Maria Maximilianowna von Leuchtenberg
Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, also known as Princess Maria Romanovskya, Maria, Princess Romanovskaja, or Marie Maximiliane[1] (16 October 1841 - 16 February 1914) was the eldest daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.[2]
Family and early life
Maria's father Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg had traveled to St. Petersburg, eventually winning the hand of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Nicholas I's eldest daughter. Maximilian was subsequently bestowed with the style Imperial Highness and given the title Prince Romanowsky.[3]
As the daughter of a Russian grand duchess, Maria ("Marusya") and her siblings (Nicholas, Eugen, Eugenia, Sergei, and George) were always treated as grand dukes and duchesses, bearing the styles Imperial Highness.[4] After their father's death in 1852, their mother morganatically remarried to Count Grigori Stroganov two years later.[5] As this union was kept secret from her father Emperor Nicholas I (and her brother Emperor Alexander II could not permit the union, preferring instead to pretend he knew not of it), Grand Duchess Maria was forced into exile abroad.[5] Alexander felt sympathy for his sister however, and paid special attention to her children from her first marriage, who lived in St. Petersburg without their mother.[5]
1866 assassination attempt
On 4 April 1866, Maria and her brother Nicholas were accompanying their uncle Alexander in St. Petersburg, when an assassination was attempted.[6][7] Alexander stopped to put on an overcoat before climbing into his carriage, when a man quickly aimed a pistol at him; only the swift action of a man named Komissaroff, who knocked the man's hand up in the air, saved the emperor's life.[6][7]
Marriage
There were various suitors for Maria's hand in marriage. Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov, a friend of Emperor Alexander II, dared to court his niece, only to be reprimanded most severely.[8]
On 11 February 1863 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Maria married Prince Wilhelm of Baden.[9][2][6][10] He was a younger son of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and his wife Princess Sophie of Sweden. Upon learning of the marriage, United States President Abraham Lincoln sent a letter to Wilhelm's elder brother Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden in which Lincoln stated: "I participate in the satisfaction afforded by this happy event and pray Your Royal Highness to accept my sincere congratulations upon the occasion together with the assurances of my highest consideration".[11]
They had two children:
- Princess Sophie Marie Luise Amelie Josephine of Baden (26 July 1865 - 29 November 1939); married Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt.[2][10][12]
- Prince Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm of Baden (10 July 1867 - 6 November 1929); married Princess Marie Louise of Hanover.[2][10] Maximilian was the heir apparent to the Grand Duchy of Baden.[3]
Later life
After her marriage, Maria spent most of her time in Germany, paying only rare visits to Russia.[13]
During the Franco-Prussian War, Wilhelm served with the Prussian army under the command of Wilhelm I. On 29 July, Maria and her husband stayed with Crown Prince Frederick, and according to the prince's memoirs, "distracted us for the moment from the anxieties of the present".[14]
Prince Wilhelm died on 27 April 1897, leaving Princess Maria widowed until her own death, on 16 February 1914 in St. Petersburg.[2][15]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles and styles
- 16 October 1841 – 11 February 1863: Her Imperial Highness Princess Maria of Leuchtenberg[4][11]
- 11 February 1863 – 16 February 1914: Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Wilhelm of Baden
Ancestry
References
- ↑ Referenzfehler: Ungültiges
<ref>-Tag; kein Text angegeben für Einzelnachweis mit dem Namen RG. - ↑ a b c d e Darryl Lundy: The Peerage: Mariya Herzogin von Leuchtenberg. Abgerufen am 16. Oktober 2010.
- ↑ a b Vorlage:Citation
- ↑ a b Catherine Radziwill: Memories of Forty Years. Funk & Wagnalls Company, London 1915, S. 235 (google.com).
- ↑ a b c Edvard Radzinsky: Alexander II, The Last Great Tsar. Free Press, New York 2005, ISBN 0743273329(?!), S. 177.
- ↑ a b c Joseph Florimond Loubat: Narrative of the mission to Russia, in 1866, of the Hon. Gustavus Vasa Fox. D. Appleton & Company, New York 1878, S. 10–11 (google.com).
- ↑ a b Radzinsky, p. 177-79.
- ↑ Radzinsky, p. 185.
- ↑ Vorlage:Citation
- ↑ a b c Frederick Martin: The Stateman's Year-Book Statistical And Historical Annual of the States Of The Civilised World For The Year 1880. Macmillan and Co., London 1880, S. 147 (google.com).
- ↑ a b Abraham Lincoln: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 6. H. Wolff Book Manufacturing Company, New York 1953, ISBN 1-4344-7697-9, S. 171 (google.com).
- ↑ Paul Theroff: BADEN. Paul Theroff's Royal Genealogy Site, abgerufen am 15. August 2010.
- ↑ Paul Vassili: Behind the Veil at the Russian Court. S. 127 (google.com).
- ↑ A.R. Allinson: The War Diary of the Emperor Frederick III - 1870 - 1871. Home Farm Books, 2006, ISBN 1-4067-9995-5 (google.com)., p. 16.
- ↑ Vorlage:Citation