Archduchess Auguste Ferdinande of Austria
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Auguste was one of three children born to Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, by his first wife, Maria Anna of Saxony. She was an older half-sister to Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, among others. She was a member of the direct lineage of both Louis XIV of France and William the Conqueror.
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Early life
After a strict Catholic upbringing, she developed an interest in the arts and sciences early in life. Contemporaries described her as tall, beautiful and self-conscious.
Marriage and children
On 15 April 1844, she married Prince Luitpold in Florence. Luitpold's father King Ludwig I of Bavaria initially opposed Luitpold's marriage plans, since Auguste was already showing symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis before the marriage (the disease of which she finally died aged only 39). Through this marriage her descendants, the royal house of Bavaria, could also claim descent from the most senior branch, extinct in the male line since 1777, of the House of Wittelsbach; the last male member of the elder branch being Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, whose death sparked the War of the Bavarian Succession. The war ended with the ascent to the throne in Munich of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria, who was the head of the cadet branch of Wittelsbach-Zweibrücken, which remains until today the only extant branch. Auguste Ferdinande was descended from Duchess Maria Antonia Walpurgis of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony, who was the eldest sister of the aforementioned Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, and daughter of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor.
They had four children (with whom she always spoke Italian), including Ludwig III of Bavaria, and she was a great support for Luitpold in all his political activities. During the 1848 Revolution, she spoke against Lola Montez and sought to isolate opponents of the monarchy.
Her children with Luitpold were:
- Ludwig III (1845–1921), King of Bavaria, married Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria-Este (1849–1919)
- Leopold (1846–1930), married Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856–1932)
- Therese (1850–1925)
- Arnulf (1852–1907), married Princess Therese of Liechtenstein (1850–1938)
On her death, she was buried in the crypt of the Theatinerkirche. Luitpold never remarried, with his sister Adelgunde and daughter Therese taking over care of his household.