Fernando II of Portugal (1816-1885) - Find a Grave Memorial

Portugal Monarch. He reigned as King consort of Portugal following his marriage to Queen Maria II in 1836. He was born as Ferdinand, prince von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the son of Ferdinand von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha and his wife princess Maria Antonia von Kohary, a Catholic Hungarian noblewoman. (This branch of the previously fully Protestant Coburg-family became Catholics, and good marriage material to Catholic monarchies). According to Portuguese law, the husband of a reigning queen could only be styled King after the birth of any child from that marriage. That is the reason why the queens first husband, August von Leuchtenberg, did not hold that title. After the birth of the future king Pedro V, Ferdinand was proclaimed king Fernando II of Portugal. Although it was Maria to whom the ruling power belonged, they were a good team and together they resolved many problems. The king-consort had a very important part in Portuguese political history, acting frequently as regent during his wife's pregnancies. Eventually queen Maria II died during the birth of their 11th child and then Fernando II had to assume regency for the new king Pedro V as he was only 13 years old. Fernando II had the Palácio da Pena in Sintra built as a summer-residence. Late in his life he married the opera singer Elise Hensler. Elise ended to inherit most of his possessions after his death in 1885.

Bio by: Benny Chordt Hansen