My question here is a variation on the oft-asked What if the Prince Imperial Afonso Pedro of Brazil had lived. But the twist is that due to the POD being 1847 (Afonso Pedro survives his reported epileptic attack), the Princess Maria Amélia's death at Madeira (in 1853) is butterflied away, so she married Maximilian (OTL Emperor of Mexico) of Austria.
Now as for Max's jilted wife - the Princess Charlotte of Belgium - her father originally considered her cousin, King Pedro V of Portugal. But I was imagining that Leopold I (who liked collecting crowns for the Coburg) could be tempted by the imperial diadem of Brazil much as he was OTL by that of Mexico.
How would this switcheroo of brides (making Max Charlotte's step-uncle-in-law) affect the world? Might M. Amélia (whose death haunted Max and partly inspired him to take up the crown of Mexico) make a better consort for him than Charlotte? And how might Charlotte fare in Rio?
Now as for Max's jilted wife - the Princess Charlotte of Belgium - her father originally considered her cousin, King Pedro V of Portugal. But I was imagining that Leopold I (who liked collecting crowns for the Coburg) could be tempted by the imperial diadem of Brazil much as he was OTL by that of Mexico.
How would this switcheroo of brides (making Max Charlotte's step-uncle-in-law) affect the world? Might M. Amélia (whose death haunted Max and partly inspired him to take up the crown of Mexico) make a better consort for him than Charlotte? And how might Charlotte fare in Rio?