Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg

Maximilian de Beauharnais
Duke of Leuchtenberg Prince of Eichstätt
Portrait by Karl Briullov (1849)
Duke of Leuchtenberg
Reign	28 March 1835 – 1 November 1852
Prince of Eichstätt
Spouse	Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia
Issue
Princess Alexandra Maria Maximilianovna, Princess Louis William of Baden Nicholas, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg Eugenia Maximilianovna, Duchess Alexander of Oldenburg Eugen, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg Prince Sergei Georgi, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg
Full name
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon
House	House of Beauharnais
Father	Eugène de Beauharnais
Mother	Princess Augusta of Bavaria
Born	1 November 1817 Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Died	1 November 1852(1852-11-01) (aged 35) St.Petersburg, Russian Empire

Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais (2 October 1817 Munich – 1 November 1852 St.Petersburg), 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, 3rd Prince of Venice ^[1] Prince des Français and Hereditary Prince of the Kingdom of Italy (a creation of Napoleon I of France) and claimant to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia

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:

• Auguste de Beauharnais, Duke of Santa Cruz, Consort prince of Queen Maria II of Portugal;
• Amélie de Beauharnais, Empress consort of Pedro I of Brazil;
• Josephine of Leuchtenberg, queen consort of Oscar I of Sweden.

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, 2nd 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. Alexandra Princess Romanovskaja (1840–1843) died in childhood
2. Maria Maximilianovna, Princess Romanovskaja (1841–1914) m. Prince Wilhelm of Baden (1829–1897), younger son of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
3. Nicholas Maximilianovich, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg (1843–1891)
4. Eugenia Maximilianovna, Princess Romanovskaja (1845–1925) m. Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg (1844–1932)
5. Eugen Maximilianovich, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg (1847–1901) m. Daria Opotchinina (1845–1870) m. Zinaida Skobeleva (1856–1899)
6. Sergei Maximilianovich, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1849–1877) Killed in the Russo-Turkish war
7. Georgi Maximilianovich, 6th Duke von 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

1. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p11051.htm#i110506

External links

• A Beauharnais genealogy
• A listing of the Ducal family of Leuchtenberg

Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg House of Beauharnais 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

Persondata
Name	Beauharnais, Maximilian De, 3rd Duke Of Leuchtenberg
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 November 1817
Place of birth	Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
Date of death	1 November 1852
Place of death	St.Petersburg, Russian Empire