Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg

Maximilian de Beauharnais

Portrait by Karl Briullov (1849)
Duke of Leuchtenberg
Reign 28 March 1835 – 1 November 1852
Predecessor Auguste de Beauharnais
Successor Nicholas Maximilianovich
Born 1 November 1817
Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died 1 November 1852(1852-11-01) (aged 35)
St.Petersburg, Russian Empire
Spouse Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia
Issue Princess Alexandra
Maria, Princess Louis William of Baden
Nicholas, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Eugenia, Duchess Alexander of Oldenburg
Eugen, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Prince Sergei
Georgi, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Full name
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon
House House of Beauharnais
Father Eugène de Beauharnais
Mother Princess Augusta of Bavaria
Coat of arms upon marriage

Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (2 October 1817 Munich – 1 November 1852 St.Petersburg), was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon III of the French and Francis Joseph I of Austria. He was a grandson of Napoleon I's first wife, the Empress Josephine, by her prior marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais.

Childhood

He was born as the second son of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia of Bavaria. His maternal grandparents were Maximilian I, King of Bavaria and his first wife Marie Wilhelmine Auguste, Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt.

His maternal grandmother Marie Wilhelmine Auguste was a daughter of Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt, younger son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

He was a brother of:

Duke of Leuchtenberg

His maternal grandfather Maximilian of Bavaria appointed Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg on 14 November 1817. The title came with the effective administration of the Principality of Eichstätt. Maximilian was named "Prince of Leuchtenburg" and became the second-in-line heir to the Duchy.

On 21 February 1824, his father died and his older brother became Auguste de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg. His brother was yet childless and Maximilian became his Heir Presumptive.

Auguste eventually married Queen Maria II of Portugal but died childless on 28 March 1835. Maximilian became the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg at this point.

Marriage

He married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia on July 2, 1839 in the chapel of the Winter Palace. She was the eldest daughter of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia.

His father-in-law Nicholas I granted to him on 14 July 1839 the Russian and Finnish style Imperial Highness, a rank he was entitled to as a descendant of the extended dynasty of Napoleon I of France. His father was an adoptive son of Napoleon.

Children

  1. Princess Alexandra Maximilianovna (1840–1843) died in childhood
  2. Princess Maria Maximilianovna (1841–1914) m. Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1829–1897), younger son of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
  3. Nicholas Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1843–1891) m. Nadezhda Annenkova (1840-1891)
  4. Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna (1845–1925) m. Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg (1844–1932)
  5. Eugen Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1847–1901) m. Daria Opotchinina (1845–1870) m. Zinaida Skobeleva (1856–1899)
  6. Prince Sergei Maximilianovich (1849–1877) Killed in the Russo-Turkish war
  7. Georgi Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1852–1912) m.(1) Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg (1852–1883) m.(2) Anastasia of Montenegro (1868–1935)

Further descendants

Through his oldest surviving daughter Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg (1841–1914), he is the grandfather of Prince Maximilian of Baden (1867–1929), Chancellor of Germany during World War I.

His youngest daughter Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg (1845–1925) married Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg (1844–1932), the grandson of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, and became the mother of Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg (1868–1924), the divorced husband of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (1882–1960), the youngest sister of Nicholas II of Russia.

Ancestry

References

    Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg
    Born: 2 October 1817 Died: 1 November 1852
    German nobility
    Preceded by
    Auguste de Beauharnais
    Duke of Leuchtenberg
    28 March 1835 – 1 November 1852
    Succeeded by
    Nicholas Maximilianovich
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