Senora B. Leonarz de Harding specialized in popular tales of kings and queens. In this volume, she tells the story of Maximilian and Carlota of Mexico.

Maximilian I of Mexico began life as an Archduke of Austria. He was offered the Imperial Throne of Mexico by Napolean III of France. His elder brother, Franz Joseph I of Austria and several other family members advised him to decline.

Instead, Maximilian and his wife Carlota (Charlotte of Belgium) sailed for Mexico and took up the throne in Mexico City in 1864. President Benito Juárez began a campaign to oust the foreign-born Maximilian.

As Maximilian and Carlota had no children, they adopted Agustín de Iturbide y Green and his cousin Salvador de Iturbide y de Marzán, both grandsons of Agustín de Iturbide, who had briefly reigned as Emperor of Mexico in the 1820s. They gave young Agustín the title of "His Highness, the Prince of Iturbide" and intended to groom him as heir to the throne.

After much political upheaval and deaths on both sides, Maximilian was captured by Republican forces and executed. This book is a detailed account of the events of the period.