Daniel Rey

Emperor for three years: the doomed reign of Maximilian I of Mexico

Edward Shawcross’s sympathetic biography shows how the hapless Habsburg was ruthlessly manipulated by Napoleon III and then cruelly betrayed

‘The Execution of Emperor Maximilian’ by Édouard Manet, 1868. [Getty Images]
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  • The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke who Created a Kingdom in the New World

    Edward Shawcross

    Faber, pp. 336, £20

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