Ferdinand II of Portugal

| reg-type = Co-monarch | reign-type1 = Tenure | reign-type2 = Regency | reg-type2 = Monarch

Luís I Infante João, Duke of Beja Maria Ana, Princess Georg of Saxony Antónia, Princess of Hohenzollern Infante Fernando Infante Augusto, Duke of Coimbra | issue-link = #Marriages and descendants | issue-pipe =

Dom Ferdinand II (; 29 October 1816 – 15 December 1885), also known as Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and as "the King-artist" (), was King of Portugal from 16 September 1837 to 15 November 1853 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Maria II.

In keeping with Portuguese law, Ferdinand only became king after the birth of his first son, Prince Pedro, in 1837. Ferdinand's reign came to an end with the death of his wife in 1853, but he served as regent for his son and successor, King Pedro V, until 1855.

He retained the style and title of king even after the death of Maria II and her succession by their children Pedro V and then Luís I. His sons were reigning kings, while Ferdinand himself was a king-father during their reigns.

Early life

Born Ferdinand August Franz Anton in Vienna on 29 October 1816, he was the eldest son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya, heiress to the House of Koháry. The younger Ferdinand grew up in several places: the family estates in modern-day Slovakia, the imperial court of Austria, and Germany. He was a nephew of King Leopold I of Belgium, and thus a first cousin to Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico, as well as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1826, his title changed from Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, following the re-arrangement of the Saxon duchies.

King of Portugal

According to Portuguese law, the husband of a queen regnant could only be titled king after the birth of an heir from that marriage; this was the reason Maria II's first husband, Auguste de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, never acquired the title of king. After the birth of their eldest son and heir, the future Pedro V of Portugal, Ferdinand was proclaimed King Dom Fernando II.

Although it was Maria who reigned by right, the royal couple formed an effective team during their joint reign, with Ferdinand reigning by himself during his wife's pregnancies.

Eventually, Maria II died as a result of the birth of their eleventh child, and Ferdinand II's reign ended. However, he would assume the regency of Portugal from 1853 to 1855, during the minority of his son King Pedro V.

Later life

Ferdinand was an intelligent and artistically minded man with modern and liberal ideas. He was adept at etching, pottery and painting aquarelles. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences and the Arts, Lord Protector of the University of Coimbra and Grand-Master of the Rosicrucians.

In 1838, he acquired the former Hieronymite monastery of Our Lady of Pena, which had been built by King Manuel I in 1511 on the top of the hill above Sintra and had been left unoccupied since 1834, when the religious orders were suppressed in Portugal. The monastery consisted of the cloister and its outbuildings, the chapel, the sacristy and the bell tower, which today form the northern section of the Pena National Palace (the "Old Palace").

Ferdinand began by making repairs to the former monastery, which, according to the historical sources of that time, was in poor condition. He refurbished the whole of the upper floor, replacing the fourteen cells used by the monks with larger-sized rooms and covering them with the vaulted ceilings that can still be seen today. In 1843, the king decided to enlarge the palace by building a new wing (the New Palace) with even larger rooms (one of them being the Great Hall), ending in a circular tower next to the new kitchens. The building work was directed by the Baron von Eschwege, a wild architectural fantasy in an eclectic style full of symbolism that could be compared with the castle Neuschwanstein of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The palace was built in such a way as to be visible from any point in the park, which consists of a forest and luxuriant gardens with over five hundred different species of trees originating from the four corners of the earth. Ferdinand would spend his last years in this castle with his second wife, receiving the greatest artists of his time.

Death

When he was 60, Ferdinand suffered from facial cancer that severely disfigured him and kept him away from public life. On 12 December 1885, due to double vision caused by the tumor, he tripped when going down the stairs to the foyer of the São Carlos Theater, violently hitting his head against a wall and fell into a coma, dying three days after. In his will, he left almost all his assets to his second wife, which caused a public commotion.

He rests next to Mary II, his first wife, in the Pantheon of the House of Braganza, in São Vicente de Fora, Lisbon.

Marriages and descendants

On 9 April 1836, Ferdinand married Queen Maria II of Portugal. Eleven children were born to the royal couple before Maria died of complications due to childbirth in 1853. Ferdinand was destined to outlive eight of his eleven children. In late 1861, an attack of cholera or typhoid fever struck the royal family and Ferdinand suffered the tragedy of witnessing the death of three of his five surviving sons.

Later in his life, Ferdinand married again in Lisbon on 10 June 1869 to actress Elisa Hensler (Neuchâtel, 22 May 1836 – Lisbon, Coração de Jesus, 21 May 1929). Just before the marriage, she was styled Gräfin (Countess) von Edla by Ferdinand's cousin Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple had no children.

Ancestry

Honours

;Portuguese orders and decorations

• Grand Cross of the Sash of the Three Orders, 9 December 1835 – wedding gift of his bride, Queen Maria II
• Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword
• Grand Cross of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa
• Gold Medal of Distinguished Service

;Foreign orders and decorations

• Austrian Empire: Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1843
• Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, 15 July 1835
• Empire of Brazil:
  • Grand Cross of the Southern Cross
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Pedro I
  • Grand Cross of the Rose
• Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 12 April 1841
• Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Meiningen Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, December 1835
• Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg Kingdom of France: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
• Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion
• Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg Kingdom of Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle, 11 January 1845; with Collar, 1862
  • Grand Cross of the Red Eagle
• Russian Empire:
  • Knight of St. Andrew, September 1850
  • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, September 1850
  • Knight of the White Eagle, September 1850
  • Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class, September 1850
• Kingdom of Sardinia:
  • Knight of the Annunciation, 16 August 1849
  • Grand Cross of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 1849
• Kingdom of Saxony:
  • Knight of the Rue Crown, 1840
  • Grand Cross of the Military Order of St. Henry
• Spain: Knight of the Golden Fleece, 16 October 1838
• Sweden Norway Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, with Collar, 15 February 1852
• Two Sicilies: Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and Merit

Notes

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References

1. Given by António Feliciano Castilho, viscount of Castilho, in an article at ''Revista Universal''
2. (2024). "O Homem que Mandou Matar o Rei D. Carlos". Gradiva.
3. Daughter of Jean Conrad Hensler ([[Röschitz]], c. 1797 – Vienna, 14 April 1872) and Josephe Hechelbacher ([[Wallerstein, Bavaria. Wallerstein]], c. 1805 – aft. 1872), paternal granddaughter of Michael Hensler and Katharina Prauneis and maternal granddaughter of Karl Hechelnbacher and Theresia Schretzmayer.
4. By an unknown father, she had a daughter named Alice Hensler (Paris, 25 December 1855 – Lisbon, Benfica, 18 June 1941), who married in Lisbon, Alcântara, on 30 September 1883 a [[Portuguese Navy]] officer from [[Azores]], Manuel de Azevedo Gomes (1848–1907), by whom she had issue.
5. ''Staatshandbuch für die Herzogthümer Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'' (1865). "Genealogie des Herzogliche Hauses", [https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00244505/Sachsen_Coburg_Gotha_170545237_1865_0023.tif?logicalDiv=jportal_jparticle_00483244 p. 10]. Gotha: Thienemann.
6. (2014). "Agraciamentos Portugueses Aos Príncipes da Casa Saxe-Coburgo-Gota". Pro Phalaris.
7. [http://tornai.com/rendtagok.htm "A Szent István Rend tagjai"] {{webarchive. link. (22 December 2010)
8. Ferdinand Veldekens. (1858). "Le livre d'or de l'ordre de Léopold et de la croix de fer". lelong.
9. Jørgen Pedersen. (2009). "Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009". Syddansk Universitetsforlag.
10. ''[https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00244577/Sachsen_Coburg_Gotha_165771801_1837_0032.tif?logicalDiv=jportal_jparticle_00473385 Staatshandbücher ... Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha]'' (1837), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 13
11. (1877). "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste".
12. (2017). "Troca de Decorações entre os Reis de Portugal e os Imperadores da Rússia". Pro Phalaris.
13. (1869). "Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri". Eredi Botta.
14. ''Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1863)'' (in German), "Königliche Ritter-Orden", p. 4
15. (1875). "Guóa Oficial de España".
16. (1881). "Sveriges statskalender".