Carmen Romero Rubio

Fabiana Sebastiana Maria Carmen Romero Rubio y Castelló (Tula, Tamaulipas, January 20, 1864 - Mexico City, June 25, 1944), second wife of Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico.

Carmen Romero Rubio was born on January 20 of 1864 in Tula, Tamaulipas to a wealthy family. Her parents were prominent liberal lawyer Manuel Romero Rubio, and Agustina Castelló. Her godfather was Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. She had two sisters, Sofía (Chofa) and María Luisa (Guicha). Known as "Carmelita," she celebrated her saint's day on the feast of the Virgin of Mt. Carmel, on 16 July. Her friends and family members organized festivals in her honor in Carmelite convents during her lifetime.

Carmen's father was active in Mexican politics during the late 1860s and 1870s. The Rubios were acquaintances, and frequent guests, of the American ambassador, John W. Foster. It was during a reception at the American embassy that General Porfirio Díaz met Carmen Romero Rubio. She agreed to teach him English, and a closer relationship evolved. On November 5, 1881, don Porfirio married Carmen Romero Rubio in a civil ceremony, with the President of Mexico Manuel González serving as witness, according to the new secular Reform Laws. The next day, the religious ceremony took place. The couple received the blessing of Archbishop Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos. They honeymooned in the United States, traveling across the country, using the opportunity to establish important contacts with American politicians and businessmen whom Díaz hoped would invest in Mexico. Mexican historians have seen the marriage as an important alliance between two rival factions of the Liberal Party (Díaz's and Lerdo's), but also as the beginning of Díaz's conciliatory rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church. The apocryphal memoirs of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada stress the importance of her mother—and not Carmen—in aiding Díaz's relations with the Church.

A year and a half year after the death of Delfina Ortega, first wife of General Porfirio Díaz, Carmen Romero Rubio succeeded her in the role of First Lady of the Nation.

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