Théodolinde de Beauharnais

Théodolinde de Beauharnais
Princess of Leuchtenberg Countess of Württemberg
Théodolinde in 1840, by Friedrich Dürck
Born	(1814-04-13)13 April 1814 Mantua, Kingdom of Italy
Died	1 April 1857(1857-04-01) (aged 42) Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg
Burial	Ludwigsburg Palace
Spouse	Wilhelm, Duke of Urach
Issue	Princess Augusta Eugenie, Countess von Thun und Hohenstein Princess Marie Josephine Princess Eugenia Amalie Mathilde, Princess of Viano
Names Théodolinde Louise Eugénie Auguste Napoléone de Beauharnais
House	House of Württemberg House of Beauharnais
Father	Eugène de Beauharnais
Mother	Princess Augusta of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholic

Théodolinde de Beauharnais, Princess of Leuchtenberg (13 April 1814 – 1 April 1857), Countess of Württemberg by marriage, was a Franco-German princess. She was a granddaughter of Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife.

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 1840 portrait by Friedrich Dürck.

Marriage and issue

On 8 February 1841, at the age of 26, she was married in Munich to Wilhelm, Count of Württemberg (afterwards Duke of Urach), whose father, Wilhelm Friedrich of Württemberg, was a younger brother of Friedrich II, the last Duke of Würtemberg, whom Napoleon later (1806) elevated to the status of King of Württemberg, as Friedrich I. He was also a cousin of Princess Catharina of Württemberg (1783–1835), who became the second wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother, in 1807.

Four daughters were born from this marriage:

• Princess Augusta Eugenie of Urach (1842–1916)
  • Married first Count Rudolf von Enzenberg zum Freyen und Jochelsthurn (1835–1874) and second Count Franz von Thun und Hohenstein (1826–1888). Both of her marriages produced issue. Among her descendants belongs Danielle, Freiin von und zu Bodman (wife of prince Inigo von Urach, current pretender of Lithuanian throne).
• Princess Marie Josephine of Urach (1844–1864).
• Princess Eugenia Amalie of Urach (1848–1867).
• Princess Mathilde of Urach (1854–1907)
  • Married Paolo Altieri, Prince of Oriolo and Viano (1849–1901), by whom she had issue.

Her husband's second marriage to Princess Florestine of Monaco produced his heir, the future Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach.

Ancestry

Family of Théodolinde de Beauharnais

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. Théodolinde 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

Sources

• Théodolinde de Beauharnais at thePeerage.com
• Arnold McNaughton: The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy, London (1973)