Golden sceptre of Empress Charlotte of Mexico goes under the hammer in Monte Carlo, estimated at €100,000 to €200,000

This 34-centimetre symbol of imperial power, of 22-carat gold and weighing more than 400 grams, is adorned with diamonds of exceptional spectrum, rubies, emeralds, pearls, perforation, filigree and openwork threads. The heraldic ribbon bears the inscription San Juan del Rio 1864: the precious insignia was made to the order of the town council of San Juan del Río, and 1864 was the year in which Maximilian and his wife Charlotte, of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, began their reign.

The reign of Maximilian and Charlotte was a short one, only three years. Charlotte spent very little time in Mexico: Napoleon III, who had made her husband an emperor, soon cooled towards the whole enterprise and withdrew his support, and Charlotte hastened back to Europe in search of forces able to help Maximilian keep hold of power.

On departing for her homeland, the newly minted empress did not forget to take with her the gifts she had received in Mexico, this sceptre among them. But once back in her native Belgium she soon lost her reason: it began with a persecution mania and a fear of being murdered, and ended in schizophrenia, with which she lived on into deep old age in her ancestral castle, under the observation of physicians.

Charlotte was never told that Emperor Maximilian had been shot as early as 1867. They had no children. The heir of the Mexican empress was her elder brother, Leopold II, King of the Belgians. It was he who gave this golden sceptre to one of his closest courtiers, Adrien Goffinet, who had been the very man charged with bringing Empress Charlotte to Belgium. The men of the Goffinet family served the Belgian crown, and Charlotte personally, for several generations, running her court and answering for her safety.

The Goffinet archive, with its important documents on the history of the royal court, was bought by the King Baudouin Foundation as early as 1995. We shall see whether the Foundation proves interested in acquiring one of Charlotte's imperial regalia, which is being sold by none other than the heirs of her faithful guardian.