Eugénie de Beauharnais

Eugénie Hortense Auguste Napoléone, known as Eugénie de Beauharnais, princess of Leuchtenberg (22 December 1808, Milan - 1 September 1847, Freudenstadt) was a Franco-German princess. She was the second daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta of Bavaria, and a member of the house of Beauharnais. In 1826 she married Constantine, Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.

Life

Early years

Born and raised as a Catholic, Eugénie grew up in the Palais Leuchtenberg on Ludwigstraße in Munich and frequently spent the summer months with her parents at Schloss Eugensberg, a castle built on Lake Constance (at what is now Salenstein) by her father. The family's behaviour was princely in every aspect - the French envoy Coulomb wrote in 1822: "Prince Eugène de Beauharnais lives in greater luxury than [Napoleon's] court". Their Palais in Munich had been built by the famous Bavarian architect Leo von Klenze for over 2 million guilders. Besides Munich and Schloss Eugensberg, the family had manors at Eichstätt and Ismaning. On her father's death in 1824, Eugénie inherited Schloss Eugensberg.

Marriage

On 22 May 1826 Eugénie married the Catholic erbprinz Constantine in Eichstätt. Eugénie brought hofkavalier Gustav von Billing (born in Leuchtenberg) to Hechingen as her financial advisor - he managed her large dowry on her mother's behalf and quickly won Konstantin trust as an advisor. From 1833 Eugénie and her husband lived at Schloss Lindich near Hechingen, the chief city of the Hohenzollern-Hechingen house, though they also spent much of the summer months at Schloss Eugensberg, thus keeping in contact with her aunt Hortense and her cousin Louis Napoleon, who later became Napoleon III.

Life in Hechingen

Eugénie had a great lust for life and even hunted deer with her husband in 1831. The couple took many trips to Munich, to Schloss Eugensburg by lake Constance, to the summer residence of the kings of Bavaria at Tegernsee and in 1833 a Grand Tour to Italy, which lasted nearly 18 months and went as far as Sicily.

Eugénie then sold Schloss Eugensberg for 32,000 guilders to Heinrich von Kiesow of Augsburg [Thurgauer Zeitung vom Mittwoch, 14. Januar 2004, Ressort Untersee und Rhein] . The proceeds of that sale financed her rebuilding of Villa Eugenia in Hechingen, where the couple took up residence in 1834. At the southern edge of the Villa's park, she acquired the Gasthaus "Zur Silberburg" and in 1844 rebuilt it as another villa, to house visiting noble relations. The surrounding gardens were also bought up and redesigned as an English landscape, now known as the "Fürstengarten".

Some of the couple's famous guests at Hechingen included her cousin Napoleon III, Hector Berlioz and Franz Liszt. The Hofkapelle had a good choir and from 1843 the Villa hosted Sunday concerts by members of the Museumsgesellschaft (museum society) and the Musikvereins (music society).

Liebevoll remained childless and sought comfort in increasing piety, setting up an old-people's home in Hechingen and (in 1839) a major "Kinderbewahranstalt" for the town (the building which housed the latter contains a bust of her and is now the Amtsgericht). The latter was set up for those children whose parents "were often hindered by business or domestic difficulties, at home or in the fields, from bringing up their small children".

She attended her father-in-law Frederick for ten years, mortally ill from war injuries, who died in 1838 at Schloss Lindich. Every Maundy Thursday, Eugénie and her husband washed the feet of twelve old and needy local people and then invited them to an "Apostelmahl" or Last Supper in the Billardhäuschen in the Fürstengarten, at which (after a grace) a stockfish with sauerkraut was passed round.

Eugénie became ill with tuberculosis and in winter 1846 moved into the so-called Hofküche directly behind the Villa Eugenia, since the Hofküche could be better heated. Her doctors gave her odd treatments, including the inhalation of Kuhdungdämpfen and the burning of Moxastäbchen on her breast. Due to the risk of spreading the disease, she could only see her husband rarely, and even then only at a distance. In summer 1847 she set off to seek a cure at the Badenweiler spa but on the return journey she died at the "Hotel Post" in Freudenstadt on 1 September 1847. She was buried in the vault before the high altar of the Stiftskirche in Hechingen. Her heart was stored in a cup, in a niche by the main entrance of the Stiftskirche. In her will she left her fortune of 273,000 guilders to charity.

Notes

Bibliography

*Anton-Heinrich Buckenmaier, Michael Hakenmüller: Constantin, der letzte Fürst. Glückler, Hechingen 2005
*Rudolf Marti: Eugensberg, ein Schloss und 2500 Jahre Geschichte. Huber, Frauenfeld 1997

External links

* [http://www.villa-eugenia.de/die_villa_eugenia.htm Villa Eugenia beim Förderverein]
* [http://www.monumente-online.de/05/01/streiflicht/villa_eugenia_hechingen.php?seite=1 Eugenie brachte den Glanz, Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz]