page_title: Maximilian I of Mexico
section_title: Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia
hierarchical_section_title: Maximilian I of Mexico / Career in the Austrian Navy / Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia
caption_attribution_description: Photography of Maximilian and Charlotte - Mexico.
context_page_description: Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire. He was a younger brother of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy as its commander, he accepted an offer by Napoleon III of France to rule Mexico, conditional on a national plebiscite in his favour. France, together with Spain and the United Kingdom, had invaded Mexico in the winter of 1861 to pressure the Mexican government into settling its debts with the three powers after Mexico had announced a suspension on debt repayment; the Spanish and British both withdrew the following year after negotiating agreements with Mexico's republican government and realising the true intention of the French, while France sought to conquer the country. Seeking to legitimize French rule, Napoleon III invited Maximilian to establish a new pro-French Mexican monarchy. With the support of the French army and a group of Conservative Party monarchists hostile to the Liberal Party administration of the new Mexican president, Benito Juárez, Maximilian was offered the position of Emperor of Mexico, which he accepted on 10 April 1864.
context_section_description: In his political views, Archduke Maximilian was very much influenced by the progressive ideas in vogue at the time. He had a reputation as a liberal, and this was one of several considerations leading to his appointment as viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia in February 1857. Emperor Franz Joseph had decided on the need to replace the elderly soldier Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, to divert growing discontent amongst the Italian population through token liberalization, and to encourage a degree of personal loyalty to the Habsburg dynasty.
  On 27 July 1857, in Brussels, Archduke Maximilian married his second cousin Charlotte, the daughter of Leopold I of Belgium and Louise of Orléans. They lived in Milan, the capital of Lombardy-Venetia, from 1857 until 1859, when Emperor Franz Joseph, angered by his brother's liberal policies, dismissed him. Shortly after, Austria lost control of most of its Italian possessions. Maximilian then retired to Trieste, near which he built Miramare Castle. At the same time, the couple acquired a converted monastery on the island of Lokrum as a holiday residence. Both estates had extensive gardens, reflecting Maximilian's horticultural interests.
caption: Maximilian and Charlotte in 1857
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