Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria, Duchess of Modena

Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria was a daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. She was Duchess of Modena by her marriage to Francis V, Duke of Modena.
Her siblings included Maximilian II of Bavaria, Mathilde, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, King Otto of Greece and Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria.

Early life and marriage

Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria was born on 19 March 1823 in Würzburg as the sixth child of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
On 20 March 1842 in Munich, Adelgunde married Archduke Francis of Austria-Este, eldest son of Francis IV, Duke of Modena and Maria Beatrice of Savoy. The couple had only one child, Princess Anne Beatrice Theresa Maria, who died in infancy.
Francis acceded to the ducal throne on his father's death in 1846 as Francis V. After the Italian Unification, Francis was deposed, and he and his wife were exiled to Vienna, where he died fifteen years later. Immediately after realizing that war would break out, Duchess Adelgunde effectively abandoned Modena.

Later years

[file:Adelgunde of Bavaria, Duchess of Modena in her final years.jpg|thumb|upright|Adelgunde in her final years|left]
Although she initially inhabited the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena following the death of her husband, it was by 1877 in the hands of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Adelgunde survived her husband for many years and died in Munich at the age of 91. She never remarried and is interred in Vienna.
A pearl brooch formerly owned by her was auctioned at Sotheby's in 2012.