Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf

Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf
Duchess consort of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Tenure	1800–1806
Born	19 January 1757 Saalburg-Ebersdorf
Died	16 November 1831 (aged 74) Coburg
Spouse	Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Issue More	Princess Sophie, Countess von Mensdorff-Pouilly Princess Antoinette, Duchess Alexander of Württemberg Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Ferdinand Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn Leopold I of Belgium
Full name Augusta Caroline Sophie
House	House of Wettin House of Reuss
Father	Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf
Mother	Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg

Countess (later Princess) Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss of Ebersdorf (German: Gräfin Reuß zu Ebersdorf) (19 January 1757 – 16 November 1831), was by marriage a duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was born in Saalburg-Ebersdorf. She was the maternal grandmother of Queen Victoria and the paternal grandmother of Albert, Prince Consort.

Family

She was the second of seven children of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and his wife Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. Her birthplace, Ebersdorf, was a center of Pietism in Thuringia and Augusta's grandparents were ardent admirers of this religious movement. Augusta's great-aunt Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea, by marriage Countess of Zinzendorf was married to the founder of the Moravian Church. This background explains the deep religious feelings of Princess Augusta in later years.

Marriage

Augusta was one of the most beautiful women of her time. 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 so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter.

In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777 Augusta married Franz Frederick Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Duke Franz previously acquired the Artemisia painting for four times the original price because he was deeply in love with Augusta, but he had to marry a relative, Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Princess Sophie died seven months after the wedding, so the Duke was free to pursue the hand of his beloved.

During her marriage, Augusta bore her husband ten children; some of them played important roles in European history: Victoria, Duchess of Kent, and King Leopold I of Belgium.

Issue

Name	Date of birth	Date of death	Age at death	Notes
Sophie Fredericka Caroline Luise	19 August 1778, in Coburg	8 July 1835, in Tušimice, Bohemia	56 years	Married on 23 February 1804 to Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly (later Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly).
Antoinette Ernestine Amalie	28 August 1779, in Coburg	14 March 1824, in St. Petersburg	44 years	Married on 17 November 1798 to Alexander of Württemberg.
Juliane Henriette Ulrike (upon her marriage, she took the name Anna Feodorovna in a Russian Orthodox baptism)	23 September 1781, in Coburg	15 August 1860, in Elfenau, near Berne, Switzerland	78 years	Married on 26 February 1796 to Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, the younger brother of Czar Alexander I of Russia (they divorced in 1820).
Stillborn son	1782	1782	-
Ernst I Anton Karl Ludwig, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha	2 January 1784, in Coburg	29 January 1844, in Gotha	60 years	Married on 31 July 1817 to Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1800–1831) the father of Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.
Ferdinand Georg August	28 March 1785, in Coburg	27 August 1851, in Vienna	66 years	Married on 30 November 1815 to Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág the father of Ferdinand II of Portugal and Victoria, Duchess of Nemours, and the grandfather of Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. By his marriage he became the founder of the Koháry branch of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line.
Marie Luise Victoria	17 August 1786, in Coburg	16 March 1861, in Frogmore House	74 years	Married on 11 July 1818 to Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III of Great Britain, the mother of Queen Victoria.
Marianne Charlotte	7 August 1788, in Coburg	23 August 1794, in Coburg	6 years
Leopold Georg Christian Frederick	16 December 1790, in Coburg	10 December 1865, in Laeken	75 years	Married on 9 August 1830 to Louise of Orléans and his children included Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico. First king of the Belgians under the name of Leopold I.
Franz Maximilian Ludwig	12 December 1792, in Coburg	3 January 1793, in Coburg	22 days

Notable descendants

Countess Augusta is the grandmother of many notable monarchs of Europe, including both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (through her mother Victoria) and her husband, Prince Albert (through his father Ernst), King Consort of Portugal Ferdinand II (through his father Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and also Empress Carlota of Mexico and her brother Leopold II of Belgium (through their father Leopold I who was elected King of the Belgians on 26 June 1831.)

Elevation to Princess

The House of Reuss became princes on 9 April 1806, and all the surviving members of the Ebersdorf-Lobenstein line (including Augusta) bore the title Prince(ss) Reuss of Ebersdorf (German: Fürst/Fürstin Reuß zu Ebersdorf, Jüngere Linie) . Augusta died in Coburg on 16 November 1831, aged seventy-four, five months after the election of her son Leopold as King of the Belgians.

Titles and styles

• 19 January 1757 - 13 June 1777: Her Illustrious Highness Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf
• 13 June 1777 - 8 September 1800: Her Ducal Serene Highness The Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
• 8 September 1800 - 6 December 1806: Her Highness The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
• 6 December 1806 - 16 November 1831: Her Highness The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Ancestry

Ancestors of Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf

16. Heinrich X, Count Reuss of Lobenstein               8. Heinrich X, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf                       17. Marie Sibylle of Reuss-Obergreiz               4. Heinrich XXIX, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf                             18. John Frederick, Count of Solms-Baruth               9. Erdmuthe Benigna of Solms-Laubach                       19. Benigna of Promnitz               2. Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf                                   20. Wolfgang George I of Castell-Remlingen               10. Wolfgang, Count of Castell-Castell                       21. Sophia Juliana of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg               5. Sofie Theodora of Castell-Castell                             22. Maximilian Ernest, Count of Zinzendorf-Pottendorf               11. Dorothea Renata of Zinzendorf-Pottendorf                       23. Anna Amalia of Dietrichstein               1. Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf                                         24. George Albert I, Count of Erbach-Schönberg               12. George Albert II, Count of Erbach-Fürstenau                       25. Elisabeth Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst               6. George August, Count of Erbach-Schönberg                             26. Philip Gottfried, Count of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg               13. Anna Dorothea, Countess of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg                       27. Anna Christine Schenkin of Limpurg               3. Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg                                   28. Heinrich Ernst, Count of Stolberg-Gedern               14. Louis Christian, Count of Stolberg-Gedern                       29. Anna Elisabeth, Countess of Stolberg               7. Ferdinande Henriette, Countess of Stolberg-Gedern                             30. Gustav Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow               15. Princess Christine of Mecklenburg-Güstrow                       31. Magdalene Sibylle, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp

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.