Гастон Орлеанский: Франциялық ханзада және әскери қолбасшы

French prince (1842–1922)

Prince Gaston of Orleans, Count of Eu (; 28 April 1842 – 28 August 1922) was a French prince and military commander who fought in the Spanish Moroccan War and the Paraguayan War. He was the first son of Louis, Duke of Nemours and Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and was married to Princess Isabel, daughter of Pedro II of Brazil and heiress to the Brazilian throne.

Gaston was born Louis Philippe Marie Ferdinand Gaston of Orléans (Portuguese: Luís Filipe Maria Fernando Gastão de Orleães) on 28 April 1842 in Neuilly sur Seine, a suburb of Paris, at the Château de Neuilly. He was the eldest son of Louis, the Duke of Nemours and Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. His paternal grandparents were King Louis Philippe I, King of the French, and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, and his maternal grandparents were Prince Ferdinand of Saxe Coburg and Gotha and Princess Maria Antonia von Koháry. A member of the French royal family, Gaston belonged to the House of Orléans, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, that in turn belonged to the Capetian dynasty. A Prince of Orléans, he was titled Count of Eu (comte d'Eu) at birth by his grandfather, King Louis Philippe. He was a first cousin once removed of both the British Monarch Queen Victoria and of her husband Albert, Prince Consort, through his mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. The prince received a refined education under Julio Gauthier and the historian Auguste Trognon. He learned several foreign languages, which included Latin, English, German and Portuguese. His grandfather abdicated during the Revolution of 1848. Only five years old at the time, Gaston followed the king and his family who went into exile in Great Britain, establishing themselves in an old mansion at Claremont, in the southern region of England. In 1855, at the age of 13, Gaston began his military career in an artillery course, concluding in the Military School of Segovia, Spain, where he became a captain. He had moved to Spain, after following his uncle, Antoine, the Duke of Montpensier's orientation. The Duke had lived there since his marriage to Infanta Luisa Fernanda, sister of Queen Isabel II of Spain.

After years with problems on the border with Morocco caused by constant attacks on Spanish cities by Moroccan pirates, Spain declared war on Morocco. The young Gaston was sent as a subordinate officer to participate in the conflict on the side of the Spanish forces. The Spanish military consisted of more than 40,000 soldiers, while the Moroccan troops numbered about 140,000 men. The Count participated in all of the battles, and after the end of the conflict he returned to Spain with a reputation for his military prowess. A few years later, his uncle, King Ferdinand II of Portugal proposed that he should marry one of the two daughters of the Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. He agreed to accept the proposal, but only after meeting the princesses. The Emperor's sister, Princess Francisca, who was married to the Count's uncle, the Prince of Joinville, wrote a letter to her brother describing the Count. "If you could grab this one for one of your daughters it would be excellent. He is robust, high, handsome, good natured, very amiable, much instructed, studious, and in addition, he possesses now a small military fame." Gaston arrived in Rio de Janeiro on 2 September 1864 in the company of his double first cousin, Prince Ludwig August of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, and went directly to the Palace of São Cristóvão to meet the Brazilian imperial family. However, Gaston was less than enthusiastic about the two princesses, whom he considered unattractive. Initially, the young Count was promised to Princess Leopoldina and his cousin to Princess Isabel. However, after getting to know them better, the Emperor decided to invert the pairs. Gaston became attached to Isabel. They were married on 15 October 1864. Earlier, Gaston was awarded the Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross and a few days later accepted the honorary presidency of the Brazilian Geographic and Historical Institute. In 1892, Alfredo d'Escragnolle, Vicomte de Taunay, gave his opinion regarding the two cousins when they first arrived in Brazil. He said that the duke of Saxe "had only interest in spending his life in a lazy and amusing way, he liked a lot of hunting and appreciated a lot the many joys that existed in Europe, while the comte d'Eu with all the defects that I can point at him, cared sincerely and a lot for Brazil and, believe it or not, he still loves it today with intensity and no second intention."