The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: “A great longing for solitude and peace” (Part six)

Read part five here.

On 26 February 1858, Victoria wrote to her mother about Augusta, “The thing which pains me most of all is to see the Prince [William] and the Princess [Augusta], two noble souls bound together by the ties of marriage – and both unhappy! I am so fond of them both; they overwhelm me with kindness – what would I give to see them really happy. I have been witness to a great many little scenes which are painful. The dear, dear Princess told me once not to think ill of her if I saw her lose her command over herself, and she said that she was all day reproaching herself, and it made her very unhappy.”¹

In October 1858, William was appointed as regent for his brother indefinitely, as the King’s condition was unlikely to improve. However, Victoria noted that Augusta’s life was “as disagreeable as it can be, and it does not improve her health.”² Nevertheless, Victoria was pregnant and Augusta could look forward to becoming a grandmother again.

After a very difficult birth, Victoria gave birth to a son on 27 January 1858, and it was soon discovered that the Prince’s left arm had been left paralysed. This would cause one of the first fractures in the relationship between Augusta and Victoria. While Victoria felt ashamed of her son’s arm, Augusta simply accepted him as he was. In his later years, he would often seek out the company of his grandmother.³ Augusta had been waiting in the antechamber during the birth, and she later wrote to Queen Victoria that “it was brought in immobile and still.”⁴ After some vigorous rubbing, the first cry came, which was “the most wonderful sound you have ever heard in your life.”⁵

In June of the same year, Augusta’s mother died, which impacted her deeply. It wasn’t until October that William was able to report that her health “had improved considerably, without any prompting, thanks to her treatments in the summer and autumn.”⁶

The King’s condition continued to deteriorate, and Victoria wrote that he was a “human ruin” who was almost completely paralysed and unable to speak.⁷ He died on 2 January 1861, making William and Augusta the new King and Queen of Prussia. Augusta was not happy with the change and wrote, “I certainly do not want to selfishly complain about the sad change in my life brought about by my accession to the throne. Never have I felt such a great longing for solitude and peace. I would most like to hide away in a cave, see nothing, hear nothing. I openly admit: this winter is one of the saddest periods of my life.”⁸

The new King insisted on having a coronation despite the last coronation having taken place in 1701. The date was set for 18 October 1861, the anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The coronation took place at Königsberg.

Augusta was dressed in a white robe, and five countesses carried her train.⁹ William first crowned himself before placing a crown on Augusta’s head. One observer noted that Augusta was “conscious of no triumph, not even of satisfaction, for the day of her coronation was one strenuous effort to control her bodily sufferings, and it was only by supreme exertion of her will that she was able to keep on her feet in the Cathedral.”¹⁰ After the coronation, she became even more overbearing toward her daughter-in-law. Four weeks after the coronation, Victoria wrote, “Morning, noon and night she expects me to be at her beck and call, then with the greatest kindness she says I am useful to her that she cannot do without my helping her – it ends in my being a sort of slave. […] So Fritz always says ‘never mind how tired you are, if it keeps Mama quiet it is in everybody’s interest.'”¹¹

The following year, a conflict between William and the House of Representatives escalated to the point that he considered abdicating. The document had been drafted; it only needed a date and signature. Their son was conflicted, but his wife wrote, “If you don’t accept it, I believe you will regret it one day: in any case, I don’t want to take responsibility for having advised against it.”¹² Augusta wanted William to back down from the conflict to avoid the abdication.¹³ In September, Otto von Bismarck was appointed as the Prussian Minister-President, much to Augusta’s horror. Fritz wrote in his diary, “Poor Mama! How bitterly this appointment, of her mortal enemy, will paint her!”¹⁴ William apologised to his wife for the appointment, saying there had been no other option, saying an “inner voice told me that I could not act otherwise if I did not want to jeopardise the state.”¹⁵

August was furious, and she felt sidelined. Over the coming years, William relied more and more on Bismarck, leaving Augusta truly sidelined. She would never forgive her husband for appointing him.¹⁶ Augusta turned to Franz von Roggenbach, Foreign Minister of the Grand Duchy of Baden and close friend of her son-in-law, Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden. With him, she had a secret correspondence about current political issues, and she relied on him for advice, which she later wrote to her husband about. Where it concerned the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, William did not act on her advice.¹⁷

Her son was at the front during this war, and while he was away, his 21-month-old son, Sigismund, died from meningitis. Augusta travelled to the front herself to inform him of his son’s death. This thoughtful action is in stark contrast with the fact that she did not wear mourning for her grandson, nor did she allow Victoria to wear mourning when she returned to Berlin a few weeks later.¹⁸

Part seven coming soon.

1. Dearest Child edited by Roger Fulford p.60-61
2. Dearest Child edited by Roger Fulford p.144
3. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.196
4. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.46
5. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.46
6. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.197
7. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.49
8. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.198
9. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.53
10. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.54
11. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.54-55
12. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.203
13. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.204
14. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.206
15. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.206
16. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.206
17. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.217
18. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.77