Cristina Morató is a woman with great determination. She already demonstrated it as a young journalism student. She saved up until she could afford a trip to Nicaragua to become a war reporter. At 25 she began to become popular as a television presenter and then moved to the other side of the camera as a program director. Until about twenty years ago she decided to leave everything to dedicate herself to writing books. And if when she worked as a journalist she traveled the world with her camera to denounce the situation of women in disadvantaged countries; Now her mission is to rescue those forgotten by history and restore the image of those who were unjustly treated.
The latter is the case of the protagonists of the book that has just been published, Queens of legend (Plaza
For his latest book, Morató has chosen “five magnificent ones.” Three of them (Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great and Empress Cixí) “are on thrones and ruling the most important and extensive empires of their time,” he recalls. However, "historians, especially from ancient times, when they address their lives, focus much more on their sexuality and their lovers than on their achievements." They, along with Catherine of Aragon and Carlota of Mexico, continue to be surrounded by a black legend that Morató clarifies. “I wanted to give them a voice and try to show their lights and shadows beyond all the adjectives assigned to them.” Because deep down, “they were not angels but they were not demons either.”
ITS BAD FAME
Cristina Morató considers that Cixí has been one of the most abused women in history. “She was a simple concubine without much preparation and with her skills she managed to rise to power,” she says. “She has gone down in history as a cruel queen, unscrupulous, ambitious, without a hint of mercy, who ordered the poisoning of her son and surely also her nephew.”
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
“After his death, with the People's Republic all his achievements were erased. Mao was not going to recognize that it was a woman who laid the foundations of modern China," considers the biographer before continuing with some of her successes: "she brought the country out of its isolation, brought the telegraph, the railway, she opted for mining... she promoted great changes hidden behind a curtain, because she could not be seen by her ministers because she was a woman.” And she affirms that "shortly before she died she was already thinking about a parliamentary monarchy and that the people would have the right to vote, including women."
ITS BAD FAME
Although she was nicknamed the Virgin Queen because she never wanted to marry or have children, she has gone down in history as a “man-eater, whose list of lovers is endless,” explains Morató. She has also been considered a bloodthirsty and eccentric woman, especially "because of how she dressed and how she put on makeup."
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
Elizabeth I ruled for more than forty years “and forged an empire.” For Morató, her time at the head of England was so glorious that it is known by its own name, the Elizabethan era, as happened centuries later with the also long reign of Queen Victoria. “It is the golden age of England,” he notes. “She turned her country into a great military and political power. Let us remember that she defeated the Invincible Armada.” Much of her success is due to her qualities. She “she Not only was she a great strategist, but also a diplomatic, cultured woman and a great lover of the arts.”
ITS BAD FAME
Born in Laeken Castle near Brussels, the only daughter of King Leopold I of the Belgians was baptized Charlotte in honor of her father's first wife, who died in childbirth. And the fate linked to her name marked the princess's life. She survives her reputation as an "unhappy, unhappy woman, sterile because she had no children, and crazy because she lost her mind after the execution of her husband."
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
At age 24, Carlota became the first woman to govern Mexico. “She was a great politician, she far surpassed the capabilities of her husband, who was inept,” Morató details. She “was concerned about the indigenous people as soon as she arrived in Mexico and abolished corporal punishment, eliminated days of slavery and significantly improved their living conditions.” Furthermore, during the mere three years of her reign, “railroads and the telegraph were developed and laws of religious freedom and thought were promoted.”
ITS BAD FAME
The youngest daughter of the Catholic Monarchs and first wife of Henry VIII of England is still linked to adjectives such as “pious, docile and submissive.” That is, a woman “without character, and it is not true,” warns Morató. “She Even today she is one of the most beloved queens of England and the only one of the six wives of the promoter of the Anglican Reformation who still has flowers on his grave.”
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
Catalina is considered the first female ambassador in history. “She feels that the ambassadors that her father sends to England do not represent her well and she decides to be her own defender,” she explains. “She played an incredible role and I think that thanks to this she managed to marry Enrique.” Let us remember that she was first married to the heir to the throne, Arthur Tudor, who died shortly after the wedding. She “she was very intelligent, she had a great education and stood out as a patron of the arts.” In addition, she “promoted women's education and did many quality works.”
ITS BAD FAME
“The most perverse case of historical manipulation may be that of Catherine the Great,” considers Morató. “An image of her as a nymphomaniac and man-eater prevails,” especially after the Soviet army found her sex room after World War II. “In the Bolshevik era the legend circulated that she died from being penetrated by a horse, when she died of apoplexy.” She is also considered “an unscrupulous, cruel and murderous queen.”
HIS ACHIEVEMENTS
Morató points out that “she was one of the most beloved tsarinas and continued the work of Peter I the Great in the territorial expansion of the empire.” She also saved millions of Russians who decided to get vaccinated against smallpox following her own example. Furthermore, she was “a great patron, a friend of intellectuals and a great buyer of art,” creating a collection that feeds the Hermitage.
