Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg

Duke (1817–1852)

Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky (2 October 1817 – 1 November 1852) was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon III of the French and Francis Joseph I of Austria. He was a grandson of Napoleon I's first wife, the Empress Josephine, by her prior marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais. A student of Moritz von Jacobi, he is known as one of pioneers in galvanoplasty and an expert in copper and bronze metalworks generally, as well as an art collector.

His maternal grandfather Maximilian of Bavaria appointed his father, Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg on 14 November 1817. The title came with the effective administration of the Principality of Eichstätt. Maximilian was named "Prince of Leuchtenberg" and became the second in line heir to the Duchy. On 21 February 1824, his father died and his older brother became Auguste de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg. His brother was yet childless and Maximilian became his Heir Presumptive. Auguste eventually married Queen Maria II of Portugal but died childless on 28 March 1835. Maximilian became the 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg at this point.

He married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia on 2 July 1839 in the chapel of the Winter Palace. She was the eldest daughter of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. His father in law Nicholas I granted to him on 14 July 1839 the Russian and Finnish style Imperial Highness, a rank he was entitled to as a descendant of the extended dynasty of Napoleon I of France. His father was an adoptive son of Napoleon.

Through his oldest surviving daughter Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg (1841–1914), he is the grandfather of Prince Maximilian of Baden (1867–1929), Chancellor of Germany during World War I, and Princess Marie of Baden, the last Duchess consort of Anhalt. His youngest daughter Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg (1845–1925) married Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg (1844–1932), the grandson of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, and became the mother of Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg (1868–1924), the divorced husband of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia (1882–1960), the youngest sister of Nicholas II of Russia.