Princess Leopoldina of Brazil

Leopoldina
Princess Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry
Princess of Brazil
Spouse Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Issue
Prince Peter
Prince August Leopold
Prince Joseph
Prince Ludwig
Full name
Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga
House House of Braganza
Father Pedro II of Brazil
Mother Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies
Born 13 July 1847(1847-07-13)
Palácio de São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died 7 February 1871(1871-02-07) (aged 23)
Vienna, Austria
Burial Crypt of St. Augustin Church, Coburg, Germany
Religion Roman Catholicism

Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (later Princess Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry; 13 July 1847 – 7 February 1871) was a member of the Brazilian Imperial Family, the third child and second daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and his consort Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies. By marriage she was Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Duchess in Saxony. After having four sons, she died aged only 23.

Contents

Early life

Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Micaela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga was born at the Palácio de São Cristóvão ("Palace of St Christopher") in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was the third child and second daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Empress Teresa Cristina, born a month after the death of her infant brother Afonso, Prince Imperial of Brazil. She was a little less than a year younger than her sister Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil. Styled HIH Princess Leopoldina of Brazil, she was baptised at the Imperial Chapel by Bishop Manuel do Monte Rodrigues de Araújo, the Earl of Irajá. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Archduchess Maria Leopoldina Josepha Caroline of Austria.

Marriage and issue

Princess Leopoldina was married on 15 December 1864 to Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke in Saxony, second son of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clémentine of Orléans, in Rio de Janeiro. Ludwig August (in Portuguese, Luís Augusto) and his first cousin, Prince Gaston, comte d'Eu, were sent to Brazil to marry the Emperor's daughters, Isabel and Leopoldina. The original arrangement was for Gaston to marry Leopoldina and Ludwig August to marry Isabel, but the sisters decided otherwise and their father agreed to their wishes, having himself experienced the unhappinesses of an arranged dynastic marriage. Ludwig August and Leopoldina married two months after the wedding of Isabel and Gaston. She was thus styled HIH Princess Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She became a sister-in-law of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria.

They had four sons:

  1. Prince Peter August Ludwig Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (Rio de Janeiro, 19 May 1866 – Vienna, 6 July 1934); successor of his father in 1907. Peter died unmarried and was succeeded by his nephew Rainier.
  2. August Leopold Philipp Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (Rio de Janeiro, 6 December 1867 – Schladming, 11 October 1922).
  3. Joseph Ferdinand Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (Petrópolis, 21 May 1869 – Vienna, 13 August 1888).
  4. Ludwig Gaston Klemens Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (Ebenthal, 15 September 1870 – Innsbruck, 23 January 1942); married Princess Mathilde of Bavaria.

Leopoldina died from typhoid fever in Vienna on 7 February 1871, aged 23.

Ancestry

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Princess_Leopoldina_of_Brazil Princess Leopoldina] at Wikimedia Commons