Princess Augusta of Great Britain

Augusta of Great Britain
Duchess consort of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Tenure 26 March 1780[1] – 10 November 1806
Born (1737-07-31)31 July 1737
St James's Palace, London, England
Died 23 March 1813(1813-03-23) (aged 75)
Hanover Square, London, England
Burial 31 March 1813
St George's Chapel, Windsor, United Kingdom
Spouse Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
(m. 1764; his death 1806)
Issue
More		 Augusta, Princess Frederick of Württemberg
Caroline, Queen of the United Kingdom
Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Full name
Augusta Frederica
House Hanover
Father Frederick, Prince of Wales
Mother Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha

Princess Augusta Frederica of Great Britain (31 July 1737 – 23 March 1813) was a granddaughter of George II and the only elder sibling of George III. She married into the ducal house of Brunswick, of which she was already a member. Her daughter Caroline was the wife of George IV.

Early life

Princess Augusta, aged 17, by Liotard

Princess Augusta Frederica was born at St. James's Palace, London. Her father was Frederick, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King George II and Queen Caroline of Ansbach and her mother was the Princess of Wales, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

Fifty days later, she was christened at St. James's Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her godparents were her paternal grandfather, the King (represented by his Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Grafton), and her grandmothers, Queen Caroline and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha (both represented by proxies).[2]

Her third birthday was celebrated by the first public performance of Rule, Britannia! at Cliveden in Buckinghamshire.

She was born second in the line of succession. Augusta was given a careful education and the negotiations for her marriage began in 1761.

Life in Brunswick

On 16 January 1764, Augusta married Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, at the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace.

Augusta regarded the residence in Brunswick as too simple. She returned to Great Britain in 1764 in the company of Charles to give birth to her first child, and took a long time to return to Brunswick after the birth. During their visit in England, it was noted that the Brunswicks were cheered by the crowds when they showed themselves in public. This, reportedly, exposed them to suspicion at court. During their visit, her sister-in-law Queen Charlotte apparently refused them some honors at court, such as military salutes. This attracted negative publicity toward the hosting royal couple.[3] During the negotiations thirty years later for the marriage of when her daughter to the Prince of Wales, Augusta commented to the British negotiator, Lord Malmesbury, her view that Queen Charlotte disliked both her and her mother because of jealousy dating from the visit of 1764.[4]

Augusta by Angelica Kauffman, 1767; Royal Collection, London

A new palace was built for her in Braunschweig, south of Brunswick to answer more to her taste, constructed by Carl Christoph Wilhelm Fleischer, and called Schloss Richmond to remind her of England. When the palace was finished in 1768, Augusta moved there permanently.

The marriage was purely an arranged political marriage and Augusta and Charles regarded each other with mutual indifference. Augusta was indifferent to Charles's affairs with Maria Antonia Branconi and Louise Hertefeld. Her indifference was sometimes seen as arrogance, and it gave rise to rumours and slander. Augusta's popularity was severely damaged by the fact that her eldest sons were born with handicaps.

In 1772, Augusta visited England on the invitation of her mother. On this occasion, she was involved in another conflict with her sister-in-law Queen Charlotte. She was not allowed to live at Carlton House or St. James Palace despite the fact that it was empty at the time, but was forced to live in a small house on Pall Mall. The queen disagreed with her about etiquette, and refused to let her see her brother the king alone.[5] According to Mr. Walpole, the reason was jealousy on the part of the queen.[6]

During the first decade of her marriage, Augusta had rarely appeared at the court of Brunswick because of the dominance of her mother-in-law. When Charles became regent in 1773, her mother-in-law left the court and Augusta filled the position of first lady in the court ceremonies of Brunswick, although she often took short holidays to her personal palace, Richmond. In 1780, Charles, regent for his father, became sovereign duke, and Augusta became duchess consort.

The Swedish Princess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte described her, as well as her family, at the time of a visit in August, 1799:

Our cousin the Duke arrived immediately the next morning. He has won many victorys as a notable military man, is witty, literal and a pleasant acquaintance but ceremonial beyond description. He is said to be quite strict, but a good father of the nation who attends to the needs of his people. After he left us, I visited the Dowager Duchess, the aunt of my consort. She is an agreable, highly educated and well respected lady, but now so old that she has almost lost her memory. From her I continued to the Duchess, sister to the King of England and a typical English woman. She looked very simple, like a vicar's wife, has I am sure many admirable qualities and are very respectable, but completely lacks manners. She makes the strangest questions without considering how difficult and unpleasant they can be. Both the hereditary princess as well as princess Augusta—sister of the sovereign Duke—came to her while I was there. The former is delightful, mild, lovable, witty and clever, not a beauty but still very pretty. In addition, she is said to be admirably kind to her boring consort. The princess Augusta is full of wit and energy and very amusing. (...) The Duchess and the Princesses followed me to Richmond, the country villa of the Duchess a bit outside of the town. It was small and pretty with a beautiful little park, all after an English pattern. As she had the residence constructed herself, it amuses her to show it to others. (...) The sons of the Ducal couple are somewhat peculiar. The hereditary prince, chubby and fat, almost blind, strange and odd—if not to say an imbecile—attempts to imitate his father but only makes himself artificial and unpleasant. He talks continually, does not know what he says and is in all aspects unbearable. He is accommodating but a poor thing, loves his consort to the point of worship and is completely governed by her. The other son, Prince Georg, is the most ridiculous person imaginable, and so silly that he can never be left alone but is always accompanied by a courtier. The third son is also described as an original. I never saw him, as he served with his regiment. The fourth is the only normal one, but also torments his parents by his imoral behaviour.[7]

Later life

In 1806, when Prussia declared war on France, the Duke of Brunswick, 71 at the time, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Prussian army. On 14 October of that year, at the Battle of Jena, Napoleon defeated the Prussian army; and on the same day, at the Battle of Auerstadt, the Duke of Brunswick was seriously wounded, dying a few days later. The Duchess of Brunswick, with two of her sons and a widowed daughter-in-law, fled her ruined palace for Altona, where she was present with her daughter-in-law Marie of Baden at her dying husband's side.[8] Her other daughter-in-law, Louise of Orange-Nassau, went to Switzerland with her mother.[9] Because of the advancing French army, Augusta and Marie were advised by the British ambassador to flee, and they left shortly before her husband's death.

They were invited to Sweden by Marie's brother-in-law King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.[8] Marie accepted the offer and left for Sweden, but Augusta went to Augustenborg, a small town east of Jutland. The Duchess of Brunswick remained there with her niece, Princess Louise Augusta, daughter of her sister Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark, until her brother George III finally relented in September 1807, and allowed her to come to London. There she resided at Montague House, at Blackheath in Greenwich, with her daughter, the Princess of Wales, but soon fell out with her daughter, and purchased the house next door, Brunswick House, as she renamed it. The Duchess of Brunswick lived out her days in Blackheath and died in 1813 aged 75.

Titles, styles and arms

Titles and styles

Arms

Augusta was granted use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of five points, the centre bearing a cross gules, the other points each bearing a rose gules.[11]

Ancestors

Issue

Together the couple had 7 children:

NameBirthDeathNotes
Auguste Caroline Friederike Luise3 December 176427 September 1788married 1780, Friedrich III, Duke of Württemberg; had issue
Karl Georg August8 February 176620 September 1806married 1790, Frederika Luise Wilhelmine, Princess of Orange-Nassau; no issue
Caroline Amalie Elisabeth17 May 17687 August 1821married 1795, George IV of the United Kingdom; had issue
Georg Wilhelm Christian27 June 176916 September 1811Declared an invalid; Excluded from line of succession
August18 August 177018 December 1822Declared an invalid; Excluded from line of succession
Friedrich Wilhelm9 October 177116 June 1815married 1802, Marie Elisabeth Wilhelmine, Princess of Baden; had issue
Amelie Karoline Dorothea Luise22 November 17722 April 1773

Sources

References

  1. ↑ The Peerage – Charles I, Duke of Brunswick
  2. ↑ Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Royal Christenings
  3. ↑ Fitzgerald, Percy: The Good Queen Charlotte p 58
  4. ↑ Fitzgerald, Percy: The Good Queen Charlotte
  5. ↑ Fitzgerald, Percy: The Good Queen Charlotte p 85
  6. ↑ Fitzgerald, Percy: The Good Queen Charlotte p 85
  7. ↑ Charlottas, Hedvig Elisabeth (1927) [1797-1799]. af Klercker, Cecilia, ed. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok [The diary of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte] (in Swedish). VI 1797-1799. Translated by Cecilia af Klercker. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. pp. 219–220. OCLC 14111333. (search for all versions on WorldCat)
  8. 1 2 Charlottas, Hedvig Elisabeth (1936) [1800–1806]. af Klercker, Cecilia, ed. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok [The diary of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte] (in Swedish). VII 1800-1806. Translated by Cecilia af Klercker. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. p. 471. OCLC 14111333. (search for all versions on WorldCat)
  9. ↑ Charlottas, Hedvig Elisabeth (1936) [1800–1806]. af Klercker, Cecilia, ed. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok [The diary of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte] (in Swedish). VII 1800-1806. Translated by Cecilia af Klercker. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. p. 458. OCLC 14111333. (search for all versions on WorldCat)
  10. ↑ The London Gazette, 17 January 1764
  11. ↑ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
German nobility
Preceded by
Philippine Charlotte of Prussia		 Duchess consort of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
1780–1806 		Vacant
Title next held by
Marie of Baden
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