Princess Mária Antónia Gabriella Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya (; 2 July 1797 – 25 September 1862) was a Hungarian noblewoman and the ancestor of several European monarchs. She was the sole heiress of the

House of Koháry The House of Koháry () was the name of an ancient and wealthy Hungarian noble family with seats at Csábrág and Szitnya (now Čabraď and Sitno Castle) and the palace of Szentantal (now Svätý Anton, Slovakia). History Origin The origin ...

, which belonged to one of the three largest landowners in Hungary.

Early life

She was born in

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

, as Countess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya, the second child of Franz Josef, Count Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya and his wife, Countess Maria Antonia von Waldstein-Wartenberg. Her older brother Franz died, aged two, on 19 April 1795. This left Antónia, from the moment of her birth, as the sole heir to the vast fortune of the

Life

On 30 November 1815, in Vienna, Maria Antonia married

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ferdinand Georg August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (28 March 1785 – 27 August 1851) was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and a general of cavalry in the Austrian Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Initia ...

. He was an elder brother of Prince Leopold, future King of the Belgians but then consort to

Princess Charlotte of Wales Princess Charlotte of Wales may refer to: * Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817) (Charlotte Augusta), the only child of George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV of the United Kingdom ** ''Princess Charlotte of Wales'' (ship), an East In ...

, who was expected to inherit the crown of Great Britain, and also elder brother of the

Duchess of Kent Duchess of Kent is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title used by the wife of the Duke of Kent. There have been four titles referring to Kent since the 18th century. The current duchess is Katharine, Duchess of Kent ...

, mother of the future

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. To make her a suitable bride for a prince, the emperor had raised her father (whose ancestors had been created

count Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

s in the

Hungarian nobility The Kingdom of Hungary held a Nobility, noble class of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, from the 11th century until the mid-20th century. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the lat ...

in July 1685 and

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

s in February 1616) to ''

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

'' Koháry of Csábrág and Szitnya in Austria's nobility on 15 November 1815, two weeks before the wedding, thereby allowing her to come to her bridesgroom already a princess. In 1826 at the death of her father Maria Antonia inherited over hectares of land in present-day

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

, Hungary and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, including estates, forests, mines and factories. According to a list of assets appended to the marriage contract of her son, Prince August, at the time of his marriage to

Princess Clémentine of Orléans Princess Clémentine of Orléans () (3 June 1817 – 16 February 1907), princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and duchess in Saxony, was the sixth child and youngest daughter of Louis-Philippe I, List of French Monarchs, King of the French, and his w ...

in 1843, the Koháry properties included the enormous ''Palais Koháry'' in the center of Vienna and several Viennese manors, a summer home and lands at

Ebenthal, Lower Austria Ebenthal is a town in the district of Gänserndorf in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Geography Ebenthal lies near Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one ...

, estates in Austria at

Velm Velm (, ) is one of the '' ancienne communes'' in the municipality of Sint-Truiden, Limburg province, Belgium. Velm is bounded in the east by the N80 motorway, leading to Namur, and in the west by the railroad from Sint-Truiden to Landen. H ...

, Durnkrut, Walterskirchen, Bohmischdrut and Althoflein, as well as a dozen manors in Hungary, the domaine of Kiralytia, and a mansion at Pest. As late as 1868, when Antónia's grandson Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alencon, married, it was estimated that he and his three siblings stood to inherit a total of a million francs just from their share of their late grandmother's estate. Until the first world war, her descendants, the Koháry branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, were among the three largest landowners in Hungary. Maria Antonia died in Vienna in 1862, and was buried in the ducal

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

on the Friedhof am Glockenberg, (Glockenberg cemetery) in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

.Harald Sandner: ''Das Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1826 bis 2001; Eine Dokumentation zum 175-jährigen Jubiläum des Stammhauses in Wort und Bild'', Neue Presse, Coburg, 2001, , p. 321

Marriage and issue

She and her husband became the parents of four children: *

(1816–1885); he became King consort of Portugal as Ferdinand II in 1836; his grandson

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

became

King of Romania The King of Romania () or King of the Romanians () was the title of the monarch of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when the Romanian Workers' Party proclaimed the Romanian People's Republic following Michael I's forced abdication. ...

in 1914 *

Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha August Victor Louis of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (; 13 June 1818 – 26 July 1881), was a German prince of the Catholic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was a General Major in the Royal Saxon Army and the owner of Čábráď and Šti ...

(1818–1881); his son

was elected Prince of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in 1887 and was elevated to

Tsar of Bulgaria The monarchs of Bulgaria ruled Bulgaria during the medieval First Bulgarian Empire, First ( 681–1018) and Second Bulgarian Empire, Second (1185–1422) Bulgarian empires, as well as during the modern Principality of Bulgaria, Principality (1879 ...

in 1908 * Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1822–1857); her son

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) * Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

was the consort of Isabel, Princess Imperial, daughter of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Pedro II of Brazil ''Don (honorific), Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the List o ...

. *

Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Leopold Franz Julius of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (31 January 1824 – 20 May 1884) was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. Early life Born ''Prince Leopold Franz Julius of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duke in Saxony'' on ...

(1824–1884) The couple were also ancestors of

Pedro V of Portugal Dom (honorific), Dom Pedro V (; 16 September 1837 – 11 November 1861), nicknamed "the Hopeful" (), was King of Portugal from 1853 until his death in 1861. Early life and reign As the eldest son of Maria II of Portugal, Queen Maria II and ...

Luis I of Portugal Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

Charles I of Austria Charles I (, ; 17 August 1887 – 1 April 1922) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (as Charles IV), and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from November 1916 until the monarchy was abolished in November 1918. He was the ...

Otto von Habsburg Otto von Habsburg (, ; 20 November 1912 4 July 2011) was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in November 1918. In 1922, he became the pretender to the former thrones, head of the House of Habs ...

Michael I of Romania Michael I ( ; 25 October 1921 – 5 December 2017) was the last King of Romania, reigning from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930 and again from 6 September 1940 until his forced abdication on 30 December 1947. Shortly after Michael's birth, his f ...

Peter II of Yugoslavia Peter II Karađorđević (; 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970) was the last King of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until he was deposed in November 1945. He was the last reigning member of the Karađorđević dynasty. The eldest ...

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria Ferdinand I (Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria; 26 February 1861 – 10 September 1948) was Prince of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1908 and Tsar of Bulgaria from 1908 until his abdication in 1918. Under his rule, Bulgaria entered the First Worl ...

Boris III of Bulgaria Boris III (; 28 August 1943), originally Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver (Boris Clement Robert Mary Pius Louis Stanislaus Xavier), was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until his death in 1943. The eldest son ...

Simeon II of Bulgaria Simeon Borisov Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (, ; born 16 June 1937) is a Bulgarian politician who reigned as the last Tsar of the Tsardom of Bulgaria as Simeon II from 1943 until 1946. In 1946, the monarchy was abolished by a referendum, forcing Simeon ...

, Henri, Count of Paris, Prince Boris of Leiningen and Prince Hermann Friedrich of Leiningen， Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of Grão-Pará, and members of the Imperial House of Brazil alive today.

Honours

*: Dame of the Order of Queen Saint Isabel, ''9 December 1835''

Footnotes

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koháry of Csábrág and Szitnya, Maria Antonia Maria Antonia Maria Antonia People from the Austrian Empire 1797 births 1862 deaths Maria Antonia Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel Nobility from Budapest Kohary, Maria Antonia Mothers of Portuguese monarchs