Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (Mathilde Marie Theresia Henriette Christine Luitpolda; 17 August 1877 – 6 August 1906) was the sixth child of

Ludwig III of Bavaria Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfried; 7 January 1845 – 18 October 1921) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. Initially he served in the Bavarian military as a lieutenant and went on to hold the rank of Oberl ...

and his wife, Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. After her early death, ''Life-Dreams: The Poems of a Blighted Life'', a collection of poems she wrote, was published in 1910.

Family and early life

Princess Mathilde was born on 17 August 1877 as the sixth child and third daughter of

at the family's summer residence of '' Villa Amsee'' in

Lindau Lindau (german: Lindau (Bodensee), ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Ge ...

. Though she was the favorite daughter of her father, she and her mother were not close. Some speculate that she only married as an escape from her home.

Later years

Marriage and issue

Various candidates were rumored to be engaged to Princess Mathilde at different times. These included, in 1896, the Prince of Naples, but he married

Princess Elena of Montenegro Elena of Montenegro (; 8 January 1873 – 28 November 1952) was a Montenegrin princess as the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and his wife, Queen Milena. She was Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946 as wife of King Victor Emmanuel ...

later that year. Others included

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. Fr ...

, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and

Jaime, Duke of Madrid Jaime de Borbón y de Borbón-Parma, known as Duke of Madrid and as Jacques de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou in France (27 June 1870 – 2 October 1931), was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Jaime III and the Legitimist c ...

. On 1 May 1900 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

, Mathilde married Prince Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a son of

Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Ludwig August Maria Eudes; 8 August 1845 – 14 September 1907), known in Brazil as Dom Luís Augusto, was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and an Admiral in the Imperi ...

and his wife

Princess Leopoldina of Brazil Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga; 13 July 1847 – 7 February 1871) was the daughter of Emperor Pedro II and Empress Teresa Cristina. She shared the first name of her grandmothe ...

. He was a captain in the Austrian army, and had been raised in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

as a grandson of

Emperor Pedro II Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, the seventh child of Em ...

. The prince was also from the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

branch of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (; german: Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bu ...

. They had two children: Prince Antonius of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (17 June 1901 – 1 September 1970); and Princess Maria Immaculata of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (10 September 1904 – 18 March 1940).

Death

Mathilde died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

at the age of 28, on 6 August 1906, in

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alps, Alpine resort town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Her remains are buried in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the little village of Rieden near her family home at Schloss Leutstetten. Her husband remarried a year later to Countess Anna of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg. In 1910 Mathilde's family anonymously published some of her poems as ''Traum und Leben: Gedichte einer früh Vollendeten''. In 1913 John Heard translated and published them in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

as ''Life-Dreams: The Poems of a Blighted Life''.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathilde, Princess of Bavaria 1877 births 1906 deaths Bavarian princesses Burials at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Rieden, Swabia) German women poets Princesses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry Tuberculosis deaths in Switzerland 19th-century poets 19th-century German writers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century women writers Daughters of kings