Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary

Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Braganza (6 December 1867 – 11 October 1922), known in Brazil as Dom Augusto Leopoldo, was a prince of the Empire of Brazil and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was the second of four sons born to German Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Leopoldina of Brazil.

The second grandson of the Emperor Pedro II, the prince was, for some years included among the presumptive heirs to the Imperial Crown of Brazil. Their descendants would form the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the Imperial House of Brazil.

Biography Early life

Born Prince August Leopold Philipp Maria Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke in Saxony, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he was the second son of Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Leopoldina of Braganza, Princess of Brazil. His paternal grandparents were Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Clémentine of Orléans (daughter of King Louis Philippe I of France) and his maternal grandparents were Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Empress Teresa Cristina (daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies). His elder brother was Prince Pedro Augusto of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; his two younger brothers were Prince Joseph and Ludwig Gaston.

His birth was announced by the Emperor to the nation in the speech from the throne of 9 May 1868:

Back in Europe, Princess Leopoldina reported from her youngest sister. The prince, however, had little contact with his mother, who died on 7 February 1871 when he was a little over three years old. His father decided to settle definitively in Austria-Hungary, where his children were in the care of their paternal grandmother. Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil had not yet had any children at the time of her sister's death and the lack of heirs had already caused concern among the Brazilians. In a letter dated 4 March 1871 the Brazilian ambassador to Vienna, Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen (future Viscount of Porto Seguro), said to the Emperor:

In his first trip to Europe, still in 1871, Emperor Pedro II decided to bring his grandchildren to Brazil, to create them as eventual heirs to the throne. A family council determined that Princess Leopoldina's two eldest children would be cared for by their maternal grandparents, being raised and educated in Brazil.

The re-acclimatization to the native homeland was difficult for the brothers. Accustomed to the luxury of the palaces of Vienna and Styria, they began to live in the modest and old-fashioned Palace of São Cristóvão, where they played little because of the rigid routine of studies imposed by their grandfather. They had as preceptor the then rector of the Externato Dom Pedro II, Joaquim Pacheco da Silva (future Baron of Pacheco), and they spent the days training mount and studying French classics, rhetoric, history, geography, languages and music.

Although his older brother enjoyed the status of Pedro II's favorite grandson, due to their affinity for studies, other chroniclers noted that Augusto's temper, completely opposite to that of his grandfather, made him the monarch's favorite.

Career Having inherited from his father and grandfather's love for the Navy, he entered as an aspirant at the Naval Academy in December 1882, at the age of fifteen. With a school curriculum described as brilliant, Augusto formed a marine guard in 1886.

In the Imperial Brazilian Navy, Prince Augusto arrived at the post of second lieutenant (equivalent, now the first lieutenant), serving on board the Niterói Corvette, the battleship Riachuelo and the cruiser Almirante Barroso, in addition to being the helper of orders of Admiral Eduardo Wandenkolk, future republican leader. Communication difficulties prevented the crew from learning about what happened before December.

After a few months, he joined his family and remained with Emperor Pedro II until his death on 5 December 1891. After that, he settled in Vienna, where he obtained, through his father, the special permission of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria to join the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Having conducted the entrance examinations, Prince Augusto was admitted to the Austrian naval reserve without prejudice to his status as a Brazilian citizen, as he explained in a letter dated 6 May 1893 to Baron of Estrela, his attorney in Brazil:

Prince Augusto Leopoldo of Saxe-Coburg and Braganza with his wife, the Archduchess Carolina Maria of Austria-Tuscany, and three of his children (from left): Princess Clementina, Princess Maria and Prince Augustus, c. 1900 In the service of the Austrian Navy (where he obtained the patent of Kapitän zur See, equivalent to sea-captain), Augusto had the opportunity to visit other countries, where he continued to be received with the deference reserved for members of ruling houses. In 1897, on board the coast defence ship SMS Wien, he visited Portugal, where he was received by King Carlos I, and the United Kingdom, where he was received more than once by Queen Victoria.

Marriage and issue

On 30 May 1894, August Leopold married Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria, in Vienna. His bride was the fourth child and second daughter of Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, and his wife Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. ), had been living in an institution for the mentally disabled in Schladming; in 1941, under the Nazi Action T4 euthanasia policy, the patients were removed to the concentration camp of Schloss Hartheim and gassed. Rainer Maria Joseph Florian Ignatius Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (4 May 1900, Pula – after 7 January 1945), believed to have been killed in action at Budapest. Philipp Josias Maria Joseph Ignatius Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (18 August 1901, Walterskirchen – Vienna，18 October 1985), married morganatically on 23 April 1944 to Sarah Aurelia Halasz; their only son and four grandchildren were barred from the succession of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry. Theresia Christiane Maria Josepha Ignatia Benizia Michaela Gabriele Raphaele Gonzaga (23 August 1902, Walterskirchen – 24 January 1990, Villach), married on 6 October 1930 to Lamoral, Freiherr von Taxis-Bordogna und Valnigra; their descendants assumed the surname Tasso de Saxe-Coburgo e Bragança. Leopoldine Blanka Maria Josepha Ignatia Pankrazia Michaela Gabriele Raphaele Gonzaga (13 May 1905, Schloß Gerasdorf – 24 December 1978, Hungary) Ernst Franz Maria Joseph Ignatius Thaddeus Felix Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga (25 February 1907, Gerasdorf – 9 June 1978, Gröbming, Styria), married morganatically on 4 September 1939 to Irmgard Röll. This marriage was childless.

Last years

In his last years, Dom Augusto acquired his paternal family's soft spot for art collections, happening to collect works done in ivory.

Honors Prince Augusto Leopoldo was a recipient of the following orders:

Brazilian honours

Foreign honours

Ancestry