Thursday, December 15, 2011

Royal Death: Ferdinand of Coburg

December 15, 1885

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, father of the King of Portugal, died at Lisbon earlier today, according to a dispatch to the New York Times.  The prince died as the result of a "facial cancer which had been aggravated by a fall."   The Portuguese royal family was present when the prince died.  Cardinal Neto "administered" the last rites to the dying prince.

Prince Ferdinand August Franz Anton of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the eldest son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Antonie of Kohary.  He was born at Vienna on October 29, 1816, and was  first cousin to Queen Victoria and the late Prince Consort.

On April 9, 1836 at Lisbon,  Prince Ferdinand married Queen Maria II of Portugal.  This was the second marriage for the Queen.  Her first husband Duke August of Leuchtenberg died in 1835.  Queen Maria II died at Lisbon on November 15, 1853.

Ferdinand was created King Consort Fernando II on September 16, 1837.
The prince is survived by his widow, four children, King Luiz,  Maria Anna, the wife of King Georg of Saxony, Antonia, who is married to the Prince of Hohenzollern, and Prince Augusto.   Three of the late prince's eleven children, King Pedro, Prince Joao and Prince Fernando all succumbed to typhoid fever between November 6 and December 27, 1861. 

After the death of Queen Maria,  Ferdinand married at Lisbon on June 10, 1869 to Elise Friederike Hensler, who was created Countess von Edla.

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