Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Augusta Victoria

1913 portrait
German Empress
Queen consort of Prussia
Tenure 15 June 1888 – 9 November 1918
Born (1858-10-22)22 October 1858
Dolzig Palace, Brandenburg, Prussia
(now Lubsko, Poland)
Died 11 April 1921(1921-04-11) (aged 62)
Huis Doorn, Netherlands
Burial 19 April 1921
Antique Temple, Potsdam, Germany
Spouse Wilhelm II, German Kaiser
(m. 1881–1921; her death)
Issue Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
Prince Eitel Friedrich
Prince Adalbert
Prince August Wilhelm
Prince Oskar
Prince Joachim
Princess Victoria Louise
House Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
Father Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
Mother Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; 22 October 1858 – 11 April 1921) was the last German empress and queen of Prussia as the first wife of Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Marriage

Augusta Victoria was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. On 27 February 1881, Augusta married her second cousin Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. Augusta's maternal grandmother Princess Feodora of Leiningen was the half-sister of Queen Victoria, who was Wilhelm's maternal grandmother.

Wilhelm had earlier proposed to his first cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (known in the family as "Ella"), a daughter of his mother's own sister, but she declined. He did not react well, and was adamant that he would soon marry another princess.

Wilhelm's family was originally against the marriage with Augusta Viktoria, whose father was not even a sovereign. However, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a strong proponent of the marriage, believing that it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Augusta's father.[1] In the end, Wilhelm's intransigence, the support of Bismarck, and a determination to move beyond the rejection of his proposal to Ella, led the reluctant imperial family to give official consent.

Family life

Imperial Monogram

Augusta was known as "Dona" within the family. She enjoyed a somewhat lukewarm relationship with her mother-in-law, Victoria, who had hoped that Dona would help to heal the rift between herself and Wilhelm; this was not to be the case. The Empress was also annoyed that the title of head of the Red Cross went to Dona, who had no nursing or charity experience or inclination (though in her memoirs, Princess Viktoria Luise paints a different picture, stating that her mother loved charity work).

Augusta often took pleasure in snubbing her mother-in-law, usually small incidents, such as telling her that she would be wearing a different dress than the one Victoria had recommended, that she would not be riding to get her figure back after childbirth as Wilhelm had no intention of stopping at one son, and informing her that Augusta's daughter, Viktoria, was not named after her (though, again, in her memoirs, Viktoria Luise states that she was named after both her grandmother and her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria).

Augusta and her mother-in-law grew closer for a few years when Wilhelm became emperor, as Augusta was often lonely while he was away on military exercises and turned to her mother-in-law for companionship of rank, although she never left her children alone with her lest they be influenced by her well-known liberalism. Nevertheless, the two were often seen out riding in a carriage together. Augusta was at Victoria's bedside when she died of spinal cancer in 1901.

Augusta also had less than cordial relationships with some of Wilhelm's sisters, especially the recently married Crown Princess Sophie of Greece. In 1890, when Sophie announced her intention to leave her Evangelical faith for Greek Orthodoxy, Dona summoned her and told her that if she did so, not only would Wilhelm find it unacceptable, being the head of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces; she would be barred from Germany and her soul would end up in Hell. Sophie replied that it was her business whether or not she did. Augusta became hysterical and gave birth prematurely to her son, Prince Joachim, as a result of which she was protective of him for the rest of his life, believing that he was delicate. Evidently, so did Wilhelm; he wrote to his mother that if the baby died, Sophie would have murdered it.

In 1920, the shock of exile and abdication, combined with the breakdown of Joachim's marriage and his subsequent suicide, proved too much for Augusta's health. She died in 1921, in House Doorn at Doorn in the Netherlands. Wilhelm, still reeling over the same losses, was devastated by her death. The Weimar Republic allowed her remains to be transported back to Germany, where they still lie in the Temple of Antiquities, not far from the New Palace, Potsdam. Because he was not permitted to enter Germany, Wilhelm could accompany his wife on her last journey only as far as the German border.

With daughter Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, Berlin (1911)

Children

Kaiserin Augusta gave birth to seven children by Wilhelm II:

In literature

The funeral of Augusta Victoria is reflected upon in the novel by Katherine Anne Porter, Ship of Fools. In it, a German passenger silently reminisces on the funeral and its cinematic showing to a small colony of Germans living abroad in Mexico and describes the outpouring of public grief that was seen within that community. Augusta Victoria's passing is viewed among Germans who lived through the First World War as the ending of a great epoch, the conclusion of which forever divorces them from their maternal country and enshrines Augusta Victoria as a venerable saint and symbol of a Germany long past.[2]

Titles, styles and honours

Styles

Her husband abdicated on 9 November 1918. She died on 11 April 1921.

Honours

German
Foreign

Arms

Coat of Arms of Empress Augusta Victoria
Imperial Monogram of Empress Augusta Victoria
Variation of Empress Augusta Victoria's Monogram
Monogram of the Königin Augusta Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr.4

Ancestry

See also

'Kaiserin Auguste 'Viktoria', Lambert 1891

References

  1. ↑ Radziwill, p. 30.
  2. ↑ Porter, Katharine Anne (1984). Ship of Fools. New York: Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company. pp. 81–82. ISBN 978-0-316-71390-0.
  3. ↑ "Court Circular". The Times (36808). London. 1 July 1902. p. 3.

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein
Cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg
Born: 22 October 1858 Died: 11 April 1921
German royalty
Preceded by
Victoria, Princess Royal		 German Empress
Queen of Prussia
15 June 1888 – 9 November 1918 		Monarchy abolished
Titles in pretence
Loss of title
 — TITULAR —
German Empress
Queen of Prussia
9 November 1918 – 11 April 1921		 Vacant
Title next held by
Princess Hermine Reuss
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