The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: The duty to appear German (Part four)

Read part three here.

Augusta did not get along with her sister-in-law, Elisabeth, who was now Queen. Augusta often attended the opera, but if the King and Queen were expected there, she would stay away. Once when Elisabeth unexpectedly appeared, she was told that the Queen wished her to retire. Fortunately, her relationship with the King was less strained, but they were still never very close.¹ William wrote to his sister, “I must give her full credit for her conduct in her new position. At home, she remains sisterly with Elise; in public, she is by no means stiff, cold, or deliberately formal, but exactly as she should be, without exaggerated respect. […] In all political matters, Augusta is now much more composed and insightful than before… She is beginning to realise that she is the one facing the test, not the rest of us. She also feels very well that the moment has come when it is her duty to appear, above all, German. She has always been Prussian.”² Augusta herself wrote to her brother, “The change in my circumstances, the burden of what is to come weighs heavily on me.”³

Augusta would study the papers every morning to stay informed, and William asked her to provide him with a summary. Meanwhile, she held little Louise close, and the little girl was often seen observing her mother in formal situations. Augusta had two further pregnancies, in 1842 and 1843, which ended in miscarriages.⁴ Following Louise’s birth, Augusta had begun to suffer from a trembling in her hands, which she found difficult to hide and control.⁵

As was usual, Augusta’s son’s military education began early, but Augusta insisted that his general education should not be neglected. In 1844, she hired the scholar Ernst Curtius for him, and Augusta was very happy with him. She wrote, “We have every reason to be satisfied with Professor Curtius. He has the very best manners, is highly educated and never pedantic, and has won the affection and trust of the children.”⁶ However, learning was not easy for Fritz.

Augusta began suffering from a “profound sadness”, as she herself described it.⁷ She wrote to her mother, “This despondency is nothing new, you know it in me, you know that I have bravely overcome it. However, this is also connected with the local peculiarities.”⁸ Augusta, with her strong intellect, was an outsider at the Prussian court, even with her sister Marie, with whom she did not have a good relationship.

She did find a friend in Queen Victoria, with whom she stayed for a week in September 1846. Queen Victoria later wrote to her uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium, that Augusta was “so clever, so amiable, so well informed, and so good; she seems to have some enemies, for there are whispers of her being false, but from all that I have seen of her – from her discretion, her friendship through thick and thin […] I cannot and will not believe it. Her position is a very difficult one; she is too enlightened and liberal for the Prussian court not to have enemies; but I believe that she is a friend to us and to our family, and I do believe that I have a friend in her, who may be useful to us.”⁹ That Christmas, Augusta sent gifts to Queen Victoria’s two children, Victoria, the Princess Royal, and the future King Edward VII. Perhaps she had already started to entertain the idea of an alliance between Prussia and the United Kingdom.¹⁰

Augusta was well aware of the rising unrest in Germany. In 1845, she wrote to her husband, “There is tremendous unrest in Germany; for the first time in many years, the mood is anti-Prussian, and Austria is laughing up its sleeve, as they say. It is obvious to all impartial observers that the many shortcomings of the current government, which you know better than anyone else, especially the inconsistency, arbitrariness, and the contradictory nature of the king’s style of governance, have violently shaken confidence in Prussia for the past two years.”¹¹ In the next two years, there were crop failures and bad harvests, leading to so-called hunger revolts throughout the country. In March 1848, a crowd gathered in Berlin to present their demands to the King. The surprised King verbally yielded to their demands.

Nevertheless, a few days later, the army was set on the crowds, leading to bloodshed. William was blamed for the bloodshed because he had advocated deploying the troops, and he was given the nickname “Schrapnel Prince.”¹²

Augusta believed it would be the end of the monarchy, but by the end of the year, King Frederick William had dissolved the Berlin Assembly and replaced it with a new Prussian legislature consisting of the Landtag, the Herrenhausen, and the Abgeordnetenhaus.¹³ However, before all that happened, Augusta and William had to flee the capital to escape the crowds’ hatred. Fritz and Louise remained in the care of the King and Queen. William eventually departed for London, while Augusta remained behind in Potsdam.¹⁴ After William left, Augusta wrote to him, “I feel a pity for you that I cannot express, but which I would gladly buy with my own suffering.”¹⁵ In Berlin, William was persona non grata.

On 23 March 1848, Augusta met with Otto von Bismarck, who had recently been chosen as a representative in the new legislature. Their accounts differed greatly, but it was clear that a lifelong enmity had been born.¹⁶

Part five coming soon.

1. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.26-27
2. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.114
3. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.114
4. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.115
5. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.28
6. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.116
7. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.117
8. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.117
9. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.30
10. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.31
11. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.129
12. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.32
13. The first German Empress by John Van Der Kiste p.36
14. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.138
15. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.139
16. Augusta by Karin Feuerstein-Praßer p.140