Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Duchess Augusta Caroline Friederika Louise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (born Brunswick, 3 December, 1764; died Lohde, Kullamaa Parish 27 September, 1788)cite web| url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/welf/welf6.html |title=Genealogy Index: Welf 6|accessdate=2007-09-16] was a German princess, and first wife of Frederick I of Württemberg.

Augusta was the eldest child of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Augusta Charlotte of Wales. She was also the sister of Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV of the United Kingdom. On 15 October, 1780 in Brunswick she married The Hereditary Prince Freidrich Wilhelm Karl of Württemberg, eldest son of Duke Friedrich II Eugen of Württemberg.

Together they had four children :
*Wilhelm (1781-1864), who would later succeed his father as King William I of Württemberg;
*Catherine (1783-1835); who married Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia;
*Sophia Dorothea (1783-1784)
*Paul (1785-1852).

Frederick was reportedly violent towards his wife, and during a visit to Russia in December 1786, Augusta fled to the apartments of Empress Catherine II, mother-in-law of Frederick's sister Maria Feodorovna. Catherine offered Augusta asylum and wrote to Frederick requesting that he leave the Russian court. When Maria Feodorovna protested at the treatment of her brother, Catherine wrote her a curt letter saying "It is not I who cover the Prince of Württemberg with opprobrium: on the contrary, it is I who try to bury abominations and it is my duty to suppress any further ones."

Augusta's father was less sympathetic, and refused his daughter's plea for divorce. In response, Catherine offered Augusta a place to live at one of her imperial estates in Lohde [ [http://www.mois.ee/english/laane/koluvere.shtml Koluvere (Lohde) castle, Kullamaa (Goldenbeck) parish, Estonia] ] , Kullamaa Parish to the south-west of Reval, Estonia. [cite book|last=Rounding |first=Virginina |title=Catherine the Great |publisher=Arrow |location=London |year=2007|pages=pp.419–421|isbn=9780099462347]

Augusta died in there in September 1788 at the age of 23. In 1797, Frederick married her cousin Charlotte, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of George III of the United Kingdom.

Ancestry

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1=1. Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
2=2. Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
3=3. Princess Augusta of Great Britain
4=4. Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
5=5. Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia
6=6. Frederick, Prince of Wales
7=7. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
8=8. Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
9=9. Duchess Antoinette Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
10=10. Frederick William I of Prussia
11=11. Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
12=12. George II of Great Britain
13=13. Caroline of Ansbach
14=14. Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
15=15. Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst
16=16. Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
17=17. Landgravine Christina Wilhelmina of Hesse-Eschwege
18=18. Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
19=19. Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen
20=20. Frederick I of Prussia
21=21. Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
22=22. George I of Great Britain
23=23. Sophia Dorothea of Celle
24=24. George I of Great Britain (= 22)
25=25. Sophia Dorothea of Celle (= 23)
26=26. Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
27=27. Princess Eleonore of Saxe-Eisenach
28=28. Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
29=29. Princess Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels
30=30. Karl, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
31=31. Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weissenfels

References

ee also

* [http://www.muuseum.haapsalu.ee/index.php?lk=11422&show=11431 Image of the grave stone in the Church of Kullamaa (Goldenbeck), Lääne County, Estonia] (in Estonian)