Princess Victoria, Duchess of Nemours

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Victoria Franziska Antonia Juliane Luise; 14 February 1822 – 10 November 1857) was the daughter of Ferdinand, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, and Princess Mária Antónia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya. Her father was the second son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf. Through her father, she was the first cousin of Queen Victoria as the Queen's mother was her aunt.

Biography

Victoria was born as the only daughter to Ferdinand, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and Princess Mária Antónia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya. Her mother was the daughter and heiress of Ferenc József, Prince Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya. When Antonia's father died in 1826, she inherited his estates in Slovakia and Hungary. Victoria's elder brother was King Ferdinand II of Portugal and first cousins included British Queen Victoria, her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as well as Belgian King Leopold II and his sister, Empress Carlota of Mexico.

On 27 April 1840, at the Château de Saint-Cloud, she married Louis d'Orléans, known since birth as the Duke of Nemours, second son of King Louis Philippe of France. After the Revolution of 1848 in France, the royal family went into exile and settled in England. In England Victoria spent a lot of time with her cousin, Queen Victoria, with whom she was extraordinarily close, at Claremont and was buried at the Chapel of Saint Charles Borromeo in Weybridge. Queen Victoria wrote of this tragedy: "It seems too dreadful almost to believe it, – too hard to bear". Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa, 6 September 1845

Ancestry