On September 8 1800 Duke Ernest Friedrich died and Prince Franz Friedrich succeded him in the ducla throne. He would only ruled for six years since when his son Leopls was only sixteen, Napoleon invaded Coburg, and depressed seen his lands invaded by French troops, Duke Franz died of pneumonia, inheriteing the occupied duchy to his son Ernest. As one of Ernest's sisters, Juliana, was married to the Tsar's brother, Alexander I convinced Napoleon to give back the lands to his sister-in-law's brother. Duke Ernest and his brother Leopold traveled to paris to thank Napoleon for habving given back their lands. During this visit it was rumored that the young and atractive Leopold had a love laison with several ladies in the Parisian couert, including Empress Josephine's daughter , Hortense of Beauharnais.
Back in Coburg, Leopold actively participated in his brother's government, fulfilling his political lerning; he himslef was Refgent when his brother was not in the court.
} In 1814 he joined the Russian Army y participated in several campaigns against the French. The following year he traveled to London with Tsar Alexander. By that time Jorge III was Kng of Great Britian; he was menthally insane, so his ledest son was in charge of the Regency. The Prince Regent (future King George IV) was married to Caroline of Brunswick, with whom he had had several difference that had led to the marriage's failure. Nevertheless they had a daughter, Princess Charlotte, who by the time Leopld visited London, was ebnegaged to Prince William of Orange. Charlotte confessed to the Tsar's sister, the Duchess of Oldenburg, that she didn't want to marry that ugly and drunk man. Leopold, for his part, had set his eyes on Charlotte, more for ambition than for love, since she was the second in line to the British throne. Charlotte broke her engagement with her Dutch Prince and fell in love with a a Prussian one, but her father firmly opposed to such match. leopold, who had stayed in London, decided to conquer for himself Charlotte's heart. The Princess consoled herself with the handsome Prince of Coburg, when the Prussian Prince, humillated by the Prince Regent's attitude, broke the engagement. Supported by her uncle the Duke of Kent, Charlotte informed her father her decition of marrying Leopold. At fiirst the Prince Regent opposed but at last he agreed. Leopold and Charlote married in Carlton Hoiuse in London, on May 2 1816.
Leopold and Charlotte were a wonderful couple and for everyone's surprise, they loved each other. Charlotte was pregnant in the same month of her marriage but suffered a miscarriage in July. At the beginning of 1817 she was pregnant again.On Monday November 3, after 42 weeks of prgenancy, Charlotte suffered a very difficult and painly delivery; after fifty hours of labour, the Princess, tired and weak, gave birth to a stillborn child. On the morning of Thursday November 6, Charlotte herself passed away.
Leopold, who was then 27 years old, was broken-heart; he refuged in Claremont House, avoiding any contact with the rest of the world. When he marrid Charlotte, the British Parliamnet had gained him an income of 50,000 pounds a year; he continued recieving this income after Charlotte's death. He used part of his money to help his widowed sister Victoire, Princess of Leiningen, who had two children. Leopold arranged his sister to marry one of Charlotte's bachelor uncles, the Duke of Kent. Of this marriage a lttle princess was born; she was called Alexandrina Victoria. The Duke of Kent died the following year and Leopld took care of the orphan girl, who would always look him as a father. Yeras later Alexandrina Victoria would become Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
As he was wealthy, Leopld decided to travel and enjoyed of several mistrersses. In 1829 he fell in love with an actress named Carline Bauer, who reminded him iof Charlotte, in age and in appearence; a marriage between them was arranged but the ambitiuos Leopld wanted a more important marriage for him of which he could take some adventage. He left Caroline and divorced her; she end with her life by her own hand.
In 1830 Greece became an independent kingdom from the Otoman Empire and the crown of the new country was offered to leopold, who at first he showed some enthusiasm but then he realized that the weak throne of greece was not appropiated to establish an new dynasty so he rejected the offering and stayed livivng in England.
That same year, since the revolution that threw the Borboun king Charles X from the throne of France, being replaced by Louis Phillipe of Orleans, the southern part of Holland rebeled agaisnt King William I, in favour of independence and a new country was born, Beligium. In november the European Powers accepted the Belgian indpendence and a constitutional monarchy was selected as form of government. England and Belgium signed a treaty granting the Belgian neutrality and appointing England to guard the territorial integrity of the new country.
Several candidates were suggested for ruling the new country, among them, the Duke of Nemours, son of the French King Louis Phillipe, and the Duke of Lauchtneberg, grnadson of both, the Empress Josephine and the dead King Maximilian I of Bavaria. The one elected by the Belgian authorities was the Duke of Nemours, but the European Powers considered that France woul have too much power if a son of Louis Phillipe became King of Belgium. Nemours was definitevely rejected when Engkand oposed his candidature. King Louis Phillpe, by his side, rejected the offering, fearing an international conflict.
Som etime later the Belgian crown was offered to the widowed and unemployed Leopold, who saw in it the opportunity he had so long waited for. The new King of Belgium made his formal entrance in Brussels on July 31 1831. That same day he pledge allegiance to the Blegian Constitution. But King William I of the Netherlands was furious with the adveniment of the new Belgian King and tried to recover is lost lands. The Dutch troops invaded Belgium and thanks to the French troops of King Louis Phillipe who supported him, Leopold could retain his throne.
She was delicate and sweet, discret and intelligent and wise and she knew how to win people's heart. She accepted to marry Leopold, obeying her father, but later he managed to love him. Leopold and Louise got married at Compiegne on August 9 1832.
King Leopold was always grateful to his wife, who was so affective and high moral qualities and cultivated mind. She gave her four children: the first, named Leopold, born on July 24, 1833, died in infancy; the second, Leopold too, born on April 9, 1835 was a delicate and narrow chested boy, who suffered form occasional bouts of depression, and was cruel and sarcastic; the third son, Philippe, born on March 24, 1837, was, on the contrary form his elder brother, a gay, lovable and extrovert kid, with no intellectual pretensions but so charming that he was everyone's favourite. The fourth and last child was a girl, Charlotte, born on June 7, 1840,was her father's spoilt girl and her mother's companion.
After havig given birth to four children, the delicate Louise was physiscally exhausted and was incapable of satisfying Leopold's strong sexual appetite. The King kept several discretly hidden mistresses until the day he met an opulent and ambitious Flemish woman named Arcadie Clairet de Viescourt, who immediately attracted him. He had her married to Monsieur Meyer von Eppinghoven, a man of his own household, who was immediately dispatched to germany after the wedding and Arcadie became the King's official mistress. She managed that her lover gave her a mansion in the Rue Royale, a carriage with postillions and outriders and all these gained her the hatred of the Belgian people who were devoted to their good Queen Louise.
In 1848 a revolution threw Queen Louise's father, King Louis Philippe, out from the throne of France.
King Leopold was aware that her father-in-law was no more of political importance and he regreted having married a Coburg cousin and a Coburg niece into the Orleans family ( The children of Leopold's brother, Ferdinand, August and Victoria of Saxe Coburg Gotha had married to Louis Philippe's children, Clementine and the Duke of Nemours respectively). Louise was also concious of this fact and she felt guilty in a way. Although her husband's infidelities, she wrote him a letter where she shows her sleflessness and humility: "What more could I ask on earth than to be your friend, your only friend? I owe all my happiness to you and what is lacking form my happiness is my fault alone. I blame only myself for all that troubles me. If I am not longer young... if I have been unable to bring any pleasure to your life, I can only atribute it to my ill-fortune. And though I cannot but regret, I only regret what I cannot do for you".
King Louis Philippe died in England on August 26, 1850 and Queen Louise could never recover from her father's death. Her health had always been delicate and it was gradully worsening. By September Leopold wrote to his niece, Queen Victoria, that there was no longer any hope Louise could survive. She died on October 11.
Leopold was devasted with grief and remorse. He sent Arcadie von Eppinghoven on a long journey and he took refuge in his daughter Charlotte, since he had never been close to his sons.
An inevitable matchmaker, Leopold had managed several alliances by marrying his relatives to important Royal hiuses in Europe. Besides marrying his nephew and niece with the children of the French king, he had married their elder brother, Ferdinand, to the Queen of Portugal, Maria da Gloria, and the most important marriage he promote, was that of his nephew, Albert, son of his eldest brother, the Duke of Coburg, to his niece, the young Queen Victoria of Great Britain, with whom the King had had great influence during the first years of her reign. Now it was the turn of his heir to get married; in 1853 King Leopold arrange a marriage between the Duke of Brabante and an Austrian Archduchess, Maria Henriette, daughter of the late Palatine of Hungary, Archduke Joseph of Austria, a brother of the former Austrian Emperor, Franz I. Nor the Duke of Brabant, neither Maria Henriette felt the slightest inclination for each other; nevertheless, both, King Leopold and the Belgian people were enthusiastic about the new Crown Princess.
King Leopold used to pay morning visists to the Archduke's room and talk to him about international affairs with judgemnt and intelligence, but causing Maximilian's boredom. When Maximilian left Brussels, he had not yet declare himself top Charlotte, but Leopold comsidered the matter sufficently advanced and he sent his nephew, Count Mensdorff, to Vienna to conduct the preliminary negotiations for the engagement. But the Archduke hesitated to propose because he saw too much interest in Leopold, and he suspected the King had political interest behind the match. Leopold learnt of this hesitation and wrote Maximilian: "My dear and honoured Prince appears to regard me as a willy diplomat, whose every move is dictated by policy. I assure you this is not the case. As long ago as last May, you suceeded in winning my confidence and esteem, irrespective of any consideration. I soon noticed that my daughter was of the same opinion. But it is always better not to rush these matters and now I am delighted to inform you that my daughter has made her choice and prefers you to all her other suitors, and that I am only too pleased to give my consent"
At last Maximilian decided himself to formalize his betrothal with Charlotte so he paid a new visit to the court of Belgium, taking with him some presents for his bride and Baron Du Pont who would be in charge to negotiate the conditions for the engagement. By King Leopold's side,Count Conway would lead the negitiations. The king refused to give hos daughter any other dowry but the inheritance of her mother and the one established by the Parliament; Du Pont was asking for a personal contribution for the King's part. It was hard for Du Pont and Maximilian to obtain it, but at last King Leopold agreed to concede his daughter a yaerly allowance of twenty five thousand gulden, appart form the trosseau, including magnificent jewelry and a fine collection of gold and silver plate.
Leopold's dynastic ambitions did not stop in having the Austrian Emperor's brother as son-in-law; he wanted to see his daughter in an adequate position for his rank, so he begged Emperor Franz Joseph to concede Maximilian an appropiate appointment. Soon his wishes would be fulfilled when Maximilian was appointed Governor General of Lombardy and Venice, one of the Italian porvinces under Austian rule.
Maximilian and Charlotte married at last on July 27, 1857 and King Leopold, who entered the church holding his daughter on his arm, and wearing a uniform of lieutenant general of the Belgian Army.
Maximilian and Charlotte went to live to the palace of Monza in Milan. Two years later a rebelion of the Italian provinces against Austria, and Max had to resigned his charge of governor general of Lombardy and Venice and he and Charlotte went to live to a palace he had built in Trieste, by the Adriatic ocean, called Miramar.
In 1861 some Mexicans living in Europe offered Maximilian the crown of Mexico, since they believe it was the only way to end with the anarchy in that country. The Mexican Empire would be supported by the French Emperor, Napoleon III, who had personal reasons to interfere in Mexican businness. Max asked for advice to his father-in-law, who was considered one of the wisest monarchs in Europe and was called the "Nestor of Monarchs". King Leopold told him that the "most important decision deppends, in first place, on what the contry itslef requests, since only then you will be stepping on firm land" . Although his prudent first advisement, King Leopold was carried away by his ambition for his daughter and the prospect of extending Coburg influence in America, and encourage Charlotte to spur Maximilian to accept the Mexican throne. Nevertheless he advised them to accept only on the condition, thet both, France and England guarenteed their militar and financial support. He did his best, by the influence he once had with his niece Queen Victoria, to enlist England's support to the Mexican affair, but he failed inhis attempt, since Victoria was at the moment, haertbroken and inconsolable since the death of her dear husband Prince Albert, and she answer her uncle that "Albert had always been very much agaisnt the idea". So Leopold wrote to his daughter that it was little to be expected from England beyond moral support.
Nevertheless, Maximilian and Charlotte accepted the Mexican crown. King Leopold, who distrusted Napoleon kept warning his son-in-law to take no steps in the affair without assuring the French support: "It is you who are helping the Emperor to pull his chestnuts out of the fire, and in return you must get him to put into writing the exact period for which the French troops are rto remian in Mexico. The longer the better, as they constitute your chief support" . He also advised Maximilian to approach the Pope, since he was convinced that the Church was the best support for Max's interests. The King also supported the idea of sending a legion of Belgian volunteers to Mexico, and although it was to so welcome by the Parliament, it organized and sent to Mexico under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Van der Smissen.
King Leopold recommended Maximilian to take with him to Mexico, as an adviser, a Belgian mining engineer named Felix Eloin, who had gained the King's confidence by a report he madeon mining prospects in Australia and Fiji Isalnds, which made one think that Leopold had some interest in mineral wealth in Mexico. Eloin, being so close to Maximilian, could advise the King on profitable investments for Belgian money.
At last, on April 14 1864, Maximilian and Charlotte boarded the frigate Novara, which sailed from Trieste in direction to Mexico, where they arrived on May 21. It was a misfortunate adventure that of the Mexican Empire and King Leopold blamed himself for having advise his daughter and son-in-law to accept the throne. He acted as Maximilian's advocate in Europe, representing Mexican interests. Thanks to his efforts, his niece Queen Victoria had accredited a Biritsh evoy to Mexico.
King Leopold of the Belgians got ill during the last months of 1865. He only admitted that he was mortally ill, when he heard of the death of his old political enemy, the Biritish minister Lord Palmerston, after which he said he woul soon be fallowing Plamerston to the grave. King Leopold died on December 10, 1865. Although having placed his relatives in almost every throne in Europe, he died a lonely and embittered man; he was estranged form his sons and her adored daughter was far away from him embarked in an awful adventure, which he himslef had allowed because his ambition had overrode his judgement.