Amélie of Arenberg was born on 10 April 1789 in Paris as the daughter of Prince Louis Marie of Arenberg and Anne Adélaïde Julie, Comtesse de Mailly de Nesle. Her parents had married on 26 June 1788 in the chapel of the Hotel d’Harcourt in Paris. Tragically, Amélie’s mother would die on Christmas Eve in the year of her birth. Her father would follow six years later, on 30 March 1795. The years in between had seen quite a few changes in France, the end of the monarchy for one. In 1794, the Arenberg estates had been seized by the French authorities.
Amélie spent these years with her grandmother, Louise Marguerite de la Marck. It wasn’t long before “Maman” became both mother and father to the little girl. Her grandmother made sure she had a wetnurse and later a governess by the name of Madame Véllany. In May of 1791, Amélie had been brought to Brussels for her safety, but it wasn’t until 1795 that Amélie and her grandmother were able to take up residence in the Stadtpalais in the Rue Heute. However, they were soon declared persona non grata and were forced on the move again. First, they travelled to Paris and later to the Netherlands.
As Amélie grew up amid all the turmoil, her health was never robust, and her bills show expenses for various medications and doctors. Nevertheless, the focus was now on her education. She was taught French, penmanship, reading and geography. There was also a focus on music, mainly on the harpsichord. At a later date, the modern fortepiano was also added. By 1804, the family’s finances were becoming more stable – just in time for Amélie to join the marriage market. And that marriage market was being watched like a hawk by Napoleon Bonaparte, now Emperor of the French.
On 21 February 1806, Amélie’s aunt Louise de Brancas-Villars-Lauragais had dinner with none other than Empress Josephine, Napoleon’s wife, and here the wheels for the wedding between Amélie and Duke Pius August in Bavaria were set in motion. Pius August’s mother Maria Anna was the sister of Bavaria’s first King, Maximilian I Joseph, who was Napoleon’s ally. The then 20-year-old Pius August was known as an unconventional and sometimes belligerent character. He enjoyed spending time in taverns and was noted for his painting skills. With her mother’s fortune backing her, Amélie was a very attractive bride. At the end of 1806, the King of Bavaria’s permission for the marriage was requested, and it was duly granted two months later. Not much later, Napoleon’s permission also followed. Unfortunately, newspapers had already published the happy news before the permission had officially been granted, and Amélie’s grandmother blamed the groom’s father for being indiscrete.
With the required permissions in hand, the wedding preparations could now begin. The marriage contract was signed on 25 May 1807, and the wedding ceremony followed the next day in the Church of Saint-Jean in Brussels. Amélie had only met her future husband a few days before the wedding. The following month, the newlyweds left for Bamberg in the company of the groom’s father. They were to live there with her parents-in-law. By September 1807, Pius August had had several angry outbursts, and he complained about Amélie. He wrote a grovelling letter to Amélie’s uncle Louis Engelbert, 6th Duke of Arenberg, “I would like you to forgive me all the slander I have pronounced out of anger, without thinking of the consequences that such actions might have on the world.[…] I can’t tell you enough how happy this woman [he means Amélie] makes me, and what a model of fidelity she is, she possesses the most principle and essential quality of modesty.”
When Pius August and Amélie were on a trip to Paris not much later, he wrote to Amélie’s aunt, “I find good Amélie every day more kind, more charming towards me. I don’t think I can praise her enough.” Whatever had happened was certainly fixed long enough for the newlyweds to conceive their one and only child. On 4 December 1808, Amélie gave birth to a son named Maximilian – the father of the future Empress Elisabeth. The boy was named for the Bavarian King, who would shape his future as he would be raised at the Munich court. Unfortunately, after the birth of their son, the mismatched couple began to drift apart quickly. Amélie, like her famous granddaughter, developed a need to travel away from her husband. However, another reason for her travels was her worsening health.
During these years, Amélie was in a battle for her son, which she would lose. Maximilian was admitted to the Royal Institute of Education in 1817 under the King of Bavaria’s supervision. Amélie wrote to her cousin Prosper Louis, 7th Duke of Arenberg, “I would like to be happy, but alas, I am far from it. [..] For times are so hard, and life is so expensive that there are more unfortunate people than can be helped, alas, we are in a very unhappy time.[..]At the moment I have at my side my little Max who has demanded that I write to you.[…] I have a nasty rheumatism in my head, and I hope to have the happiness of returning to the country of my birth and having the happiness of returning to the bosom of my family and of being completely cured.” Between September 1812 and May 1818, Amélie spent a total of two and half years away from Bamberg.
Amélie’s father-in-law had written to her grandmother to speak of the situation, but Louise Marguerite wrote back, “The happiness of my child [sic] is too dear to me to not inspire her with all the reason she needs in the neglectful situation.” In 1820, Amélie saw her son for the last time, and they spent two weeks in Munich together. The head of the school wrote, “One can’t say who was happier – the mother or the son.” Unfortunately, the year 1820 also the deaths of her beloved grandmother Louise Marguerite and her uncle Louis Engelbert.
In September 1821, her already weak health was further weakened by “blutspeyen,” translated as coughing up blood and most likely the better-known tuberculosis. During this initial diagnosis, she was bled twice, and the doctors then advised her to travel to a warmer climate. With her son in Munich, and her two closest supporters dead, Amélie was largely on her own.
On 11 February 1823, Amélie once again began to cough up blood. Her three doctors were so worried by this sudden setback that they began to prepare her for death, and a confessor was called to her bedside. Nevertheless, Amélie continued to survive as she continued to cough up blood. Then on 3 April, her breathing became ragged. She died the following morning at 10.25 a.m – having had the presence of mind until the very end. Her father-in-law wrote to the head of Max’s school, “I must leave it to your tender heart to tell him this news. How his childlike, loving soul will suffer.” Amélie was still only 34 years old.
She was buried in Tegernsee Abbey in Bavaria, where she would later be joined by her son and other family members.1
Very interesting yet sad history of this royal lady.