pedro ii wife dies or they have a son in 1862

An interesting match - provided you are not chained to an 1860s POD - could be Charlotte of Belgium. Her dad wanted originally to marry her to King Pedro V of Portugal, but she met Maxie and the rest is history. Now if Pedro II's half-sister, Amélia survives in 1853, Max will marry her instead. Which will leave Charlotte footloose and fancy free to be considered for Pedro V. Then, in the midst of talks (or the talks with Lisbon end unsuccessfully) Teresa Cristina dies of some tropical disease. Suddenly, Leopold I is interested iwedding his daughter to an imperial throne (he's enough of a sucker for a shiny title to wed to sate ambitions; and the Coburgs in Belgium are enough of a parvenu dynasty that nobody will bat an eyelid at the king's daughter being sent to a jungle country on the far side of the world).

Pedro's sister, the princesse de Joinville organized matches for her nieces OTL with her husband's nephews (originally Pedro wanted her son, the Comte de Penthièvre and Charlotte's brother, the Comte de Flandres but they refused), so I don't think it's a major leap. Alternatively, he is a Bragança and the Iberian royals had a habit of wedding nieces to uncles so hecould marry one of Maria II's/D. Miguel's daughters.
Oh Charlotte of Belgium married to Pedro would be good, I like that. Could we see stronger support for Maximilian as emperor of Mexico then if he’s married to pedros sister
 
Mid-1850s for Charlotte-Pedro, 1853 for Amélia-Max, since IIRC she was on her way to Europe to marry him (or at least finalise the arrangements) when she died.

And AFAIK Charlotte's inability to bear a child came from a venereal disease Max passed onto her. So if Pedro's clean, she shouldn't have a problem.

As to her new stepdaughters, during his imperial stint, Max toyed with the idea of wedding his brother to a Brazilian infanta to provide an heir to the Mexican throne, so that might go through.

Concerning Max's foray in Mexico, if the POD is in 1853, its still a decade away. It might not happen or he might turn the crown aside or whatever. IDR what the Brazilian Empire's stance on their Mexican cousin was, but I don't see them supporting it any more - or less - than they did OTL. They'vegot their own issues in the 1860s.
 
Mid-1850s for Charlotte-Pedro, 1853 for Amélia-Max, since IIRC she was on her way to Europe to marry him (or at least finalise the arrangements) when she died.

And AFAIK Charlotte's inability to bear a child came from a venereal disease Max passed onto her. So if Pedro's clean, she shouldn't have a problem.

As to her new stepdaughters, during his imperial stint, Max toyed with the idea of wedding his brother to a Brazilian infanta to provide an heir to the Mexican throne, so that might go through.

Concerning Max's foray in Mexico, if the POD is in 1853, its still a decade away. It might not happen or he might turn the crown aside or whatever. IDR what the Brazilian Empire's stance on their Mexican cousin was, but I don't see them supporting it any more - or less - than they did OTL. They'vegot their own issues in the 1860s.
This is true enough, I imagine then if I’m correct that Charlotte would be pedros second wife. As Teresa dies in the early 1850s. And then Pedro and Charlotte marry in say 1856
 
Are we assuming that Charlotte's mental health issues were the result of the stress of her Mexican adventure? Could anything comparably stressful/traumatic happen in Brazil to trigger a similar breakdown?
 
Are we assuming that Charlotte's mental health issues were the result of the stress of her Mexican adventure? Could anything comparably stressful/traumatic happen in Brazil to trigger a similar breakdown?

AFAIK, there's no indication that it was anything more than stress-related at first. And Léopold II had no interest in her regaining her sanity, since while she was "unfit" he had charge of the inheritance her father had left her (which was quite sizeable IIRC, and part of the reason Léopold decided to leave his daughters zilch). Considering that she was still deemed sane before the interview wherein she begged Napoléon III to help Max (but he refused), and then went to Rome where she is the first official woman to have spent the night in the papal apartments, and the symptoms only started presenting there (persecution mania, for instance), causing the pope to drily remark "the papacy has never had a woman spend the night in the Vatican, its has likewise never had a woman go mad here", my layman's opinion is that she should be fine. Maybe jittery and nervous later on (Stéphanie and Louise (her nieces) both mentioned this), but her doctors later had only to remind her in one of her fits "Majesty, your behaviour is not seemly in an empress" to get her to stop. Also, she'd damage anything of Max's in said episodes.
 
AFAIK, there's no indication that it was anything more than stress-related at first. And Léopold II had no interest in her regaining her sanity, since while she was "unfit" he had charge of the inheritance her father had left her (which was quite sizeable IIRC, and part of the reason Léopold decided to leave his daughters zilch). Considering that she was still deemed sane before the interview wherein she begged Napoléon III to help Max (but he refused), and then went to Rome where she is the first official woman to have spent the night in the papal apartments, and the symptoms only started presenting there (persecution mania, for instance), causing the pope to drily remark "the papacy has never had a woman spend the night in the Vatican, its has likewise never had a woman go mad here", my layman's opinion is that she should be fine. Maybe jittery and nervous later on (Stéphanie and Louise (her nieces) both mentioned this), but her doctors later had only to remind her in one of her fits "Majesty, your behaviour is not seemly in an empress" to get her to stop. Also, she'd damage anything of Max's in said episodes.
So easentially keep her domestic situation peaceful and she should be okay
 
So easentially keep her domestic situation peaceful and she should be okay

It doesn't seem to have been hereditary (no Coburgs before or since seem to have shown such behaviour) either, so you should be good. Besides, Maria Carlota, imperatriz do Brasil has a ring to it.;)
 
Top