Carlos Francisco Agustin Juan Jose Eduardo de Iturbide y Hapsburg (17 January 1897 - 4 December 1994) was the Emperor of Mexico from 1951 until his death in 1994, ruling as Carlos I. Succeeding his cousin Juan II in 1951, Carlos I reigned over the increasing secularization of Mexico, its modernization, and its growing importance as a regional major power. He also helped reaffirm the power of the Emperor initially in his term, although his influence slipped with time as he grew older, dying a month and a half before his 98th birthday after reigning for forty-three years.