Elisabeth of Saxony | |||||
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Duchess of Genoa Marchioness Rapallo |
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Born |
Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony |
4 February 1830||||
Died | 14 August 1912 Stresa, Piedmont, Kingdom of Italy |
(aged 82)||||
Spouse |
Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa Niccolò, Marchese Rapallo |
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Issue |
Margherita, Queen of Italy Thomas, Duke of Genoa |
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House | Wettin | ||||
Father | John of Saxony | ||||
Mother | Amalie Auguste of Bavaria | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Full name | |
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Maria Elisabeth Maximiliana Ludovika Amalie Franziska Sophia Leopoldine Anna Baptista Xaveria Nepomucena |
Elisabeth of Saxony (German: Prinzessin Elisabeth von Sachsen, Herzogin zu Sachsen; 4 February 1830 – 14 August 1912) was a Princess of Saxony who married the second son of the King of Sardinia. She was the mother of Margherita, Queen of Italy.
She was born in Dresden, capital of Saxony, as daughter of King John of Saxony and his wife Amalie Auguste of Bavaria. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Maximilian of Saxony and Carolina of Parma. Her maternal grandparents were King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Karoline of Baden.
On 22 April 1850, she married, in Dresden Cathedral, Prince Ferdinand, 1st Duke of Genoa, second son of King Charles Albert of Sardinia and Maria Theresa of Austria and Tuscany. Their marriage was a dynastic arrangement, and it was generally held to be loveless.
The couple had two children:
On 10 February 1855 her husband died in Turin, leaving Elizabeth a widow at the age of 25.
Before her second year of widowhood had ended, she remarried on 4 October 1856 with her chamberlain Niccolò, Marchese Rapallo. They married secretly, before her period of official mourning was over. This act so infuritated her brother-in-law Victor Emmanuel II of Italy that he ordered her into virtual exile and disallowed her from seeing her two children. They were later reunited however.
In 1882, her second husband committed suicide. Court gossip had often hinted that their marriage was unhappy, and his suicide added fuel to these stories. Elisabeth had no children from her second marriage.