Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf () (19 January 1757 – 16 November 1831), was by marriage the Duchess of

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld () was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in 1699, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of the Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinct ...

. She was the maternal grandmother of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

and the paternal grandmother of Albert, Prince Consort.

Family

Augusta was born on 19 January 1757, the second child of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and his wife Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. Her birthplace, Ebersdorf, was a center of

Pietism Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christian life, including a social concern for the needy an ...

in Thuringia and Augusta's grandparents were ardent admirers of this religious movement. Augusta's great-aunt Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf was married to Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, leader of the revivalist

Moravian Church , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Prot ...

. This background explains the deep religious feelings of Duchess Augusta in later years.

Marriage

Her father commissioned a portrait of Augusta as '' Artemisia'' by the painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein. Count Heinrich XXIV showed this painting during the

Perpetual Diet The Perpetual Diet of Regensburg or the Eternal Diet of Regensburg, (german: Immerwährender Reichstag) also commonly called in English the perpetual Diet of Ratisbon,Jean Berenger, C.A. Simpson, ''The Habsburg Empire 1700-1918'' (2014), p. 134 fr ...

so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter. In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777 Augusta married

Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld en, Francis Frederick Anthony , house = , father = Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Princess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, ...

. Duke Francis previously acquired the ''Artemisia'' painting for four times the original price because he was deeply in love with Augusta, but he was already obliged to marry his relative

Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen (Ernestine Friederike Sophie; 22 February 1760, Hildburghausen – 28 October 1776, Coburg), was a Princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen by birth, and by marriage she became the Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Co ...

. Princess Sophie died 7 months after the wedding, so the young Duke was free to wed again. During her marriage, Augusta bore her husband 10 children, though only seven of them survived to adulthood; some of their children played important roles in European history: Victoria, Duchess of Kent, and King Leopold I of Belgium.

Issue

Notable descendants

Countess Augusta was the grandmother of many notable monarchs of Europe, including both

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

(through her mother

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

) and her husband, Prince Albert (through his father

Ernst Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...

), King Consort of Portugal Ferdinand II (through his father

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ferdinand Georg August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (28 March 1785 – 27 August 1851) was a German prince of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and a general of cavalry in the Austrian Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Despite ...

), and also

Empress Carlota of Mexico Charlotte of Belgium (''Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine''; 7 June 1840 – 19 January 1927), known by the Spanish version of her name, Carlota, was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of ...

and her brother

Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

(through their father Leopold I who was elected King of the Belgians on 26 June 1831).

Ancestry

References

*Gertraude Bachmann: ''Natur und Kunst in den Reisetagebüchern der Herzogin Auguste Caroline Sophie von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld'' (text of the lecture from the 175th anniversary of Duchess Augusta's death on 16 November 2006 at the Naturkunde-Museum Coburg), Coburg 2006. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Augusta, Countess Reuss Of Ebersdorf 1757 births 1831 deaths People from Saalburg-Ebersdorf Duchesses of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld House of Wettin Princesses of Reuss