Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; 1 May 1780 – 19 February 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and

Electress consort of Hesse This is a list of the Landgravine, Electress and Grand Duchess of Hesse, the consorts of the Landgrave of Hesse and its successor states; and finally of the Electors and Grand Dukes of Hesse. Hesse Upper Hesse (Marburg) The only Landgra ...

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 (german: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inherita ...

and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Biography

On 13 February 1797 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, Augusta married Prince William of Hesse-Kassel, 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: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n capital due to her pregnancy when Napoleon'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 ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman military post by Drusus around 8 B.C. Its na ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

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

Ancestry

Notes

External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Augusta Of Prussia, Princess 1780 births 1841 deaths House of Hohenzollern Prussian princesses People from Potsdam Hereditary Princesses of Hesse-Kassel Landgravines of Hesse-Kassel Electresses of Hesse German salon-holders 18th-century Prussian people 18th-century Prussian women 19th-century Prussian people 19th-century Prussian women Daughters of kings