Duke Pius August in Bavaria
Duke Pius August in Bavaria, full German name: Pius August Herzog in Bayern was a Duke in Bavaria as a member of the Palatine Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen line of the House of Wittelsbach. He was the paternal grandfather of Empress Elisabeth of Austria through his son Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians and an ancestor of the current generations of the Belgian and Italian Royal Families and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg.
Pius August was born on 1 August 1786 in Landshut as the third child and eldest surviving son of the then Count Palatine Wilhelm of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen and his wife, Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. His father was a member of the non-reigning Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen line of the widely branched House of Wittelsbach, and his mother was a daughter of Count Palatine Frederick Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler, and sister of Maximilian Joseph, later King of Bavaria.
Marriage and issue
Pius August married Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg, daughter of Prince Louis Marie of Arenberg and his wife, Marie Adélaïde Julie de Mailly-Nesle, Dame d'Ivry-sur-Seine, on 26 May 1807 in Brussels. Pius August and Amélie Louise had one son:
Later life
Duke Pius August was a major general in the royal Bavarian Army and commanded the 8th Infantry Regiment in Bayreuth. In 1815, Pius August became an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He loved to travel.