Born in the past on 22 October 1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1921) Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; 22 October 1858 – 11 April 1921) was the last German empress and queen of Prussia. Augusta Victoria was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. On 27 February 1881, Augusta married Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, the grandson of her mothers aunt, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a strong proponent of the marriage, believing that it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Augustas father. Wilhelm had earlier proposed to his first cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (known in the family as Ella), but she declined. Wilhelm did not take that well - and was adamant to marry another princess soon. Wilhelms family was originally against the marriage with Augusta Viktoria, whose father was not even a sovereign. But in the end, Wilhelms intransigence, the support of Bismarck, and a determination to move beyond the rejection of his proposal to Ella, led the reluctant imperial family to give official consent. Augusta was known as Dona within the family. She enjoyed a somewhat lukewarm relationship with her mother-in-law, Victoria, who had hoped that Dona would help to heal the rift between herself and Wilhelm; this was not to be the case. The Empress was also annoyed that the title of head of the Red Cross went to Dona, who had no nursing or charity experience or inclination (though in her memoirs, Princess Viktoria Luise paints a different picture, stating that her mother loved charity work). Augusta often took pleasure in snubbing her mother-in-law, usually small incidents, such as telling her that she would be wearing a different dress than the one Victoria had recommended, that she would not be riding to get her figure back after childbirth as Wilhelm had no intention of stopping at one son, and informing her that Augustas daughter, Viktoria, was not named after her (though, again, in her memoirs, Viktoria Luise states that she was named after both her grandmother and her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria). Augusta and her mother-in-law grew closer for a few years when Wilhelm became emperor, as Augusta was often lonely while he was away on military exercises and turned to her mother-in-law for companionship of rank, although she never left her children alone with her lest they be influenced by her well-known liberalism. Nevertheless, the two were often seen out riding in a carriage together. Augusta was at Victorias bedside when she died of spinal cancer in 1901. Augusta also had less than cordial relationships with some of Wilhelms sisters, especially the recently married Crown Princess Sophie of Greece. In 1890, when Sophie announced her intention to leave her Evangelical faith for Greek Orthodoxy, Dona summoned her and told her that if she did so, not only would Wilhelm find it unacceptable, being the head of the Evangelical State Church of Prussias older Provinces; she would be barred from Germany and her soul would end up in Hell. Sophie replied that it was her business whether or not she did. Augusta became hysterical and gave birth prematurely to her son, Prince Joachim, as a result of which she was protective of him for the rest of his life, believing that he was delicate. Evidently, so did Wilhelm; he wrote to his mother that if the baby died, Sophie would have murdered it. In 1920, the shock of exile and abdication, combined with the breakdown of Joachims marriage and his subsequent suicide, proved too much for Augustas health. She died in 1921, in House Doorn at Doorn in the Netherlands. Wilhelm, still reeling over the same losses, was devastated by her death. The Weimar Republic allowed her remains to be transported back to Germany, where they still lie in the Temple of Antiquities, not far from the New Palace, Potsdam. Because he was not permitted to enter Germany, Wilhelm could accompany his wife on her last journey only as far as the German border.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 16:24:32 +0000