Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

This article is about Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . For the Duchess, who had a similar name through marriage, see Magdalena Augusta von Anhalt-Zerbst .

Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in an oil painting by Charles Philips, 1736

Augusta von Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (* November 30, 1719 in Gotha ; † February 8, 1772 in London ) was Princess of Wales and mother of the British King George III through her marriage to Friedrich Ludwig von Hanover . James Oglethorpe named the city of Augusta , Georgia , after her .

During her widow years she had the park of her home in Kew (now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames ) greatly expanded and altered, laying the foundation for Kew Gardens .

Life

Augusta was born as the 15th child of Duke Friedrich II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his wife Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst . In 1735 she stayed with her mother in the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , which the British King George II was also visiting at the time. The duchess and king arranged the wedding of their two children there.

In 1736, at the age of 16, Augusta was sent to England without being able to speak a word of English, where she died on April 27th ^. / May 8th ^greg. married Friedrich, twelve years his senior, in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace . Georg Friedrich Handel composed the Wedding Anthem Sing unto God especially for this occasion .

The newlyweds quickly realized that her husband was in a constant quarrel with his parents, and this led to numerous inconveniences for her. When Augusta was first pregnant in 1737, she was forced to move from Hampton Court Palace to St James's Palace at her husband's request to prevent the prospective grandparents from being present at the birth. After Augusta on July 31, ^july. / August 11, 1737 ^Greg. had given birth to a daughter who died on 29 August ^jul. / 9 September ^greg. - again in the absence of the British royal couple - had been baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury with the name Augusta Friederike Louise, there was a final break between Frederick and his father. Expelled from all royal palaces, he and his wife were forced to move into a house in St. James's Square. Despite such recurring annoyances, Augusta always bowed to the will of her quarrelsome husband throughout her life.

Augusta as Dowager Princess of Wales , 1759

In addition to the house on St. James's Square and the Cliveden manor, the young family also lodged in the White House in Kew in the years that followed, whose park Kew Gardens Augusta had significantly expanded during the years as a widow. In doing so, she laid the foundation for one of the world's most famous botanical gardens. A Chinese pagoda built by them in 1761 still exists there today.

With the death of her husband in March 1751, Augusta's eldest son, the 12-year-old George III. , new heir to the throne and thus Prince of Wales . Augusta henceforth bore the title Dowager Princess of Wales . Because George III. was still a minor, the British Parliament passed the Regency Act 1751 , which appointed Augusta regent for her son. For some time now, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute had been George's tutor and advisor to the family. His numerous visits to the White House after Friedrich's death quickly caused bad gossip. Augusta was said to have a relationship with him, but this could never be proven.

After her son's accession to the throne in 1760, the queen mother withdrew completely from court life. She died of throat cancer at Carlton House in London on February 8, 1772 and was buried seven days later on February 15 in Westminster Abbey .

progeny

Augusta and Friedrich had nine children together, the last of whom was born four months after Friedrich's death.

• Augusta Friederike Louise (* August 11, 1737; † March 23, 1813), ∞ Duke Karl II Wilhelm Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
• George III (June 4, 1738 – January 29, 1820), King of Great Britain and Ireland
• Edward August (March 25, 1739 – September 17, 1767), Duke of York and Albany
• Elizabeth Caroline (January 10, 1741 – September 4, 1759)
• William Henry (November 25, 1743 – August 25, 1805), Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
• Henry Frederick (7 November 1745 – 18 September 1790), Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn
• Louisa Anne (March 19, 1749 – May 13, 1768)
• Friedrich Wilhelm (May 24, 1750 – December 29, 1765)
• Caroline Mathilde (July 22, 1751 – May 10, 1775), ∞ King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway

literature

• William A. Beckett: Universal Biography. Isaac,London 1836.
• Elisabeth E. Kwan and Anna E. Röhrig: women from the court of the Guelphs. MatrixMedia, Goettingen 2006, ISBN 3-932313-17-8 , pp. 116-118.

web links

Commons : Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Auguste Princess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg at thepeerage.com , retrieved 4 October 2015.