en, Frederick Augustus John Louis Charles Gustav Gregory Philip von Wettin , image = Friedrich August III van Saksen.jpg , caption = Frederick Augustus III (1914) , succession =

King of Saxony This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918. The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...

, reign = 15 October 1904 – 13 November 1918 , predecessor =

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

, successor = ''Monarchy abolished'' , spouse =

Archduchess Louise of Austria Archduchess Louise of Austria (2 September 1870, in Salzburg – 23 March 1947, in Brussels) was by marriage Crown Princess of Saxony as the wife of the future King Frederick Augustus III. Life Crown Princess of Saxony Louise was born on 2 Sept ...

(m. 1891; div. 1903) , issue =

Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony en, Frederick Augustus George Ferdinand Albert Charles Anthony Paul Marcellus , title = Crown Prince of Saxony , image = PrinceGeorgSaxony.jpg , image_size = , caption = Crown Prince George of Saxony in 1911 , spo ...

Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen en, Frederick Christian Albert Leopold Anno Sylvester Macarius , title = Margrave of Meissen , image = Prince Friedrich Christian of Saxony.jpg , reign = 18 February 1932 – 9 August 1968 , caption = , prede ...

Prince Ernst Heinrich
Princess Maria Alix Karola
Princess Margarete Karola
Princess Maria Alix Luitpolda
Princess Anna , house = Wettin , father =

George of Saxony en, Frederick Augustus George Louis William Maximilian Charles Maria Nepomuk Baptist Xavier Cyriacus Romanus , image =George of Saxony by Nicola Perscheid c1900.jpg , caption = Photograph by Nicola Perscheid c. 1900 , reign ...

, mother =

Maria Anna of Portugal Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, birth_date = , birth_place =

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Sax ...

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

, death_date = , death_place = Sibyllenort, Landkreis Oels,

Province of Lower Silesia The Province of Lower Silesia (german: Provinz Niederschlesien; Silesian German: ''Provinz Niederschläsing''; pl, Prowincja Dolny Śląsk; szl, Prowincyjŏ Dolny Ślōnsk) was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Betwe ...

Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia (german: Freistaat Preußen, ) was one of the constituent states of Germany from 1918 to 1947. The successor to the Kingdom of Prussia after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, it continued to be the domina ...

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

(present-day Szczodre,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbr ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) , place of burial =

Katholische Hofkirche Dresden Cathedral, or the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Dresden, previously the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony, called in German Katholische Hofkirche and since 1980 also known as Kathedrale Sanctissimae Trinitatis, is the Catholi ...

, religion =

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, signature = Unterschrift Friedrich August III.svg } Frederick Augustus III (german: Friedrich August III.; 25 May 1865 – 18 February 1932), was the last

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

(1904–1918). Born in

, Frederick Augustus was the eldest son of King George of Saxony and his wife,

. Frederick Augustus served in the Royal Saxon Army before becoming king, and later was promoted to . Though well-loved by his subjects, he voluntarily abdicated as king on 13 November 1918, after the defeat of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. He died in Sibyllenort in

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

(now Szczodre in Poland) and was buried in Dresden.

Military career

Frederick Augustus entered the Royal Saxon Army in 1877 as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

, despite being only twelve years old. Given his royal status, he advanced rapidly through the ranks. He served initially with the Royal Saxon ''1. (Leib-) Grenadier Regiment Nr. 100''. He was promoted to

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

in 1883,

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1887,

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

in 1889 and

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

in 1891. By 1891, he was commander of the 1st Battalion of ''Schützen (Füsilier)-Regiment Nr. 108''. He was promoted to colonel on 22 September 1892 and took command of the ''Schützen (Füsilier)-Regiment Nr. 108'' on the same day. On 20 September 1894, the 29-year-old prince was promoted to ''Generalmajor'' and given command of the 1st Royal Saxon Infantry Brigade Nr. 45 (Saxon higher units usually bore two numbers: one their Saxon Army number and the other their number in the Prussian Army order of battle). On 22 May 1898, he was promoted to ''Generalleutnant'' and given command of the 1st Royal Saxon Infantry Division Nr. 23. He commanded this division until 26 August 1902, when he took command of the

XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps The XII (1st Royal Saxon) Army Corps / XII AK (german: XII. (I. Königlich Sächsisches) Armee-Korps) was a Saxon corps level command of the Saxon and German Armies before and during World War I. The Corps was formed as the Royal Saxon Corps on ...

. He was promoted to ''General der Infanterie'' one month later, on 24 September. He remained in command of the corps until October 1904, when he became king. His military career effectively ended with his accession to the throne, but he was promoted subsequently to ''Generaloberst'' and then to ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (on 9 September 1912). Following his father's accession, he was in July 1902 appointed ''à la suite'' of the German

Marine Infantry Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

by Emperor

Wilhelm II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

during a visit to

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Family

Frederick Augustus married

, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on 21 November 1891. They were divorced in 1903 by the royal decree of the King after she ran away while pregnant with her last child. Luise's flight from Dresden was due to her father-in-law's threatening to have her interned in a mental asylum at the

Sonnenstein Castle The Sonnenstein Castle is a castle in Pirna, near Dresden, Germany. It housed a mental hospital, which operated from 1811 to the end of World War II in 1945. During the War, it functioned as an extermination centre for the Nazi ''Aktion T4'' pro ...

for life. Her brother supported her in her wish to escape from Saxony. Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria-Hungary did not recognise the divorce. They had seven children: * Friedrich August Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony (1893–1943). After becoming a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, he renounced his rights in 1923. He was allegedly assassinated by the SS or

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

in 1943. * Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen, Duke of Saxony (1893–1968). Married Princess Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis (1903–1976) and had issue. * Ernst Heinrich (1896–1971). Married first Princess Sophie of Luxembourg (1902–1941), daughter of

Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg William IV (Guillaume Alexander; ''French: Guillaume Alexandre''; 22 April 1852 – 25 February 1912) reigned as the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 17 November 1905 until his death. He succeeded his father, Adolphe. William was a Protestant, the ...

, in 1921 and second Virginia Dulon (1910–2002) in 1947 (

morganatically Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...

). Had issue with Sophie. * Maria Alix Carola, stillborn 22 August 1898 * Margarete Carola Wilhelmine (1900–1962). Married Prince Friedrich of Hohenzollern (1891–1965). * Maria Alix Luitpolda (1901–1990). Married

Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern-Emden Franz Joseph Maria Ludwig Anton Thassilo Prinz von Hohenzollern-Emden (English: ''Prince Francis Joseph of Hohenzollern-Emden''; 30 August 1891 – 3 April 1964) was a member of the Roman Catholic branch of the House of Hohenzollern. He was born a ...

(1891–1964). * Anna Monika Pia (1903–1976). Married firstly Archduke Joseph Franz of Austria (1895–1957) and secondly Reginald Kazanjian (1905–1990). Their two eldest sons, Friedrich August and Friedrich Christian were born in the same year, 1893, but were not twins. Friedrich August was born in January, while Friedrich Christian was born in December.

Quotes

* When standing in uniform on a station platform, he was asked by a lady to move her trunk. He is reported to have replied, "Madam, I am not a porter; I only look like one." * When the German Republic was proclaimed in 1918, he was asked by telephone whether he would abdicate willingly. He said: "Oh, well, I suppose I'd better." * When cheered by a crowd in a railway station several years after his abdication, he stuck his head out of the train's window and shouted "''Ihr seid mer ja scheene Demogradn!''" (Saxon for "You're a fine lot of republicans, I'll say!").

Decorations and awards

Ancestry

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frederick Augustus 03 Of Saxony 1865 births 1932 deaths Nobility from Dresden Field marshals of the German Empire House of Wettin Kings of Saxony Burials at Dresden Cathedral Saxon princes German Roman Catholics Crown Princes of Saxony Grand Crosses of the Military Order of Max Joseph Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Grand Crosses of the Military Order of Maria Theresa Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (military class) Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class Knights of Malta Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania 2 2 Albertine branch