Leopold (29 August 1790 – 24 April 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden, reigning until his death in 1852.

Although a younger child, Leopold was the first son of Margrave Karl Friederich of Baden by his second, morganatic wife, Louise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg. Since Luise Karoline was not of equal birth with the Margrave, the marriage was deemed morganatic and the resulting children were perceived as incapable of inheriting their father's dynastic status or the sovereign rights of the Zähringen House of Baden. Luise Karoline and her children were given the titles of baron and baroness, in 1796 count or countess von Hochberg.

Baden gained territory during the Napoleonic Wars. As a result, Margrave Karl Friederich was elevated to the title of Prince-Elector within the Holy Roman Empire. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, he took the title Grand Duke of Baden.

Hochberg heir

Since the descendants of Charles Frederick's first marriage to Karoline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt were at first plentiful, no one expected the Hochberg children of his second wife to be anything except a family of counts with blood ties to the grand ducal family, but lacking dynastic rights. Count Leopold von Hochberg was born in Karlsruhe, and with no prospects of advancement in Baden, followed a career as an officer in the French army.

The situation of both the grand duchy and the Hochberg children became objects of international interest as it became apparent that the Baden male line descended from Karl Frederick's first wife was likely to die out. One by one, the males of the House of Baden expired without leaving male descendants. By 1817, there were only two males left, the reigning Grand Duke Charles I, a grandson of Charles Frederick's, and his childless uncle Prince Louis. Both of Charles's sons died in infancy. Baden's dynasty seemed to face extinction, casting the country's future in doubt.

Unbeknownst to those outside of the court at Baden, upon the 24 November 1787 wedding of then-Margrave Charles Frederick to Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg, he and the three sons of his first marriage signed a declaration which reserved decision on the title and any succession rights of sons to be born of the marriage. Although Luise Karoline's children were not initially legally recognised as of dynastic rank, on 20 February 1796 their father clarified in writing (subsequently co-signed by his elder sons) that the couple's sons were eligible to succeed to the margravial throne in order of male primogeniture after extinction of the male issue of his first marriage. He died in Karlsruhe.

Marriage and issue

On 25 July 1819, Leopold married in Karlsruhe his half-grand-niece Sophie of Sweden (21 May 1801 – 6 July 1865). Sophia and Leopold had the following children:

  • Princess Alexandrine of Baden (6 December 1820 – 20 December 1904) she married Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 13 May 1842. They had no children.
  • Prince Louis of Baden (1822–1822).
  • Louis II, Grand Duke of Baden (15 August 1824 – 22 January 1858). Louis suffered from mental illness and as a result, his brother Prince Frederick acted as Regent.
  • Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden (9 September 1826 – 28 September 1907) he married Princess Louise of Prussia on 20 September 1856. They had three children: Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden (9 July 1857 – 9 August 1928); Princess Victoria of Baden, later Queen of Sweden (7 August 1862 – 4 April 1930); and Prince Louis of Baden (12 June 1865 - 23 February 1888).
  • Prince Wilhelm of Baden (18 December 1829 – 27 April 1897) he married Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg on 11 February 1863. They had two children: Princess Marie of Baden, Duchess of Anhalt (26 July 1865 – 29 Nov 1939) and Prince Max of Baden (1867–1929), German Chancellor, and later the heir to the Grand Duchy.
  • Prince Charles (Karl) of Baden (9 March 1832 – 3 December 1906) he married morganatically Baroness Rosalie von Beust (created Countess von Rhena) on 17 May 1871. They had one son, Count Frederick von Rhena (1877–1908).
  • Princess Marie of Baden (20 November 1834 – 21 November 1899) she married Ernst Leopold, 4th Prince of Leiningen on 11 September 1858. They had two children: Princess Alberta of Leiningen (23 July 1863 – 30 August 1901); and Emich, 5th Prince of Leiningen (18 January 1866 – 18 July 1939).
  • Princess Cecilie of Baden (20 September 1839 – 12 April 1891) she married Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia on 28 August 1857. They had seven children.

Titulature

The title and rank of Leopold and the other children of Grand Duke Charles Frederick by his second, morganatic wife, Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg was initially ambiguous as stipulated in his parents' marriage contract (co-signed by his dynastic half-brothers at their father's behest), the daughters at least bearing their mother's (inaccurately attributed) baronial title, while only legally acquiring the title of Reichsgraf von Hochberg from 1796 when she was granted that rank by the Holy Roman Emperor. Leopold and his full siblings were not officially elevated to the title of margrave until 1817 when they were publicly de-morganitised.

  • 1830: Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen
  • 31 August 1843: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold

Ancestry

References

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