Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria


Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria was a daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. She was Duchess consort of Modena by her marriage to Francis V, Duke of Modena.

Family

Adelgunde was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. She was born in Würzburg on 19 March 1823. Included among her siblings were Maximilian II of Bavaria, Mathilde, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, King Otto of Greece and Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria.

Marriage

On 20 March 1842 in Munich, Adelgunde married Archduke Francis of Austria-Este, eldest son of Francis IV, Duke of Modena and Maria Beatrice of Savoy. The couple had only one child, Princess Anna Beatrice Theresia Maria. Francis acceded to the dukedom on his father's death in 1846 as Francis V. After the Italian Unification, Francis was deposed, and he and his wife were exiled to Vienna, where he died fifteen years later.

Death

Adelgunde survived her husband for many years and died in Munich at the age of 91. She never remarried and is interred in Vienna.
A pearl brooch formerly owned by her was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2012.

Ancestry