Biography
The fifth of the seven children of Eugène de Beauharnais (1781–1824), Duke of Leuchtenberg, and his wife, Princess Augusta of Bavaria (1788–1851), Théodolinde was born in Mantua, Italy, and presumably named for Theudelinda, a 6th-century queen of the Lombards. She had two brothers (Auguste and Maximilian) and three surviving sisters (Joséphine, Eugénie, and Amélie). Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte and former Empress of France, was her paternal grandmother. The latter, however, died about six weeks after Théodolinde's birth.
Through her marriage to Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand, Count of Württemberg, Théodolinde became Countess ( Gräfin ) of Württemberg, but died before her husband was created Duke of Urach. She died after a short illness on the morning of 1 April 1857 in Stuttgart, Germany, and was buried in the family vault at Ludwigsburg Palace, with her heart buried at the Hauskapelle of the palace in Munich.
She was the subject of an 1836 portrait by Friedrich Dürck.
The House of Bonaparte is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of French and Italian origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Corsican nobleman Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Buonaparte. Napoleon was a French military leader who rose to power during the French Revolution and who, in 1804, transformed the French First Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799. Napoleon and the Grande Armée had to fight against every major European power and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, expanding the power of the dynasty.
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Through the second marriage of his mother, Joséphine de Beauharnais, he was the stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte. Under the French Empire he also became Napoleon's adopted son. He was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy under his stepfather, from 1805 to 1814, and commanded the Army of Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. Historians consider him one of Napoleon's most able relatives.
Frederick I was the ruler of Württemberg from 1797 to his death. He was the last Duke of Württemberg from 1797 to 1803, then the first and only Elector of Württemberg from 1803 to 1806, before raising Württemberg to a kingdom in 1806 with the approval of Napoleon I. He was known for his size, at 2.12 m and about 200 kg (440 lb).
Josephine of Leuchtenberg, also Josefina, was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 to 8 July 1859 as the wife of King Oscar I. She was also Princess of Bologna from birth and Duchess of Galliera from 1813. She was regarded as politically active during the reign of her spouse and acted as his political adviser, actively participating in government affairs. She is acknowledged as having introduced more liberal laws regarding religion.
Count Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand of Württemberg, 1st Duke of Urach, was the son of Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg (1761–1830), younger brother of King Frederick I of Württemberg, by his morganatic wife, Baroness Wilhelmine von Tunderfeldt-Rhodis (1777–1822), who had married in 1800. He was the first Head of the House of Urach.
Amélie of Leuchtenberg was Empress of Brazil as the wife of Pedro I of Brazil.
The Monaco succession crisis of 1918 arose because France objected to the prospect of a German national inheriting the throne of the Principality of Monaco. Prince Albert I had only one legitimate child, the Hereditary Prince Louis, then heir apparent to the principality. As World War I drew to a close, Prince Louis, at the age of forty-eight, remained without legitimate issue, unmarried, and unbetrothed.
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky 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.
The title of Duke of Urach was created in the Kingdom of Württemberg on 28 March 1867 for Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander Ferdinand, Count of Württemberg, with the style of Serene Highness. The first Duke of Urach was the first head of the House of Urach.
Duke of Leuchtenberg was a title created twice by the monarchs of Bavaria for their relatives. The first creation was awarded by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria to his son Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus, upon whose death without children the lands passed back to his nephew Elector Maximilian II. It was re-created by Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria on 14 November 1817 and awarded to his son-in-law, Eugène de Beauharnais, styled Royal Highness by personal grant, and with the style Serene Highness for his agnatic descendants. Eugène was the adopted stepson of the deposed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and had previously held the title of French prince with the style Imperial Highness. He also had been the emperor's heir in Frankfurt and briefly in Italy. King Maximilian Joseph compensated his son-in-law after he lost his other titles and named him heir to the kingdom after the male-line descendants of the royal house and next in precedence after the Royal Family.
Auguste Charles Eugène Napoléon de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg was the first prince consort of Maria II of Portugal. Besides being the 2nd Duke of Leuchtenberg and 2nd Prince of Eichstätt, he also held the Brazilian noble title of Duke of Santa Cruz.
The succession to the throne of the French Empire was vested by Bonapartist emperors in the descendants and selected male relatives of Napoleon I. Following the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, Bonapartist pretenders descended from Napoleon I's brothers have maintained theoretical claims to the imperial office.
Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg was the second child and eldest daughter of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. By marriage, she was a French princess and vicereine of Italy. She was the aunt of Empress Elisabeth of Austria and, by marriage, of Emperor Napoleon III.
Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt was Duchess consort of Zweibrücken by marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken and the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Eugénie Hortense Auguste Napoléone de Beauharnais, Princess of Leuchtenberg was a Franco-German princess. She was the second daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta of Bavaria, and a member of the House of Beauharnais. In 1826 she married Constantine, Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.
The House of Beauharnais is a French noble family. It is now headed by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, descendant in male line of Eugène de Beauharnais.
Duchess Amalie Maria in Bavaria was born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, the only child of Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria and his first wife Princess Sophie of Saxony. Amalie was a member of the House of Wittelsbach and a Duchess in Bavaria by birth. She was a member of the House of Württemberg, Duchess of Urach and Countess of Württemberg through her marriage to Wilhelm, 2nd Duke of Urach, the future King-elect of Lithuania. She was called by the French version of her name, Amélie, and was lifelong friends with her cousin, Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria.
Princess Florestine Gabrielle Antoinette of Monaco was the youngest child and only daughter of Florestan I, Prince of Monaco, and his wife, Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz. Florestine was a member of the House of Grimaldi and a Princess of Monaco by birth and a member of the House of Württemberg and Duchess consort of Urach and Countess of Württemberg through her marriage to Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach.
Duke William Frederick Philip of Württemberg was a prince of the House of Württemberg and a minister for war.
The House of Urach is a morganatic cadet branch of the formerly royal House of Württemberg. Although the Württemberg dynasty was one of many reigning over small realms in Germany into the 20th century, and despite the fact that marital mésalliances in these dynasties usually disinherited the descendants thereof, the Dukes of Urach unusually managed to elicit consideration for candidacy for the thrones of several European states, viz. the Kingdom of Württemberg, the abortive Kingdom of Lithuania, the Principality of Monaco and even the Principality of Albania. Although none of these prospects came to fruition, they reflected monarchical attempts to accommodate the rapid shifts in national allegiance, regime and international alliances that intensified throughout the 19th century, leading up to and following Europe's Great War of 1914–1918.
