Auguste Charles Eugène Napoléon de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (9 December 1810 – 28 March 1835) was the first prince consort of

Maria II of Portugal , image = Queen Maria II by John Simpson.jpg , caption = Portrait by John Simpson, 1835 , succession = Queen of Portugal , reign = , predecessor = Pedro IV , successor = Miguel I , reg-type = Regents , regent ...

. Besides being the 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg and 2nd Prince of Eichstätt, he also held the Brazilian noble title of

Duke of Santa Cruz Duke of Santa Cruz was a title of nobility of the Empire of Brazil created by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, dated from 5 November 1829, for his brother-in-law, Prince Auguste de Beauharnais, brother of Pedro's second wife Empress Amélie. Five year ...

Family

Being born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Lombardy, Auguste was the eldest son of

Eugène de Beauharnais Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marr ...

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's stepson, and

Princess Augusta of Bavaria french: Auguste Amélie Louise Georgie , spouse = , issue = Joséphine, Queen of Sweden and Norway Eugénie, Princess of Hohenzollern-Hechingen Auguste, 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg Amélie, Empress of Brazil Théodoline, Countess Wilhelm of Wü ...

. His

dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

connections were exceptional, considering his paternal lineage: among his sisters were Joséphine, Queen consort of

Oscar I of Sweden Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte. The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar i ...

, and

Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume L ...

, Empress consort of his future father-in-law

Pedro I of Brazil Don (honorific), Dom Pedro I (English: Peter I; 12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and List of monarchs of Brazil, first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he List of ...

. Later, his brother

Maximilian Maximilian, Maximillian or Maximiliaan (Maximilien in French) is a male given name. The name " Max" is considered a shortening of "Maximilian" as well as of several other names. List of people Monarchs *Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459� ...

would wed

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova; Russian: Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна, 17 July 1918) was the third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. He ...

, eldest daughter of

Tsar Nicholas I , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date = ...

Duke of Leuchtenberg

His maternal grandfather,

King Maximilian I of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (german: Maximilian I. Joseph; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) ...

, had given Eugène the title "Duke of Leuchtenberg" on 14 November 1817, after the loss in 1815 of his Napoleonic titles and the associated expectancies of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

and the

Grand Duchy of Frankfurt The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former territories of the Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Free City of Frankfurt itself. Histor ...

. Despite the promise of an independent principality inserted into the final treaty, the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

adjourned without creating a state for Eugène, so Auguste and his siblings had no inheritance. To the empty Leuchtenberg ducal title had been added the estate of

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese ...

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

, made a nominal principality, also by King Maximilian. Eugène's eldest son Auguste was heir to this modest property, which he inherited when Eugène died on 21 February 1824. On 4 February 1831 Leuchtenberg was one of three candidates for the throne of the newly independent

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, his Napoleonic connections allaying the concerns of some of the

Great Powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power in ...

worried that the breakaway Roman Catholic realm might otherwise ally itself too closely with the likewise Catholic and revolutionary "bourgeois monarchy" of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Belgian National Congress, Auguste came in second after the younger son of the

King of the French The precise style of French sovereigns varied over the years. Currently, there is no French sovereign; three distinct traditions (the Legitimist, the Orleanist, and the Bonapartist) exist, each claiming different forms of title. The three styles ...

Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours Prince Louis of Orléans, Duke of Nemours (Louis Charles Philippe Raphaël d'Orléans; 25 October 1814 – 26 June 1896) was the second son of King Louis-Philippe I of France, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Life Childhood ...

, though ahead of the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

candidate,

Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen Archduke Charles Louis John Joseph Laurentius of Austria, Duke of Teschen (german: link=no, Erzherzog Karl Ludwig Johann Josef Lorenz von Österreich, Herzog von Teschen; 5 September 177130 April 1847) was an Austrian field-marshal, the third s ...

. In the event, none of these men attained the Belgian throne, which went to Britain's candidate, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. He escorted his sister

to Brazil for her marriage to Emperor Pedro I and was created by his new brother-in-law,

on 5 November 1829.

Prince consort of Portugal

On 26 May 1834, young Queen

was restored to the throne of Portugal, gifted to her by the abdication – and subsequent conquest in war – of her father, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, who had to do battle against the

usurpation A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as ...

of his rebellious younger brother, Dom Miguel. Maria's childhood betrothal to Dom Miguel was broken so that a more pliant husband could be found to beget a new Portuguese dynasty, one whose loyalty might prove more trustworthy if he had no other prospects, such that he would be entirely beholden for his dynastic fortune to Portugal's constitutional regime. The Queen obligingly settled on Auguste de Beauharnais who, once again, proved unthreatening to the Great Powers because of his lack of membership in an already reigning dynasty and lack of conflicting foreign obligations or ambitions. He was also the eldest brother of Maria's stepmother Empress Amélie. Auguste and Maria II were married by proxy in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

on 1 December 1834. The groom was almost twenty-four years old and the bride fifteen years old. On his wedding day his bride conferred upon him the Portuguese style of "His Royal Highness The Prince Consort of Portugal". He arrived in Portugal shortly thereafter, and the couple were wed in person in Lisbon on 26 January 1835. However Auguste fell ill and died only two months later. The suddenness of this upon his arrival led to rumors that he had been poisoned, however no names of any suspects were ever produced. Childless at the time of his death, Auguste left as heir in Bavaria his younger brother, who became the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, and briefly Auguste's successor in ownership of Eichstätt which, however, he returned to the Bavarian king in 1855 upon deciding to make his home in Russia, the realm of his own father-in-law. A year later Maria II married Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a nephew of the Coburg prince who had beat out her first husband in competition for the constitutional crown of Belgium. Because Auguste died before fathering an heir to the Portuguese throne, he never became Maria's co-monarch, which Maria's next husband did in 1837, becoming founder of the Coburg-Braganza Dynasty.

Honours

* : ** Grand Cross of the

Sash of the Three Orders The Sash of the Three Orders ( pt, Banda das Três Ordens, or ''Banda da Grã-Cruz das Três Ordens'') is a decoration that combines the insignia of the Grand Crosses of the Military Orders of Christ, Aviz and St. James of the Sword. It is the ...

, ''1 December 1834'' – wedding gift of his bride, Queen Maria II ** Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword *

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Knight of the Golden Fleece This article contains a list of knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Knights of the Burgundian Golden Fleece 15th Century !Year of Induction!!Name!!Born!!Died!!Notes , - , rowspan=25, 1430, , Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, , 1396, , ...

, ''1835'' *

Sweden-Norway Sweden and Norway or Sweden–Norway ( sv, Svensk-norska unionen; no, Den svensk-norske union(en)), officially the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and known as the United Kingdoms, was a personal union of the separate kingdoms of Sweden ...

: Knight of the Seraphim, ''14 March 1824''

Ancestry

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Auguste, Duke of Leuchtenberg 1810 births 1835 deaths Nobility from Milan Auguste Brazilian nobility Portuguese royal consorts 2 Burials at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora Burials at St. Michael's Church, Munich Field marshals of Portugal 19th-century Portuguese people Members of the Bavarian Reichsrat Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain 3 3 3