Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; 1 May 1780 – 19 February 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and Electress consort of Hesse by marriage to William II, Elector of Hesse. She was the third daughter and fifth child of

Frederick William II of Prussia Frederick William II (; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was also the prince-elector of Brandenburg and (through the Orange-Nassau inheritance of his grandfather) sovereign princ ...

and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Biography

On 13 February 1797 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Augusta married

Prince William of Hesse-Kassel Prince William of Hesse-Kassel (24 December 1787 – 5 September 1867) was the first son of Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen. He was titular Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-(Rumpenheim) and for many years heir ...

, eldest surviving son of William IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. In 1803, the Landgrave was raised to Elector of Hesse, and Prince William succeeded on his father's death in 1821. The marriage of Augusta was politically arranged and unhappy. Augusta and William often came into conflict with one another, which led to aggressive confrontations. In 1806, Hesse was occupied by France. Augusta was in Berlin with her children at the time, having remained in the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n capital due to her pregnancy when

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's army took it for France. Napoleon put guards around her house and gave orders that she should not be disturbed. With Hesse and Prussia occupied and her family in exile, Augusta lacked money, and after her child's birth she asked for a meeting with Napoleon. She appeared before him with her newborn baby on her arm and one of her children by the hand and asked him for an allowance, which he granted her.
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After the birth of her last child in 1806, the relationship between Augusta and William was unofficially terminated. In 1815, they agreed to keep separate households. Augusta lived in Schoenfeld Palace, where she became a celebrated salonist and the centre of the romantic ''Schoenfelder-circle'', which included Ludwig Hassenpflug, Joseph von Radowitz and the Grimm brothers, while William lived in a different residence with his mistress, Emilie Ortlöpp. Auguste closed her salon in 1823, and between 1826 and 1831 she lived in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and Fulda. She returned to Kassel in 1831. Augusta was regarded as a skillful painter, whose works included self-portraits. Several months after Augusta's death, William morganatically remarried his longtime mistress Emilie Ortlöpp, ennobled as Countess von Reichenbach-Lessonitz, by whom he had an additional eight children.

Issue

#Wilhelm (9 April 1798 – 25 October 1800) # Karoline (29 July 1799 – 28 November 1854) # Luise (3 April 1801 – 28 September 1803) # Frederick William, Elector of Hesse (20 August 1802 – 6 June 1875) morganatically married Gertrude Lehmann. # Marie (6 September 1804 – 4 January 1888), married

Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

and had issue. # Ferdinand (9 October 1806 – 21 November 1806)

Ancestry

Notes

External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Augusta of Prussia, Princess 1780 births 1841 deaths Artists from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German painters House of Hohenzollern Prussian princesses People from Potsdam Hereditary princesses of Hesse-Kassel Landgravines of Hesse-Kassel Electresses of Hesse German salon-holders Daughters of kings Children of Frederick William II of Prussia Mothers of German monarchs 19th-century German women painters Daughters of princes regnant Daughters of prince-electors