Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen

Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen (6 August 1843 – 11 November 1919) was the daughter of Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his wife Princess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel. She was the mother of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.

Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg
Born(1843-08-06)6 August 1843
Meiningen, Saxe-Meiningen
Died11 November 1919(1919-11-11) (aged 76)
Altenburg, Weimar Republic
SpousePrince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg
IssueMarie Anne, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna of Russia
Princess Margarethe
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Luise Charlotte, Princess Edward of Anhalt
Names
German: Auguste Luise Adelheid Karoline Ida
HouseSaxe-Meiningen
FatherBernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
MotherPrincess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel

Family and early life

edit

Augusta was the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen.[1] Her only sibling was Georg, who would succeed their father in 1866. Georg was seventeen years older than she was.[1]

Augusta's paternal grandparents were Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Her maternal grandparents were William II, Elector of Hesse and Princess Augusta of Prussia, daughter of Frederick William II of Prussia.

Like her brother, Augusta was born in Meiningen. Despite the large age difference, they seemed to have a good relationship. He was a great lover of theatre; in 1856, he wrote his parents stating how happy he was that Augusta was allowed to attend the theatre and how their mother was more tolerant than she had been when he was a child, when she had declared that no child under thirteen should be allowed in the theatre.[2]

Marriage

edit

On 15 October 1862, Augusta married Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg in Meiningen. He was fourteen years older, and was a younger son of Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Marie Luise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They had five children:

Name Birth Death Notes
Princess Marie Anne 14 March 1864 3 May 1918 married on 16 April 1882 to George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Princess Elisabeth Augusta Marie Agnes 25 January 1865 24 March 1927 married on 27 April 1884 to Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia; [upon her marriage, she took the name Elizaveta Mavrikievna in a Russian Orthodox baptism]
Princess Margarethe Marie Agnes Adelaide Karoline Fredericka 22 May 1867 17 June 1882
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg 31 August 1871 22 March 1955 married Princess Adelaide of Schaumburg-Lippe
Princess Luise Charlotte Marie Agnes 11 August 1873 14 April 1953 married on 6 February 1895 to Prince Edward of Anhalt; they divorced in 1918, shortly before he became Duke of Anhalt and later died.

Honours

edit

Ancestry

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Koller 1984, p. 30.
  2. ^ Koller 1984, p. 221.
  3. ^ a b c Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Altenburg (1902), "Genealogie des Herzoglichen Hauses" p. 4
Works cited
  • Koller, Ann Marie (1984). The Theater Duke: George II of Saxe-Meiningen and the German Stage. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1196-8.