Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
| Leopold I | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Grand Duke of Baden | |
| Reign | 30 March 1830 – 24 April 1852 |
| Predecessor | Louis I |
| Successor | Louis II |
| Born |
29 August 1790 Karlsruhe |
| Died | 24 April 1852 (aged 61) Karlsruhe |
| Spouse |
Princess Sophie of Sweden (m. 1819–52; his death) |
| Issue Detail |
Alexandrine, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ludwig Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Baden Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden Prince William Prince Karl Marie, Princess of Leiningen Cecile Auguste, Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna of Russia |
| House | Zähringen |
| Father | Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden |
| Mother | Louise Caroline of Hochberg |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden (29 August 1790 – 24 April 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden.
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.
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.
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Wikipedia