In the room next door, while Maximilian was seeing the light for the first time, the Duke of Reichstadt was laying on his death bed, dying of comsumption. He was Napoleon Bonaparte's only legitimate son and it was said that he was Maximilian's father because of the tender love that had sprang out between Archudchess Sophia and him; no evidence testified this rumour. Sixteen days after Maixmilian's birth, the Duke of Reichsatdt passed away.
When he was three years old Maixmilian is described by his mother: "In his long white trousers and loose white shirt, Maxi flutters round me like a great white buterfly". Since he was alittle boy he showed up his romantic nature; when he was five, he asked his mother for permisson to accompany his uncle Ludwig to "the land where the orange flowers bloom". It took some time to Sophia to realize what heer son meant: he wanted to go out to the balcony where some orange trees were growing in tubs.
Max was the most charming of his brothers, but he was the naughtiest too. Sophia wrote: "You have no idea how his face changes when he is in one of his tantrums. His underlip and jaw stick out and his eyes narrow in rage so that he really looks quite terrifying and you would't believe it's the same dear little face we know" "Max is so good and full of heart but his carelessness and laziness make me worry for the future and one worries what will become of him".
As children, Maximilian and his elder brother Franz Jospeh were very attached to each other. They were both put under the care of a French tutor, Count Heinrich Bombelles, who recieved Sophia's instructions to prepare them for Imerias tasks.
While Franz Joseph was devoted to studies, Max was idleness and lacked of application; nevertheless he had a special talent for Literature and History. When he was seven, he announced that he wanted to have a family portrait gallery to which his maternal grandmother, the Dowager Queen Caroline of Bavaria responded by sending him a large portrait of his grandfather, King Maximilian I Joseph.
Max had a weak health during his childhood; he was often ill. When he was eight, he suffered an attack of scarltett fever and had to be isolated for ten weeks after which he was sent to recover himself to the with his grandmother, Queen Caroline, to the Bavarian alps, where he deligted his Wittelsbahc relatives and they delighted him too; Queen Caroline shared his love for animlas and birds and his uncle, King Ludwig I, often made him some gifts, like a jewel or a strange coin.
As the princes grow up, Franz Joseph showed to be more handsome and intelligent than his brother and to have a more firm and strong character; but it was Maximilian with his grace and symphaty, his delicate and fine constitution, his golden hair, his blue eyes with a sincere expression, his blonde beard, divided in two and well cared and his princely gallantry, who was loved by the Vienneses.
Both brothers practiced horseback riding, but it was Maximilian who overshadowed his brother in this activity; Franz Joseph rode horses without much enthusiasm. On the other hand Max, as more fastly and maddly he rode, the most pleased he was. He wrote in his memoirs: "To ride slowly is death; to trot is life; to gallop is happinness; I can't go slowly on horse". To gallop on earth was not enough, heights wre irresisitible for him: "I still hope extraordinary things from flight, and if the hypothesis of the aerostatic balloons once become true, I will devoted to fly, and certainly I will find in it the greatest pleasure"
Franz Joseph was obedient, methodical and punctual, and he had a particularly passion for drawing; he was the personification of duty. He disliked poetry, sentimentalism and romanticism and he administered money scrupously. On the other hand, Maximilian left his heart to govern him; he could be a great friend and he repaid thankfully to the freindship he was offered with. He had a noble character, he loved nature, the sea, the animals, good food, poetry and music and he sepnt money without moderation. Since childhood he was an inveterate colector of sea shells, paintings, rare plants and knowledge. He study botany, the sea world and he wrote his journey experiences.
Although both brothers were very different one form the other, both were very attached and they loved each other, but fate would made Franz Joseph to become Emperor of Austria at eighteen, and the fraternal love between the brothers would not oulive that critical moment.
In 1848 a wave of revolution devastated Europe and Austria was not the exception; the weak Emperor Ferdinand I, brother of Maximilian's father, was forced to abdicate and as he did not have children, his immediate succesor was his brother Franz Karl. But as the latter was neither able to rule, he ceded his rights to the throne to his elder son and on December 1st, 1848, Franz Jospeh became Emperor of Austria.
Now that his brother was Emperor, Maximilian had become heir to the throne. Dreamer and well intentioned, he wanted to serve Franz Joseph and help him, directing and being in the centre of the events. He frequently borught with him a cardboard in which he had written down the norms of conduct he should follow and were these:
1) Soul controls body and keeps it among the limits of moderation and morality.
2) Never to lie, not even in for necesity or vanity.
3) Be kind to everyone.
4) Justice in everything and with everybody.
5) Not to speak bad of neighbours
6) Not to respond irreflexively
7) Not to blaspheme neither to say obscenities.
8) Not to say anything indecorous, even it denotes talent.
9) Not to have supersticions since they are fruit of fear and weakness
10) Not to joke with the subordinated neither to chat with the servants.
11) To dispense fine attentions and considerations to people that surround us.
12) Being fair, use hard energy with everybody
13) Never to mock from the authority neither form the religion.
14) Not to get excited but to be moderated.
15) Listen to everybody but trust in few.
16) Not to let be swept by the first impresion.
17) Never to complain, since it is a sign of weakness
18) To distribute time in many and regular activiteis.
19) When judging the faults of others, think in oneself's.
20) At every step, think in the consequences.
21) Look for loneliness in order to think.
22) Take it cooly.
23) Time arrives for everything.
24) Nothing is eternal.
25) Keep silence when you have nothing better to do.
26) Two hours of daily excercise
27) When being unable, isolate completely form the world.
These norms of conduct were not allways followed, but they showed up Maximilian's intentions to be as perfect as possible. Nevertheless a certain feeling of envy began to grow in the Archduke's heart. When Franz Joseph ascended to the throne, a wide panorama opened before him and in the other hand, he, Maximilian, a young man, who liked activity, was unemployed. Maximilian's intentions of cooperating with Franz Joseph in the matters of government, were rejected by the new Emperor, who kindly denied his brother the opportunity to colaborate. He didn't even tolerate that Maximilian called himself heir to the throne; he wanted nobody, an much less such a close relative, oversahdowing him.Maximilian, realizing that he was only being given a secondary place and was being kept aside from government matters, he refuged himself, with sadness and bitterness, in his love for the sea. Between 1850 and 1854, he spent most of his time on board of different Austrian warships. His first cruiser took him to Greece and Asia Minor. In other journey he arrived to Spain, where he visited the grave of the Catholic Kings. There he was overcome with emotion of knowing himself descendant of the Spanish Habsburgs, and thought that it was only an accident that his brother was sitted on the Austrian throne, and he, only for being two years younger, had to wander around the world without a crown.
In the winter of 1851, during the Viena Carnival season, Maximilian attended several balls, in one of which she met young Countess Paola von Linden, daughter of the Minister of Würtemberg. Maximilian had had his first amatory experiences with Italian actresses and dancer he had met in brothels and dance halls in Trieste, and to meet Paola meant a contrast for him, since she looked so innocent with her large blue eyes, her delicate features and heat-shaped face, dressed in her traditional white ball dress, that he fell in love with her. They met in several subsequent balls and Paola wrote later in her memoirs: "We were always laughing and chatting together and at every ball he partenered me for a waltz amd a cotillion. He was not such an accomplished dancer as the Emperor but so much better company"
When the Carnival season ended, Max and Paola did not see each other for a year. In February 1852, they met again during the new season. This time the Archduke's attitude became more serious towards the yung countess, telling her not only about his travels but of his personal problems, which made Paola feel inmensely flattered. It was until the last ball of the season when he dared to send her flowers to her house.
Soon Archduchess Sophia realized what was happening between her second son and the young countess during an opera performance when Max did not keep his eyes away form Paola. She souldn't allow such affair; Maximilian had to marry a princess form an European Royal house and not to the daughter of a mere ambassador. Sophia took action immediately and it was tactfully suggested that Paola's father had been so many years in Vienna and he needed a change of post. Max was sent in another cruiser and his mother arrange for him to visit the Spanish and Portugese courts in order to look for a suitable princess to get married.
He soon forgot Paolar; when they met again in Berlin a year later, he scarcely turn to look at her, and he practicly ignored her; another girl ocuupied now the Archduke's thoughts. In the summer of 1852 he visited the court of Portugal. Maria da Gloria, Queen of Portugal, was Max's cousin; her mother was Archduke Franz Karl's sister, Leopoldine, who had died in 1826. The Queen's father had been King Pedro IV of Portugal, better known as Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, who at his father's death he renounce his claims to the Portuguese crown in favour of his seven year-old-daughter. As he was in Brazil, the Portuguese throne was ursurped by his younger brother Miguel. When a revolution in Brazil forced him to abdicate, he return to Portugal and recovered the throne for his daughter. Pedro retired from public life and died of comsumption in 1834. When Leopoldine died, Pedro had married again with Princess Amalia of Leuchtenberg, who was also Maximilian's cousin since she was the daughter of Archduchess Sophia's half sister, Amalia of Bavaria and Prince Eugene of Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte's stepson. By the time when Maximilian visited the Portuguese court, Amalia was living there with the only daughter she had with Pedro, the beautiful Maria Amalia of Braganza, who succeded in vanishing Paola von Linden from Maximilian's heart.
He returned to Vienna on a wave of euphoria, but the news of his new love affair was not received with enthusiasm by the Emperor, his father and other Habsburg relatives. Only his mother supported him, since the bride was her own sister's grandaughter. Franz Joseph gave in to his mother's will and it was decided that Maximilian should wait a year to announce his engagement. Soon Maria Amalia began to receive letters and poems; but it would not last too long. María Amalia was delicate and she died of comsumption on February 4 1853. Maximilian was heartbroken; the shadow of the girl who would be his life love, although he had met her for only a week, would haunt him for the rest of his life.
During the current year of 1853, Maximilian refuge his sadness for his bride's death in his work in the fleet. He was glad when his duties took him to Bocche di Garatto on the Turkish frontier. He loved the Dalmatian coast and he had already decided that he would set his home bessides the Adriatic. He was there when he recieved the news that his brother the Emperor had suffered an attempt against his life and was wounded. Full of worries and affection Max fled towards Franz Josef bedside, only to be asked in a coldly and hostile tone why he had left his post without permisson. The Emperor could not see his brother's noble feelings and he believed Max was only anxiously waiting for the succession. When franz Jospeh had recovered, Max showed again his noble feelings when he launched an appeal for funds to build a church in thanksgiving for the Emperor's recover.
In the summer of 1853 Max received his first diplomatic mission; he had to enquired about the alleged ill-treatment of Catholic priest in Turkish Albania. He was chosen because of his delicacy a tact, neeeded for the ission since Austria wanted to assure her possition as a protecting power without offending the Turks.
A year later Maximilian was appointed commander-in-chief and raised to the rank of Real-Admiral. The appointement was criticized by many in the court becasue of Max's inexperience and youth, but as Admiral Tegetthoff wrote in his dairy, "the Archduke amy be young and inexperience, but he has the interests of the Navy really at heart". Max recieved the appointment with great joy amnd he was determined to proved himslef he was worthy of his brother's worth. He began his work with energy and enthusiasm and between the years of 1854 and 1859 he may be said to havel laid the fundations of the modern Austrian Navy. His trips to Mediterranean ports and dockyard familiarized him with the revolutionary chnages in naval design, which he introduce into the Austrian Navy; he built and fortified the new naval dockyard and arsenal at Pola; he founded a maritime museum and hydrographical institute, interesting himself in oceanography.