The Cactus Throne The Tragedy of Maximilian and Carlotta

KIRKUS REVIEW The sad chimney corner tale of the death of an emperor and his consort -- the handsome but hapless Hapsburg, Maximilian, and his Belgian bride -- who in spite of their steadfast pursuit of imperialistic chimeras still represent the tragedy of innocence used and destroyed. More or less shunted aside by his less well favored older brother, Franz Joseph of Austria, Maximilian, buoyant, popular, with a heady idealism not yet soured, married good looking, competent Charlotte of Belgium. After a sojourn in Italy and a honeymoon idyll at their retreat at Miramar, the two were persuaded by the Hapsburgs and Louis Napoleon III to accept the ""crown"" of Mexico in an agreement with Mexican conservatives. But the golden vision became a Sargasso Sea of eelgrass as the throne, wildly unstable to begin with, was barely held by foreign French troops while Juarez' native rebellion grew and waited. Maximilian's unwise idealism and bravery in a vanished cause (and a rapidly deteriorating imperial situation) was implausible, almost operatic. Poor Carlotta, destined for madness, travelled to plead for their throne before crowned heads and the Pope. Maximilian, gentle and high-strung, who took seriously Carlotta's advice ("". . . emperors do not give themselves up""), pursued an almost direct path to the wall. O'Connor conjures up convincingly the fatal choices poor Maximilian was called upon to make; he also offers a fascinating sidelight -- the pair were not ideal lovers but were for some time undoubtedly estranged. A prolific writer, he offers an absorbing tale of the little profits of an idle but attractive king.