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Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg (German: Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia von Bayern) (21 June 1788 in Munich – 13 May 1851 in Strasbourg) was the second child and eldest daughter of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. By marriage, she was a French princess.
| Princess Augusta of Bavaria | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess of Venice Grand Duchess of Frankfurt | |||||
 Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, c. 1825 | |||||
| Viceregal consort of Italy | |||||
| Tenure | 14 January 1806 – 11 April 1814 | ||||
| Duchess consort of Leuchtenburg Princess consort of Eichstätt | |||||
| Tenure | 14 November 1817 – 21 February 1824 | ||||
| Born | 21 June 1788 Strasbourg, Kingdom of France | ||||
| Died | 13 May 1851 (aged 62) Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Wittelsbach | ||||
| Father | Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria | ||||
| Mother | Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Early life
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Augusta Amalia of Bavaria was the eldest daughter of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1795, upon the death of her uncle, her father Maximilian became the reigning duke of Zweibrücken, but the troops of the young First French Republic occupied his States. Augusta lost her mother to tuberculosis in 1796; a year later, her father married the young Caroline of Baden, who imposed a seriousness on her husband’s court that some considered beneficial. At first, Augusta did not like her stepmother, unlike her younger siblings Karl Theodore and Charlotte, as she was still attached to her late mother; however, Augusta and Caroline’s relationship improved over time. In 1799, upon the death of his distant cousin Charles Theodore, Maximilian became count-elector, Palatine of the Rhine and Duke-Elector of Bavaria as Maximilian III.
Marriage and issue
editAlthough promised in marriage to the heir of Baden, Charles, originally, the engagement was broken at the behest of Napoleon I of France. On 14 January 1806 in Munich, Augusta married Eugène de Beauharnais, the only son of Josephine de Beauharnais and Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais and stepson of Napoleon.[1] In return, Napoleon raised Bavaria from a state to a Kingdom. Although a diplomatic marriage, this union would turn out to be a happy one. In 1817, Augusta's father named his son-in-law Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstädt, with the style Royal Highness.
Augusta and Eugène had seven children:
- Princess Joséphine Maximiliane Eugénie Napoléonne de Beauharnais (1807–1876); married Oscar I of Sweden, himself the son of Napoleon's old love, Désirée Clary.
- Princess Eugénie Hortense Auguste de Beauharnais (1808–1847); married Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.
- Prince Auguste Charles Eugène Napoléon de Beauharnais, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg (1810–1835); married Maria II of Portugal. There was no issue from this marriage.
- Princess Amélie Auguste Eugénie Napoléone de Beauharnais (31 July 1812 – 26 January 1873); married Pedro I of Brazil (father of Maria II of Portugal and Pedro II of Brazil) and became Empress of Brazil.
- Princess Theodelinde Louise Eugénie Auguste Napoléone de Beauharnais (1814–1857); married Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach.
- Princess Carolina Clotilde de Beauharnais (1816)
- Prince Maximilian Josèphe Eugène Auguste Napoléon de Beauharnais (1817–1852); married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna of Russia, eldest daughter of Nicholas I of Russia and received the title of "Prince Romanovsky" with the style "Imperial Highness" in 1852.
Death
editAugusta had outlived her husband and three of her children by the time she died in 1851 at the age of 62 in Munich. At that time, France's president was her nephew Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the son of Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland, the sister of Prince Eugène.
Gallery
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A young Princess Augusta. -
Augusta's marriage to Eugène de Beauharnais, by François Guillaume Menageot -
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Tomb of Augusta of Bavaria
Honours
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Kingdom of Portugal: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Isabel, 1 December 1834[2]
Ancestry
editReferences
edit- ^ Abbott, J.S.C. (1856). Confidential Correspondence of The Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Josephine: Including Letters from the Time of their Marriage until the Death of Josephine and also Several Private Letters from the Emperor to his Brother Joseph, and other Important Personages. New York: Mason Brothers. pp. 86–88.
- ^ Bragança, Jose Vicente de (2014). "Agraciamentos Portugueses Aos Príncipes da Casa Saxe-Coburgo-Gota" [Portuguese Honours awarded to Princes of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]. Pro Phalaris (in Portuguese). 9–10: 4. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
External links
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Media related to Princess Augusta of Bavaria at Wikimedia Commons