maximilian's Miramare Castle where they stayed for eight days. They then visited Venice and Verona. On 6 September 1857, Charlotte and Maximilian made a solemn entry into Milan, where they were warmly welcomed. Some newspapers claimed their entry was made to appear ridiculous because of excessively ornate carriages and liveries. Leopold, Duke of Brabant, wrote to the Count of Flanders: "All the servants wore halberds! In Paris, we talked a lot about this [...]. If we sin here through too much simplicity, they are blamed for a buffoonish luxury from another time and which nowadays seems too out of place".


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In Italy, the Archducal couple officially resided in Milan, seat of the government of Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia. Sometimes staying at the Royal Palace they also spent time at the more intimate Villa of Monza. In his capacity as Viceroy, Maximilian was served by a substantial important court including chamberlains and "majordomos". Charlotte was surrounded by a grand-mistress, ladies-in-waiting and a large suite. Charlotte appears to have enjoyed her time in Venice. During Easter of 1858, she and Maximilian journeyed down the Grand Canal aboard a ceremonial gondola. Charlotte also visited several charitable institutions and schools. Feasts and balls were given in their honour but the local aristocrats were conspicuous with their absences.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In 1859, Charlotte acquired the island of Lokrum and its ruined convent. She and Maximilian proceeded to transform the Benedictine abbey into a secondary residence. On a private level, Maximilian began to neglect his wife, who complained, after a year of marriage, of loneliness and boredom.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 10 April 1859, Maximilian was obliged by his brother the Emperor to resign from his office as Viceroy of Lombardy–Venetia. He had sought to undertake reforms considered as being too liberal by the government in Vienna, as well as showing indulgence towards Italian rebels and being too much of a spendthrift.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte and Maximilian therefore retired to Miramare Castle at one end of the Gulf of Trieste. The construction of the castle continued throughout 1860, according to plans prepared by Maximilian and financed in part from Charlotte's dowry. Her brother, the future Leopold II, noted in his diary: "The construction of this palace in these days is a limitless madness". During this time in Miramare, Charlotte painted an idyllic portrait of this retreat though the estrangement of the spouses appeared to became more marked. Charlotte practiced horseback riding, painting and swimming. She played a major part in planning the layout and statuary of the extensive gardens of Miramare, while contributing some of her own paintings to the gallery of the palace.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In December 1859 Charlotte and Maximilian embarked on a voyage aboard the yacht "Fantasia", which took them to Madeira in December 1859, on the spot where Princess Maria Amélia of Brazil, once engaged to Maximilian, had died six years previously. In this place, the Archduke experienced intense regret and melancholic thoughts. Charlotte remained alone in Funchal for three months while her husband continued his journey to Brazil, where he visited three states: first Bahia, then Rio de Janeiro and finally Espírito Santo. On his return from his trip, Maximilian returned via Funchal where he and Charlotte prepared to return to Trieste. First they made a stopover in Tétouan, where they docked on 18 March 1860.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 3 October 1863, a delegation of conservative Mexican notables arrived at Miramare Castle to formally offer the Archduke the crown of their country. They were mostly reactionary expatriates who were resident in Europe and enjoyed only limited support in their native country. In reality, negotiations on this subject had been underway for more than two years: Emperor Napoleon III envisaged creating a "Latin and Catholic" satellite state in Mexico, which would limit the influence of the United States of America, then in the grip of the Civil War. He was encouraged in this project by the prospect of recovering French investments and loans put at risk by the chaotic political situation in Mexico. With Papal support he accordingly searched for a suitable figurehead to serve as the nominal emperor of Mexico. His choice was Maximilian, who no longer held any power in the Austrian-ruled parts of northern Italy and was eager for a more challenging role. The Emperor of the French promised to support Maximilian militarily if he agreed to leave for Mexico. However, Maximilian hesitated and was slow to agree to this venture. Emperor Franz Joseph I was ambivalent to the proposal and his ministers questioned its wisdom. Maximilian made his assent subject to ratification by the Mexican people. The strong-willed Charlotte believed that restoring the Mexican crown would constitute a mission to bring order and civilization under the House of Habsburg, who would once again rule an empire where the sun never sets; she argued decisively to overcome her husband's doubts. Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown and the couple prepared for their trip for the New World.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 10 April 1864, in a state apartment of Miramare Castle, Maximilian and Charlotte were informally proclaimed as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. He affirmed that the wishes of the Mexican people allowed him to consider himself as the legitimate elected representative of the people. In reality, the Archduke was persuaded by a few Mexican conservatives who incorrectly assured him of massive popular support. For supporting documents, the Mexican deputation produced "acts of adhesion" containing population numbers for localities within Mexico that were purportedly surveyed. Maximilian instructed the delegation "to ensure by all means the well-being, prosperity, independence and integrity of this nation".


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: The same evening, an official dinner was planned at Miramare in the large salon at Les Mouettes. Now on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Maximilian retired to his apartments, where he was examined by his doctor August von Jilek, who found the new Emperor prostrate and so overwhelmed that the doctor instructed him to rest in the garden house of the estate. Charlotte therefore presided at the banquet alone. The departure for Mexico was set for 14 April. Once on board the Austrian frigate "SMS Novara" and escorted by the French frigate "Thémis", Maximilian became more serene. He and Charlotte made a stopover in Rome to receive the blessing of Pope Pius IX. On 19 April, during the pontifical audience at the Palace of Maffei Marescotti, the subject of the recovery of church property confiscated by the Mexican republican government was avoided. However, the Pope stressed that Maximilian would have to respect the rights of the Church.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: During the long crossing, Charlotte and Maximilian rarely discussed the serious diplomatic and political difficulties which they were to be confronted with in Mexico. Instead, they spent their time preparing the etiquette of their future court in great detail. They began to write a 600-page manuscript relating to ceremonial functions, regulating protocol in its most minute aspects. The "SMS Novara" stopped in Madeira and Jamaica. The ships encountered heavy thunderstorms before a final stopover was made in Martinique. With the port of Veracruz in front of her, Charlotte wrote to her grandmother: "In a few hours we will touch the ground of our new homeland...I am delighted with the Tropics and I only dream of butterflies and hummingbirds [...] I would never have believed that in what regards the regions where we are going to live, my wishes were also completely fulfilled".


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Maximilian and Charlotte arrived at the port of Veracruz on 28 May 1864 and made entry into Mexico City on 12 June with a warm welcome. Unimpressed by the National Palace, which required major refurbishment, they preferred Chapultepec Castle as their new Imperial residence. They also chose the Palace of Cortes in Cuernavaca as a summer residence. Shortly after their arrival in Mexico, they commenced costly improvements to their various properties and surroundings, despite the Mexican treasury being in a critical condition. Charlotte took a leading role in the various festivals, military parades, balls and theatrical performances presented in their honour. She also presided over the newly created Mexican Imperial Order of Saint Charles, or 'Orden Imperial de San Carlos', designed to reward charitable or other service to the Mexican nation.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Despite the idyllic descriptions of Mexico that Maximilian and Charlotte wrote to their relatives in Europe, it did not take long for them to realize the insecurity and disorder which plagued their Empire. Their residences were perpetually monitored by a large armed guard intended to push back the rebel bands which roamed nearby. French intervention, supported by the Belgian and Austrian contingents and local Mexican Imperial troops, was followed by a long civil war which disrupted every aspect of Mexican life. The approximately 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers of the French expeditionary force, led by Marshal Bazaine, had to counter multiple skirmishes led by the guerrillas over a territory four times larger than that of France.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: A conservative minority of the Mexican people supported the Second Mexican Empire, along with the Mexican nobility, clergy, and some native groups. The Emperor tried in vain to reconcile the liberal and conservative parties. He decided to pursue a liberal policy by approving the secularization of ecclesiastical property for the benefit of the national domain, which alienated the conservatives and the clergy. When he was absent from Mexico City, sometimes for several months, Maximilian appointed Charlotte as Regent: she presided over the Council of Ministers and gave public audiences on Sundays. The popularity of the sovereigns was already dwindling before the end of the first year of their reign.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Without a child from his marriage, Maximilian, to Charlotte's disapproval, decided in September 1865 to adopt Agustín de Iturbide y Green and Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán, grandsons of Agustín I de Iturbide, an earlier Emperor of Mexico (r. 1822–23), thus founding the House of Habsburg-Iturbide. Agustín was only two years old when he was adopted and was forcibly separated from his mother, under Maximilian's orders. This situation upset Charlotte, who was forced by her husband to go and fetch the child herself from his biological parents. By this point, public opinion of Maximilian was almost unanimously negative. He gave Agustín de Iturbide y Green the title of ""His Highness, The Prince of Iturbide"" and similar imperial titles were accorded to various members of the child's extended family. He also ensured that the secret treaty between him and the House of Iturbide was published in European newspapers, which prevented Charlotte or anyone else from being able to attempt a reversal of the adoption. Despite these actions, it appears Maximilian never intended to give Agustín or Salvador the throne, because they were not of royal blood. He himself explained that it was all a charade to convince his younger brother Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria to give him one of his sons to act as heir.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: A year after the arrival of Maximilian and Charlotte, the situation in Mexico remained unstable. Charlotte wrote: "As disaster does not come alone, the interior continues to be ravaged. Bands emerge as if from underground where there was none before". The perpetual question of financing caused relations between France and Mexico to deteriorate. The Republicans of former Mexican President Benito Juárez began to enlist men and arms from the United States of America, where the Civil War had just concluded. The Belgian Legion, composed of 4,000 men, was roundly defeated by the Juarist troops at the Battle of Tacámbaro (11 April 1865), but won the Battle of la Loma (16 July 1865) under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel (later General) .


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Faced with this complex situation, Maximilian resolved, under pressure from Marshal Bazaine and the French army, to adopt a policy of harsh repression against the rebels. He published the "Black Decree" on 3 October 1865, which, while promising an amnesty to the dissidents who surrendered, declared in its first article: "All individuals belonging to bands or armed gatherings existing without legal authorization, whether or not they proclaim a political pretext [...] will be tried militarily by the martial courts. If they are guilty, even though it is only the mere fact of belonging to an armed gang, they will be condemned to death and the sentence will be executed in 24 hours". Under this decree, several hundred rebels and political opponents were summarily executed.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 6 November 1865, Charlotte began an official visit to the remote province of Yucatán, which lasted almost two months. Without Maximilian, but accompanied by an imposing retinue, she departed on the "Tabasco", a ship in poor condition whose pitching made the crossing of the Gulf of Mexico very difficult. Yucatán, far from the tragic events that bloodied the rest of Mexico, gave a relatively warm welcome to the Empress. This trip commenced with a succession of festivities preceding her arrival in Mérida, capital of the province. Charlotte then took the opportunity to visit the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Uxmal, where she admired the archaeological curiosities. While there, she wrote a series of letters and reports on the peninsula that are now archived in the National Archives of Austria and the Library of Congress. When Charlotte met Maximilian again in Cuernavaca, the day before New Year's Day 1866, he informed her of the new legislative projects he had conceived. Charlotte and her husband stayed for a few days in Cuernavaca, where on the morning of 6 January, she learned of the death of her father King Leopold I of Belgium almost four weeks before. Two months later, on 24 March, Charlotte heard that her maternal grandmother Maria Amalia, Dowager Queen consort of the French; to whom she was deeply attached, had died in England.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In January 1866, Emperor Napoleon III, influenced by French public hostility to the Mexican expedition, decided to begin the withdrawal of his troops supporting the Imperial cause in Mexico. This strategic pullback was a potentially fatal blow to the infant Mexican monarchy; at the end of the withdrawal of the French expeditionary force, Maximilian would only have the support of a small force of imperial Mexican soldiers and a contingent of Belgian and Austrian volunteers, which were easily outnumbered by rebel forces. The announcement of the French withdrawal encouraged the Belgian legation to leave the country. In a desperate attempt to save her husband's throne, Charlotte resolved to personally persuade Napoleon III to reconsider his decision. On 9 July 1866, Charlotte, with Maximilian's concurrence, set sail for Europe from the port of Veracruz upon the transatlantic ocean liner "Impératrice Eugénie". She was accompanied by Martín del Castillo y Cos, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and her two adoptive sons, the Princes of Iturbide.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Subsequently, a rumor circulated that Charlotte, shortly before her trip to Europe, had become pregnant by her aide-de-camp and had given birth to a son in early 1867. This rumour has since been debunked by historians.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 8 August 1866, Empress Charlotte arrived in Europe with her two adoptive sons and Martín del Castillo, at the harbour of Saint-Nazaire, where they were greeted by Juan Almonte and his wife, instead of an official welcoming ceremony. From there, she took a train for Paris, where she arrived on 9 August. During the trip, Charlotte had received a telegraph from Napoleon III, informing her that he was terribly ill, but this did little to dissuade her. At the Château de Saint-Cloud, the bedridden Napoleon III received a telegram from Charlotte requesting an interview. He first sent his wife Empress Eugénie to the Le Grand Hôtel where Charlotte was staying, hoping to deter the determined Empress of Mexico from her plans to meet him in person. But Charlotte could not be dissuaded and Eugénie made arrangements for a first meeting between the two of them the next day, 11 August, at Saint-Cloud.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Despite carefully preparing her arguments in a twenty-page brief, the meeting between Charlotte and Napoleon III ended in complete failure. She gave a long, impassioned speech reminding Napoleon III of his promises and the , but the Emperor was unwavering in his position, affirming that he could not decide anything without the approval of his ministers and that he refused to negotiate new financial and military guarantees in favour of Mexico. Her mission ruined, Charlotte began manifesting symptoms of paranoia and had profound cognitive and emotional collapse. Two days later, she returned to Saint-Cloud to attempt another negotiation with Napoleon III. A lively discussion broke out in the presence of Empress Eugénie, who sank into an armchair, pretending to faint. The first signs of Charlotte's mental breakdown became evident here, when, overwhelmed by sadness, she threw herself into a nearby armchair, sobbing hysterically. The Council of Ministers of 18 August 1866 confirmed the position of Napoleon III and formally opposed maintaining any military presence by France in Mexico. On 19 August, Napoleon III went personally to Le Grand Hôtel for a third and final meeting with Charlotte, to confirm to her that France would no longer continue to act in Mexico.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Shaken by Napoleon III's refusal, on 21 August Charlotte left France for Miramare Castle in Trieste; on the journey there, her mental health showed signs of worsening — passing by a farmer, she became convinced that he was an assassin. She persistently shouted at her coachman to drive faster. She avoided going through Brussels and Vienna due to the withdrawal of the Belgian and Austrian troops from Mexico, and Charlotte did not seek help from either her or her husband's families. Charlotte's late father, King Leopold I, had been doubtful of the Mexican adventure, and his son, now Leopold II, while once a staunch supporter of his sister's ambitions, could no longer ignore the hostility of the Belgians towards further involvement in Mexico, especially in view of the significant losses incurred there by the Belgian Legion. Charlotte was now isolated and could no longer count on further European support.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Once at Miramare, Charlotte found a message from Maximilian waiting for her, imploring her to seek an audience with Pope Pius IX in Rome. After a one-month stay in Trieste, Charlotte left for the Vatican to try and win continuing support from the pontiff for the Imperial regime in Mexico. Pope Pius IX, however, saw no reason to further implicate the Church in the disastrous Mexican venture. On her way to Rome, Charlotte showed further signs of deteriorating mental health; while stopping for the night at the city of Bolzano (German: "Botzen") in South Tyrol, then part of the Austrian Empire, Charlotte informed Martín del Castillo that she felt unwell and insisted that it was due to being poisoned by spies and traitors among her party.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: On 24 September 1866, Charlotte arrived in Rome. Three days later, on 27 September, she had an audience with Pope Pius IX, but as was expected, the pontiff was reluctant to use his influence to intervene in French politics on the behalf of the Mexican Empire. Charlotte became despondent. Overwhelmed by despair and paranoia, she shut herself within her hotel. She dressed in mourning clothes and, in fear of poison, denied herself food and water. She asked to be taken to the Trevi Fountain to quench her thirst after not having consumed any liquid since the previous day. On 1 October, Charlotte went to the Vatican for a further meeting with the Pope, still dressed in mourning and with her face reportedly displaying sunken eyes and flushed cheeks. Crying hysterically, she refused to return to her hotel and begged to be sheltered for the night in the papal apartments, convinced that assassins sent by Napoleon III were waiting for her outside. The Pope let Charlotte eat part of his own dinner and, breaking the rules of the Holy See, had a bed moved into the pontifical library for her, making Charlotte the first woman known to have slept in the Vatican. In the following days, she confined herself to her hotel room, leaving only to drink water from public fountains, with a goblet that she had taken from the papal apartments.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: King Leopold II grew worried about the news he received from Charlotte, so he sent his brother Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders to Rome, where he arrived on 8 October 1866. Two days later, Prince Philippe escorted his very depressed and unstable sister, and the two princes of Iturbide, to Miramare Castle. There, Charlotte persisted in her obsession with poisoning. The Count of Flanders reported their sister's erratic and strange behaviour to King Leopold II. After examining the Empress, , a Viennese alienist physician, diagnosed "madness with fixed ideas of persecution", believing that the Mexican climate and the humiliating treatment that Charlotte received in France aggravated her condition. At Miramare, Charlotte was sequestered in the pavilion of the Gartenhaus, supervised by Austrian security agents.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: When the news of the capture of Maximilian by Mexican Republican forces and his execution at Santiago de Querétaro on 19 June 1867 became known, the Belgian royal family interrupted their visit to Paris for the International Exposition, and returned to Brussels in early July 1867. Ultimately, Charlotte's family elected not to tell her of her husband's demise. With Maximilian's death, guardianship of Charlotte became an issue: she had so far accepted her confinement in Miramare, then in Austrian territory, believing that her husband demanded this confinement for her safety. Her brother, Leopold II, believed that there was no reason for Charlotte to stay in Austria and preferred that she return to her homeland of Belgium. However, after the arrest of Maximilian on 15 May, his brother Emperor Franz Joseph I had restored Maximilian's rights and titles as member of the House of Habsburg in an attempt to save his life, convinced that the rebels wouldn't dare to shoot an Austrian Archduke. Subsequently, Charlotte regained her status as an Archduchess of Austria and, therefore, her in-laws remained her legal guardians.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: The Emperor of Austria sent Count Karl of Bombelles, and doctor August von Jilek, a friend of Maximilian, to Miramare Castle on behalf of the Habsburgs. Following the orders of Franz Joseph I, the Count of Bombelles argued to keep Charlotte in Miramare. In July 1867, King Leopold II sent his wife, Queen Marie Henriette of Austria and his confidant Baron Auguste Goffinet to Vienna to plead with the Emperor to allow for the release of Charlotte and her return to Belgium as soon as possible. When Queen Marie Henriette arrived at Miramare on 14 July 1867, she discovered Charlotte in a terrible physical and mental state, having been treated as a prisoner by the Austrian security forces for the last nine months. After two weeks of negotiations, Queen Marie Henriette and Goffinet succeeded in removing Charlotte from the guardianship of her in-laws and convincing her to return with them to Belgium. This success was largely thanks to Jan Frans Bulckens, a Belgian psychiatrist sent by Leopold II to care for his sister. Bulckens and his medical team kept Charlotte under close observation and determined that, due to the Dowager Empress' mental state, she could not be told of the execution of her husband. With the help of this medical team, Queen Marie Henriette devised a plan to give her sister-in-law a faked telegram from Maximilian, in which he asked her to come back to Brussels. The scheme worked and Charlotte, with the Belgian delegation, left Miramare for the last time.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: After Charlotte's departure from Austria, Vienna and Brussels continued to argue over the issue of Charlotte's inheritance. Emperor Franz Joseph I placed his sister-in-law in the custody of his younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria in order to preserve her patrimony. Historian André Castelot in his work "Maximilien et Charlotte : la tragédie de l'ambition" confirmed the theory that, after the execution of Maximilian in Mexico, Charlotte's in-laws were concerned mostly with the fate of her fortune rather than the health and wellbeing of Charlotte herself. For the Austrian Imperial Court, it was in their financial interest to keep her in Miramare. There, her fortune was guarded under the care of Eduard von Radonetz, the prefect of Miramare, but when she returned to Belgium, the Viennese court was forced to pay her dowry to Leopold II.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Upon her arrival in Belgium, Charlotte resided until 8 October 1867 in the near Brussels, which was built by Charles Vander Straeten for King William II of the Netherlands. The residence, however, was insufficiently furnished and poorly heated in the winter. She therefore joined King Leopold II and Queen Marie Henriette at the Palace of Laeken, where she moved into the former apartments of her brothers. When Charlotte finally learned, in January 1868, of the execution of her husband six months prior, she was shattered. In a set of nearly 400 letters found in 1995 (mainly intended for a French officer who she had met in Mexico, ), she declares herself "dead" at the fall of the Mexican Empire. These letters by their number and their length (sometimes up to twenty pages) also offer the testimony of her daily life punctuated by paranoia attacks and the treatment given to her.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte's two adopted sons, the Princes of Iturbide, followed her to Belgium, but later both were sent to study in England. Agustín de Iturbide y Green later emigrated to the United States, while Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán remained in Europe. In May 1869, Charlotte left the Palace of Laeken to return to the Pavilion de Tervueren, where 37 people were assigned to her service. She continued a passionate worship of her late husband's memory, collecting everything that had belonged to him. After the Pavilion de Tervueren was destroyed by a fire on 2 March 1879 (which Charlotte was paradoxically delighted by), she resided permanently at Bouchout Castle in Meise (not far from the Palace of Laeken), which her brother, King Leopold II, acquired for her. In the final years of his life, the King diligently supervised the care of his sister. The Dowager Empress of Mexico wrote notes of profound gratitude for the care she received from her brother and nephews.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte disappeared completely from the public sphere, protected by the high gates of her domain and the guards which protected them. She received visits only from her family: mainly from her sisters-in-law, Queen Marie Henriette and the Countess of Flanders. On Sundays, an abbot came to say mass at Bouchout Castle. To distract herself, she went on walks, embroidered, played cards and listened to her gramophone. She was not informed of the death of her close relatives (King Leopold II in 1909 and her sister-in-law, the Countess of Flanders, wife of her brother Philippe, in 1912), nor that of her servants because she never asked questions about their absence.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Her lady-in-waiting, Hélène, Countess of Reinach-Foussemagne, said about Charlotte: "Most of the time, the unfortunate woman was absorbed in long silences, or on the contrary in heated discussions in French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, with imaginary interlocutors, discussions too incoherent, too disjointed for one to be able to guess what thoughts occupied this brain. [...] In her soliloquies pass from time to time, very rarely, sentences, interjections which prove that sometimes her obscured thought returns on these lamentable memories: "Sir, one told you that one had had a husband; a husband, sir, and then madness! Madness is made of events! If he had been helped by Napoleon!..."". For their part, Princess Marie-José and Prince Charles recalled their visits to their great-aunt, remembering an elderly lady making confused remarks. Periods of lucidity became rarer over time. In crises of destructive monomania, she gave in to outbursts of uncontrollable anger and destroyed crockery and crystal vases, set her hounds on a maid, and tore up pictures and books. This alternated with periods of calm when she peacefully undertook simple occupations.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: During World War I, Belgium was invaded. Only a tiny part of the country remained free of German occupation, the town of De Panne, where King Albert I, Charlotte's nephew, lived until the signing of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. Charlotte did not see her family during the war. Despite the conflict, her status as Archduchess of Austria protected her from the German occupier, and her way of life remained unchanged. She flew the Austro-Hungarian flag on the roof of Bouchout Castle; and in March 1916, a German officer inquired as to why the Austrian colors flew on a property in occupied Belgium. In response, General Moritz von Bissing, at the head of the Imperial German General Government of Belgium, had a sign affixed to the gates of the castle, which read as follows: "This domain, property of the Crown of Belgium, is occupied by Her Majesty the Empress of Mexico, Archduchess Maximilian of Austria, sister-in-law of Emperor Franz Joseph, our illustrious ally. I order the German soldiers passing by here not to ring the bell and to leave the place untouched".


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Charlotte died peacefully at Bouchout Castle on 19 January 1927, at the age of 86, after developing pneumonia brought on by influenza. About her last words on her deathbed, there are various versions about which were exactly:


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Three days later, on 22 January, and under heavy snow, her coffin was carried by six former Belgian Legionaries who survived the Expedition to Mexico. She was buried in the Royal Crypt of the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, in the presence of King Albert I and his sons, the Duke of Brabant and the Count of Flanders. On 25 January, a funeral service was celebrated in the church of Meise in the presence of the entire Belgian Royal family: King Albert I, Queen Elisabeth, their the three children the Duke of Brabant, the Count of Flanders and Princess Marie-José, the Duchess of Brabant, the Prince and Princess Napoleon, as well as Princess Clémentine. Much of Charlotte's personal fortune was managed by King Leopold II, and was eventually used to finance the colonial enterprise of Congo.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: Since 1902, Charlotte had hosted the painter in her domain of Bouchout, who was a specialist in the representation of horses and close to the royal family, in particular Princess Clémentine. After Charlotte's death, the artist continued to occupy the outbuildings of the castle until his death in 1948.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: In 1938, the Belgian State bought Bouchout Castle with the intention to establish the National Botanical Garden of Belgium, which had grown too cramped on its Brussels site, and the land was inaugurated 20 years later. This garden took the name of Meise Botanic Garden in 2014; the interior of the castle was redeveloped from 1980 into meeting and conference rooms, to accommodate congresses, exhibitions and other festive events.


title: Carlota of Mexico

text: The nature of Charlotte's mental pathology, psychosis, paranoia, monomania, proved extremely difficult to determine with certainty "a posteriori", giving rise to several hypotheses.