Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg

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

Coat of arms upon marriage

Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg (2 October 1817 Munich – 1 November 1852 St.Petersburg), was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon III of the French and Francis Joseph I of Austria. He was a grandson of Napoleon I's first wife, the Empress Josephine, by her prior marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais.

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

Family of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg

16. Claude de Beauharnais, comte des Roches-Baritaud               8. François de Beauharnais, marquis de la Ferté-Beauharnais                       17. Renée Hardouineau de Laudanière               4. Alexandre, vicomte de Beauharnais                             18. François-Louis de Pyvart de Chastullé               9. Marie Anne Henriette Françoise de Pyvart de Chastullé                       19. Jeanne Hardouineau de Laudanière               2. Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg                                   20. Gaspard Joseph Tascher de la Pagerie               10. Joseph-Gaspard Tascher de la Pagerie                       21. Françoise Bourreau de la Chevalerie               5. Joséphine Tascher de La Pagerie                             22. Joseph François des Vergers de Sannois               11. Rose-Claire des Vergers de Sannois                       23. Catherine Marie Brown               1. Maximilian de Beauharnais                                         24. Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken               12. Frederick Michael, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken                       25. Countess Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken               6. King Maximilian I of Bavaria                             26. Joseph Charles, Count Palatine of Sulzbach               13. Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach                       27. Countess Palatine Elizabeth Augusta Sophie of Neuburg               3. Princess Amalia Augusta of Bavaria                                   28. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt               14. Landgrave George William of Hesse-Darmstadt                       29. Countess Charlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau               7. Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt                             30. Christian Karl Reinhard, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg               15. Countess Marie Luise of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim                       31. Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim

External links

• A listing of the Ducal family of Leuchtenberg at the Wayback Machine (archived October 28, 2009)

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