Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; Dolzig, October 22, 1858 - Doorn, April 11, 1921) was a princess of the House of Augustenburg, a secondary branch of the House of Oldenburg (to which the Danish royal family belongs); she was also the last empress and queen consort of Germany and Prussia, respectively.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Augusta Victoria, was the second daughter (but the first to survive childhood, in addition to being the first wife) of Duke Frederick VIII of Schleswig-Holstein (1829-1880) and his wife, Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe. Langenburg (1835-1900), daughter of Prince Ernest Christian IV of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife, Princess Feodora of Leiningen, sister on the mother's side of Queen Victoria.

She was known within her family as Dona. She along with her siblings spent a quiet childhood in Dolzig in Lusatia (today: Dłużek, Lubusz Voivodeship) in her father's mansion. When the crisis in Holstein came to a head in late 1863 because the Danish government had excluded the duchy from the constitutional agreement between Denmark and Schleswig, contrary to the stipulations of the Treaty of London of 1852, his father returned there, as he had in turn his own father Christian Augustus in the 1840s. Once in Holstein, he claimed his rights to the duchies. In fact, after Hanoverian and Saxon troops occupied Holstein in the course of the military campaign, Frederick was greeted with enthusiasm.

Federico "Octavo" (he saw himself as the legitimate successor to the recently deceased Frederick VII of Denmark) he attempted to rule from Kiel, after Holstein and Lauenburg seceded from the Danish crown following the German victory. The Austrians granted him the administration of Holstein, but after Prussia expelled Austria from the German Confederation and conquered Holstein in 1866, Frederick eventually became politically discouraged and had to leave the duchy with his family. Since then they lived alternately between Gotha and in the castle of Primkenau, which belonged since 1853 to his father, Duke Christian Augustus. Only Augusta Victoria's marriage to the German heir, William, led to the official reconciliation of the house of Augustenburg with the new state.

Marriage and offspring

When the princess fell in love with Prince Ernest Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen (1859-1941), son of Duke George II of Saxe-Meiningen, she was sent to England in 1875 for a visit to her British relatives.

At Reinhardsbrunn Castle she met William of Prussia in 1868, son of Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, grandson of Emperor William I and on his mother's side Queen Victoria of England. The meeting was renewed by his parents in the summer of 1878 in Potsdam. On February 14, 1880, the prince asked for her hand in marriage in Gotha (immediately after the death of his father), being very well received by the prince's parents and heirs to the imperial throne, unlike the Prussian court and initially also of Kaiser William I. The prince's choice was considered inappropriate since many saw the princess's family as being of inferior lineage (one of her great-grandmothers was a bourgeoisie and her grandmother was only a countess). In addition, there was rejection of Duke Frederick's claims on the dukedoms, since he still maintained them. However, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a major proponent of this marriage, believing that it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Augusta's father. The engagement was officially announced for this reason only on June 2.. Augusta Victoria was very honored to have been chosen as his wife by William and she would dedicate herself to him for the rest of her life, supporting him in everything and being by her side.

The marriage took place on February 27, 1881 in Berlin, having seven children:

• William (1882-1951), prince heir to Germany and Prussia, married to the Duchess Cecilia de Mecklemburg-Schwerin; they are great-grandparents of the current head of the House of Hohenzollern.
• Eitel Federico (1883-1942), married to the Duchess Sofia Carlota of Oldenburg.
• Adalberto (1884-1948), married to Princess Adelaide of Saxony-Meiningen.
• Augusto Guillermo (1887-1949), married to his cousin Alejandra Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
• Óscar (1888-1958), married in 1914 with Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz.
• Joaquín (1890-1920), married in 1916 with Princess Maria Augusta of Anhalt.
• Victoria Luisa, wife of Prince Ernesto Augusto III of Brunswick (1892-1980); are grandparents of the Queen Sofia of Spain, of King Constantine II of Greece and of Prince Ernesto of Hannover, husband of Princess Carolina of Monaco.

Empress of Germany

Her husband was proclaimed Emperor of Germany on June 15, 1888 after the death of his father Frederick III of Germany, Augusta Victoria becoming German Empress and Queen of Prussia. She went on to take charge of numerous traditional sovereign projects, such as the German Red Cross and the Patriotic Women's Association. Under her patronage, the Evangelical Church Aid Association was founded to "combat the state of religious and moral emergency", from which the Evangelical Church Construction Association emerged shortly after. With strong commitment, the empress promoted the construction of Protestant church buildings in Berlin, mainly in the new working-class neighborhoods. But also in other countries this application was fruitful. Thus, the Protestant "Emperatriz Augusta Victoria Foundation" In Jerusalem he consecrated the Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in 1914. Because of the empress's strong commitment to the Protestant church she was given the name 'Kirchenjuste'. (Church Fair).

Augusta Victoria was very active socially and was more popular and respected than her husband, whose public actions were often criticized and mocked by the population. She supported the women's movement and became interested in Marie Martin's theories for better education of girls and young women.

During the First World War he worked in charitable organizations and was especially concerned with the military hospital. He visited the wounded and encouraged them.

Exile and death

At the end of World War I and the monarchy disappeared in Germany with the abdication of her husband on November 9, 1918, after a brief stay at Villa Ingenheim, belonging to her son Eitel Federico, Victoria Augusta accompanied her husband into exile in the Netherlands and settling with him in 1920 in Huis Doorn in the province of Utrecht. William II wrote in 1922: "The rebellion broke the heart of the empress. She began to age from November 1918 and she could no longer resist physical suffering with the same resistance as before, as soon as her illness began. She was the most nostalgic for German soil. However, she still tried to console me... ".

In 1920 the empress suffered a terrible blow when she learned of the suicide of her favorite son, Prince Joachim of Prussia, who ended up shooting himself in the head after being financially ruined. Augusta Victoria was unable to recover and died of a heart attack on April 11, 1921. One of her last phrases was: "I must not die, I cannot leave the emperor alone." i>.

Many German newspapers published the message of his death with a black border. The death of the empress, after three years of exile, was perceived by her followers as particularly painful and the deceased was honored as "mother of the country." Her body was transferred to the ancient temple in the park of Sanssouci Palace (Potsdam); However, William II and the crown prince were not allowed to attend her funeral. The empress's coffin was followed by thousands of people.

Shortly before her death, Augusta Victoria expressed her wish that the emperor remarry after her death. William II married again on November 5, 1922, just a year and a half after his death, to the widowed Princess Herminia of Reuss-Greiz.

Literature

Augusta Victoria's funeral is reflected in Katherine Anne Porter's novel, Ship of Fools. In it, a German passenger silently recalls her funeral and her film screening to a small colony of Germans living abroad in Mexico and describes the outpouring of public grief seen within that community. The death of Augusta Victoria is seen among the Germans who lived through the First World War as the end of a great era, the conclusion of which divorces them forever from their maternal country and consecrates Augusta Victoria as a venerable saint and symbol of a distant past of Germany.

Titles, treatments and honorary distinctions

Titles and treatments

• 22 October 1858-27 February 1881: His Serene Highness Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustembourg
• 27 February 1881-9 March 1888: Your Royal Highness Princess Augusta Victoria of Prussia
• 9 March 1888-15 June 1888: Your Imperial and Royal Highness the German Crown Princess, Crown Princess of Prussia
• 15 June 1888-11 April 1921: His Imperial and Royal Majesty the Empress Consort German, Queen Consort of Prussia

Honorary distinctions

• Lady of the Order of the Black Eagle (German Empire).
• 16 May 1881: Lady of the Order of the Noble Ladies of Queen Mary Louise. Kingdom of Spain).
• First class Lady of the Royal Order of Victoria and Alberto. United Kingdom)

Ancestors