Auguste of Prussia (1780–1841)

Auguste von Prussia, portrait by Wilhelm Böttner around 1800

Princess Christine Friederike Auguste of Prussia (born May 1, 1780 in Potsdam , † February 19, 1841 in Kassel ) was Electress of Hesse. She was the daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Friederike Luise , née Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt .

Life

Auguste von Prussia married the future Elector Wilhelm II of Hessen-Kassel (1777–1847) in 1797 . From this marriage emerged:

1. Wilhelm Friedrich Karl Ludwig (born April 9, 1798 in Hanau ; † October 25, 1802 there)
2. Caroline (born July 29, 1799, Philippsruhe Palace ; † November 28, 1854 in Kassel), unmarried
3. Luise Friederike (born April 3, 1801 in Hanau; † September 28, 1803, Philippsruhe Palace)
4. Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1802–1875) - married to Gertrude Lehmann (1803–1882)
5. Marie Friederike Christine (born September 6, 1804 in Hanau; † January 1, 1888 in Meiningen ) - married Bernhard II , Duke of Saxony-Meiningen (1800–1882) on March 23, 1825
6. Friedrich Wilhelm Ferdinand (born October 9, 1806 in Berlin ; † November 21, 1806, ibid)

The marriage of Auguste and Wilhelm arose politically. The two got on badly. That went up to physical disputes. Soon after the birth of their last daughter, the marriage was only on paper. Since Wilhelm kept mistress Emilie Ortlöpp from 1813 , the spouses lived separately and in 1815 concluded a separation agreement that was initially kept secret. The two feuded in Kassel for the next ten years. The Electress moved to Schönfeld Palace near Kassel , and Wilhelm lived with Emilie, who he raised to Countess von Reichenbach in 1821 . To Kurfürstin imagined for electors opposition , the romance of related circles, named after the residence of the Electress as " Schoenfelder circle ", the next Electress and Elector also in Kurhessen later caretaker Prime Ludwig Hassenpflug , Joseph von Radowitz , the Brothers Grimm and other intellectuals belonged. This circle was broken up by the elector in 1823 by transferring its members, as far as they were state officials and officers, to the province and sending the elector into "exile" in Marburg . The Electress then went into exile in The Hague , Koblenz , Bonn and in 1828 to Fulda (where her son Friedrich Wilhelm came with his regiment "Kurprinz" in 1830/31), before she returned to Kassel in 1831 on the occasion of the constitutional celebrations Gatte had since left with Emilie due to the revolutionary events of 1830/31. After 1831 Auguste came into conflict with her son, who had effectively assumed rule in Kurhessen as co-regent since October.

Auguste was a talented painter. The works she left behind include self-portraits.

literature

• Gerd Fenner, Ewald Grothe, Marianne Heinz and Heidrun Helwig: Electress Auguste von Hessen (1789–1841) in her time. Edited by Bernhard Lauer . Kassel: Brothers Grimm Society, Kassel 1995.
• Ewald Grothe : Electress Auguste of Hessen-Kassel and the Schönfelder Kreis . In: Bernd Heidenreich (Ed.): Fürstenhof and learned republic. Hessian résumés of the 18th century. Wiesbaden 1997, pp. 53-60.
• Ewald Grothe: Auguste . In: Kassel Lexicon . Edited by the city of Kassel. Vol. 1. Kassel: euregioverlag, 2009, p. 51 f.
• Philipp Losch : Auguste, Electress of Hesse . In: Ingeborg Schnack (Ed.): Life pictures from Kurhessen and Waldeck 1830–1930 . Vol. 1, Elwert & Braun, Marburg 1939, pp. 6-8 ( PDF online . ).

Web links

Commons : Auguste von Preußen (1780–1841)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Hessen-Kassel, Auguste Friederike Christine Electress of. Hessian biography. (As of February 19, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} cf. Reinhard Suchier : The grave monuments and coffins of the people buried in Hanau from the houses of Hanau and Hesse . In: Program of the Royal High School in Hanau . Hanau 1879. p. 39.