Noted for her beauty, grace and education, she married Agustín de Iturbide, who ruled briefly as Emperor in 1822-23 before he was exiled by the short-lived provisional government.

Ana María was born on 17 January 1786 in the Mexican city of Valladolid (present-day Morelia), considered by scholars of that time to be "The Garden of New Spain".

Her father was Isidro Huarte (1744–1824), a Navarrese nobleman who in the second half of the 18th century had immigrated from Goizueta for better opportunities, amassed a huge fortune and entered into a successful political career as Intendant of Valladolid de Michoacán.

Ana María possessed great beauty with features likened to that of the Madonna, although she suffered from a "chronic cough" and recurring fever.

[1] She showed gracious, exquisite manners while in Colegio Santa Rosa Maria, and it was in this school where she met the young Agustin de Iturbide.

Ana María was also crowned empress in an elaborate ceremony that was attended by the bishops of Puebla, Guadalajara, Durango and Oaxaca and presided over by Archbishop of Mexico Fonte.

[3][4] After the coronation, the imperial couple lived at the 18th-century palace of the Marquis of San Mateo Valparaiso, along with the sum of one and half million pesos for expenses.

By the time of the coronation, Agustín had half abandoned Ana María, but for political reasons, he had to reconcile with his wife, who was then pregnant with their ninth child.

He was fond of attending parties and revelries, where it is said that he met La Güera Rodríguez, who awakened in him a passion that led him to squander most of his fortune.

Her husband, the former emperor, continued to receive reports from Mexico as well as advice from supporters that if he returned, he would be hailed as a liberator and a potential leader against the Spanish invasion.

The Mexican Congress granted the family an annual pension of 8,000 pesos and allowed the empress and her children to go to Gran Colombia, but there was no ship to take them there.

Ana Maria, who had outlived five of her ten children, was buried in Vault IX in the cemetery at the Catholic Church of St. John the Evangelist, where she had been a parishioner for decades.