George Maximilianovich de Beauharnais | |
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Prince Romanovsky Duke of Leuchtenberg |
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Born |
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire |
29 February 1852
Died | 16 May 1912 Paris, France |
(aged 60)
Burial | Grand Ducal Mausoleum, Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg |
Spouse |
Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg (m. 1879; d. 1883) Princess Anastasia of Montenegro (m. 1889; div. 1906) |
Issue |
Alexander Georgievich, 7th Duke of Leuchtenberg Sergei Georgievich, 8th Duke of Leuchtenberg Princess Elena Georgievna, Countess Tyszkiewicz |
House | Beauharnais |
Father | Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg |
Mother | Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia |
George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky (29 February 1852 – 16 May 1912), also known as Prince Georgii Romanovsky or Georges de Beauharnais, was the youngest son of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.
George'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 in 1839. Maximilian was subsequently bestowed with the style Imperial Highness and given the title Prince Romanowsky. As the son of a Russian grand duchess and an ennobled Russian prince, George and his siblings were always treated as grand dukes and duchesses, bearing the styles Imperial Highness.
After their father's death in 1852, Grand Duchess Maria morganatically remarried to Count Grigori Stroganov two years later. 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 feign ignorance), Maria was forced into exile abroad. 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.
On 12 May 1879, George married Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg, a daughter of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg. Therese's elder brother Duke Alexander Petrovich had been married to George's sister Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna since 1868. Therese's grandfather had married Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, daughter of Paul I of Russia, and their descendants had been raised in Russia ever since and become completely "Russianized", much like George's own family. Thus, despite her German title, Duchess Therese, like her father before her, had grown up entirely in Russia. She was always considered a part of the Russian imperial family.