Obituary of Empress Ana Maria Huarte de Iturbide
March 25, 1861
Death of an Ex-Empress
An Ex-Empress died in Philadelphia last week. We refer to Madame Huarte de Yturbide, widow of the former Emperor of Mexico, whose decease took place on Thursday last, at her lodgings in Broad Street. This estimable lady, who has resided in Philadelphia since the execution of her husband by the Mexican government in 1824, belonged to a distinguished Spanish family long resident in Mexico. Her misfortunes, as well as her good qualities as a woman, had secured her the regard of the society in which she moved. A pension from the Mexican Government enabled her to educate her family liberally, and she has performed her duties as a mother and a member of society in a faithful and exemplary manner.
One or two of the sons of Madame Yturbide have, we believe, resided in Mexico of late years, and have held offices under the Government. Her daughters were unable to be present at the funeral, which took place on Saturday morning, at St. Joseph's Church.* The service was of the simplest, most unostentatious kind. There were none of the kindred of the noble lady, who once wore a crown, to follow her remains to the grave. A few gentlemen of Philadelphia, whose social position had brought them into intimate relations with the family in past times, attended the funeral; and scarcely one in ten thousand of the vast population of the city where she had long resided, knew that the grave had that day closed over one who once held rank as an Empress.
The sad affliction that has thus befallen the family of Madame de Yturbide recalls to the memory the heroic career of her noble husband. He was the great man of the best days of Mexico. He was the author of her separation from Spain, and the Mexican people, in the first flush of their gratitude fairly thrust upon him the crown which he had designed, in the famous Plan of Iguala for a Spanish prince. He was proclaimed Emperor with the title of Augustine the First on the night of May 20, 1822. For a long time he refused the proffered crown and it was only after the Congress had voted for him by a vote of 77 to 15 that he accepted it. In the following month the Congress voted unanimously for making the crown hereditary in the family of Yturbide, and soon after he was solemnly crowned.
But the fickle and faithless Mexican people did not stand by the monarch they had chose. The military leaders that have been the curse of the country began to conspire against the Government. A civil war arose, in which Santa Anna soon became a prominent leader against the Emperor. A republic was proclaimed and on the 20th of March 1823, after a turbulent reign of less than a year, Yturbide abdicated. Permission was granted to him to leave the country, and a pension of $25,000 a year was allowed him. He went with his family to Italy, but returned, in 1824, to Mexico, where, in the meantime, he had been proscribed as a traitor, though he did not know the fact. Gen. Garza, the Governor of Tamanlipas, pretending friendship, betrayed him to the Congress of that State, and he was immediately arrested, and, without a trial, was sentenced to death. The sentence was carried into effect at Padilla, July 19th, 1824, less than a week from the time of his landing on the coast, and before an appeal could be made to the general Government at Mexico. He died like a hero, addressing some manly words to the soldiers, and himself adjusting the bandage over his eyes before he was shot. Mexico has never had a braver man or a purer patriot in her Government.
* This church is now named St. John the Evangelist. It was formerly the Cathedral of Philadelphia. Between 1852 and 1860, St. John Neumann was the Bishop of Philadelphia and celebrated Mass daily in this church. In all likelihood, the Empress regularly received communion from the hands of the first male Saint from the United States.