Leopold II of Tuscany ( 3 October 1797 – 29 January 1870) is the last reigning grand duke of Tuscany (1824–1859).
He marries twice; first to Maria Anna of Saxony, and after her death during 1832, to Maria Antonia of the Two-Sicilies.
By the latter, he begets his eventual successor, Ferdinand.
Leopold is recognized contemporarily as a liberal monarch, authorizing the Tuscan Constitution of 1848, and allowing a degree of free press.
The Grand Duke is deposed briefly by a provisional government during 1849, only to be restored the same year with the assistance of Austrian troops, who occupy the state until 1855.
Leopold attempts a policy of neutrality with regard to the Second Italian War of Independence, but is expelled by a bloodless coup on April 27, 1859, just before the beginning of the war.
The Grand Ducal family leaves for Bologna, in Papal territory.
Tuscany is occupied by soldiers of Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia for the duration of the conflict.
The preliminary peace of Villafranca, agreed to between Napoleon III of France and Franz Joseph of Austria on 11 July, provides for the return of the Lorraines to Florence, but Leopold himself is considered too unpopular to be accepted, so on July 21, 1859 he abdicates the throne in favor of his son, Ferdinand.
Ferdinand is not, however, any more acceptable to the revolutionaries in control of Florence, and his accession is not proclaimed.
Instead, the provisional government proclaims the deposition of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine (August 16).
