Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (Mathilde Marie Theresia Henriette Christine Luitpolda; 17 August 1877 – 6 August 1906) was the sixth child of

Ludwig III of Bavaria Ludwig III (Ludwig Luitpold Josef Maria Aloys Alfred; 7 January 1845 – 18 October 1921) was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918. Initially, he served in the Bavarian Army, Bavarian military as a lieutenant and went on to hold ...

and Maria Theresa of Austria-Este. After her early death, ''Life-Dreams: The Poems of a Blighted Life'', a collection of poems she wrote, was published in 1910.

Family and early life

Princess Mathilde was born on 17 August 1877 as the sixth child and third daughter of

at the family's summer residence of '' Villa Amsee'' in

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

. Though she was the favorite daughter of her father, she and her mother were not close. Some speculate that she only married as an escape from her home.

Later years

Marriage and issue

Various candidates were rumored to be engaged to Princess Mathilde at different times. These included, in 1896, the Prince of Naples, but he married

Princess Elena of Montenegro Elena of Montenegro (; 8 January 1873 – 28 November 1952) was Queen of Italy from 29 July 1900 until 9 May 1946 as the wife of King Victor Emmanuel III. As Victor Emmanuel's wife, she briefly claimed the titles Empress of Ethiopia and Quee ...

later that year. Others included

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassination in Sarajevo was the ...

, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and Jaime, Duke of Madrid. On 1 May 1900 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Mathilde married

Prince Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ludwig Gaston of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Ludwig Gaston Klemens Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga; 15 September 1870 – 23 January 1942), known in Brazil as Dom Luís Gastão, was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Got ...

, a son of

Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Ludwig August Maria Eudes; 8 August 1845 – 14 September 1907), known in Brazil as Dom Luís Augusto, was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and an Admiral in the Imper ...

and his wife

Princess Leopoldina of Brazil Princess Leopoldina of Brazil (Leopoldina Teresa Francisca Carolina Miguela Gabriela Rafaela Gonzaga; 13 July 1847 – 7 February 1871) was the daughter of Emperor Pedro II and Empress Teresa Cristina. She shared the first name of her grandmot ...

. He was a captain in the Austrian army, and had been raised in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

as a grandson of

Emperor Pedro II '' Dom'' PedroII (Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga; 2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed the Magnanimous (), was the second and last monar ...

. The prince was also from the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

branch of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha ( ; ) is a European royal house of German origin. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal ...

. They had two children: Prince Antonius of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (17 June 1901 – 1 September 1970); and Princess Maria Immaculata of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (10 September 1904 – 18 March 1940).

Death

Mathilde died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

at the age of 28, on 6 August 1906, in

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Her remains are buried in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the little village of Rieden near her family home at Schloss Leutstetten. Her husband remarried a year later to Countess Anna of Trauttmansdorff-Weinsberg. In 1910 Mathilde's family anonymously published some of her poems as ''Traum und Leben: Gedichte einer früh Vollendeten''. In 1913 John Heard translated and published them in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

as ''Life-Dreams: The Poems of a Blighted Life''.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathilde, Princess of Bavaria 1877 births 1906 deaths Bavarian princesses Burials at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Rieden, Swabia) German women poets Princesses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry Tuberculosis deaths in Switzerland 19th-century poets 19th-century German writers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century German women writers Daughters of kings