Born under the gilded roof of St.
James's Palace, this Princess was immediately
thrust into the unblinking eye of royal scrutiny.
The first-born of Frederick, Prince of Wales,
she was initially second in line for the throne of Britain, an expectation
swept away with the birth of her brother, the future George III.
Far from diminishing her,
this twist of fate would shape a destiny marked by strength and resilience.
Marriage ushered her into the grandeur and complexity of German nobility
as the wife of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.
The English Princess soon found herself navigating a world at odds
with the customs
and comforts of her homeland, triggering an enduring longing for England.
Her life straddled two worlds
- the royal courts of Brunswick and Britain's familiar grandeur, a balance
she maintained amid personal challenges and political upheavals.
Her tale is as much about triumph as heartache, a poignant testament
to the resilience of a woman who was a princess by birth, a duchess
by marriage, and a stalwart force in her own right.
So join me now as we uncover the intriguing life of
Princess Augusta of Great Britain
In the royal chambers of St.
James's Palace, Princess Augusta,
the first child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and treasured granddaughter
of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach, was born.
Her birth in 1737 positioned her second for the British throne.
Still, this royal line-up
shifted with the advent of her brother, Prince George, the following year.
Fifty days post-birth, she was christened in a grand ceremony at the palace,
presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
King George II and Queen Caroline, and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha
stood as godparents, albeit represented by proxies.
Her third birthday saw the inaugural public performance of “Rule,
Britannia!” at Buckinghamshire’s Cliveden.
Although endowed with an intensive education
but not blessed with stunning beauty,
Augusta's appearance was marked by a long face and slack mouth.
In the winter of 1761, whispers of a potential union
between Augusta and her second cousin, Charles William Ferdinand,
Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, started to circulate.
But delays ensued due to her mother's aversion to the House of Brunswick,
an impediment eventually bypassed by a reason divulged by Horace Walpole.
Lady Augusta
was lively and much inclined to meddle in the personal politics of the court.
As none of her,
the Dowager Princess of Wales’s children.
but the King had or had reason to have much affection for their mother,
she justly apprehended Lady Augusta, instilling their disgust onto the Queen.
She could not forbid her daughter's frequent visits at Buckingham House,
but she often accompanied her thither to prevent ill consequences.
This, however, was an attendance and a constraint
the Princess of Wales could not support.
Her exceeding indolence, her more excessive love of privacy,
and the subjection of being frequently with the Queen,
whose higher rank was a never ceasing mortification, all concur
to make her resolve at any rate to deliver herself of her daughter.
To obtain this end
the profusion of favours to the hated House of Brunswick was not thought too much.
The hereditary prince prevailed to accept Lady Augusta's hand with four score
thousand pounds, an annuity of five thousand a year in Ireland, and three thousand a year on Hanover.
It all culminated
in the icy heart of January 1764, the Chapel Royal at St.
James's Palace witnessed the grand nuptials.
A state dinner, parliamentary felicitations, a royal ball,
and an opera at Covent Garden marked the occasion.
The couple departed Britain’s shores from Harwich on the 26th.
Brunswick's grandeur failed to capture Duchess Augusta's heart.
She held Great Britain on a cherished pedestal
throughout her life, dismissing anything “east of the Rhine”.
Even two and a half decades post her marriage,
she was a quintessentially English woman, her staunch independence drawing a stark
contrast against the regimented etiquette of German court.
Following her inaugural pregnancy in 1764, she journeyed back
to Britain to deliver her second child, her husband accompanying.
The British populace met their every public appearance with raucous
cheers, a warm reception that stirred suspicion in royal circles.
During this vacation, Queen Charlotte, her sister-in-law, reportedly snubbed them
of specific courtly honours, earning negative publicity for the royal hosts.
Years later, during the marital negotiations
of her daughter with the Prince of Wales, Augusta confided in Lord Malmesbury,
the British negotiator, her belief that Queen Charlotte’s jealousy
from their 1764 visit harboured a disdain for her and her mother.
In Augusta’s eyes, Brunswick’s
court was a drab affair, particularly during summer when her husband was away.
A sanctuary was erected for her
a retreat infused with English reminders.
Here, Augusta indulged in hearty meals, gossip, and card games
and entertained English visitors, a refuge from the tedious court life.
The marital union of Augusta and Charles was a strategic dynastic manoeuvre.
Still, Augusta found Charles attractive and warmed up to him quickly.
After their first daughter's birth, she wrote, “No two people
live better together than we do, and I would go through fire and water for him”,
although she seemed blissfully ignorant of Charles' flirtatious escapades in London.
In 1771, Augusta was invited to England by her mother,
an occasion that fuelled another conflict with Queen Charlotte.
She was forbidden from residing in the empty Carlton House or St.
James Palace and was assigned a tiny house on Pall Mall.
The Queen's controversial views on etiquette
further strained their relationship.
She even denied Augusta a private audience with the King.
Augusta stayed by her dying mother’s side during her second English visit.
On her return, she extended her mourning period,
eventually withdrawing from the court.
Her frequent visits to her exiled sister, Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark,
convicted of adultery, raised eyebrows in her family.
In 1777, Augusta stepped back from courtly affairs, devoting her time to her
children's upbringing and religious studies under the Bishop of Fürstenberg.
She disapproved of her husband's public relationship with Louise
Hertefeld, his new official royal mistress at the Brunswick court.
In 1780, Charles ascended to the sovereign Duke
of Brunswick's role, crowning Augusta as the Duchess consort.
Despite the ups and downs of the marriage, the couple moved forward
and Augusta gave birth to four sons.
The births were marred
by sorrow, as the eldest three bore life-altering disabilities.
The sons of the Ducal couple are somewhat peculiar.
The Hereditary Prince,
chubby and fat, almost blind,
strange and odd if not to say an imbecile attempts to imitate his father
but only makes himself artificial and unpleasant.
He talks continually, does not know what he says, and is in all aspects unbearable.
He is accommodating, but a poor thing loves his consort
to the point of worship and is completely governed by her.
The other son, Prince George, is the most ridiculous person imaginable and so silly
that he can never be left alone, but is always accompanied by a courtier.
The third son is also described as an original.
I never saw him as he served with his regiment.
The fourth one is the only normal one, but he also torments his parents
with his immoral behaviour.
In 1806, as war drums roared between Prussia and France,
Augusta’s husband, the 71-year-old Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel,
was named the head of the Prussian army.
However, fate struck a cruel blow on October 14.
In the Battle of Jena, Napoleon trounced the Prussians.
In contrast, in the parallel Battle of Auerstadt,
the Prince sustained grave injuries, succumbing days later.
Along with the Hereditary Prince and Princess, Augusta fled to Altona,
spending their final moments with the dying Prince.
Faced with the encroaching French forces, they heeded the British ambassador's
counsel and left shortly before the Prince's demise.
Sweden's King Gustav IV Adolf extended a haven.
Still, Augusta opted for the Duchy of Augustenborg, where her
nephew-in-law ruled.
Accompanied by her niece, the Duchess of Augustenborg,
Augusta stayed there until her brother, George III of the UK, allowed her
to travel to London in September 1807.
In London, Augusta resided at Montagu House, Blackheath in
Greenwich, sharing space with her daughter, the Princess of Wales.
However, mother-daughter relations soured, prompting Augusta
to purchase the adjacent Brunswick House.
Here, Augusta passed her remaining years, dying in 1813 at 75.
Her resting place is the
Royal Vault in St George's
Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Princess Augusta of Great Britain navigated
the tumultuous waters of the 18th and 19th centuries with a steadfastly
English spirit, a distinction she wore with unwavering pride.
Her birth at St.
James's Palace marked her as the first-born child of Frederick,
Prince of Wales,
a position that briefly placed her second in line for the British throne.
Marriage carried her across
the English Channel into the unfamiliar arms of Charles William Ferdinand,
and a land she’d forever view as foreign.
Her heart remained anchored in the rolling English landscapes
she’d left behind.
As Duchess consort, she bore the weight of motherhood,
dynastic duties, and her husband's infidelity with an uncompromising resolve.
During the Prussian-French war, fate dealt her a crushing blow.
Her husband appointed the Prussian army commander-in-chief, was critically wounded
in battle and died, pushing her into a vortex of grief and exile.
Her journey eventually led her back to her beloved England, to a final sanctuary
in Brunswick House.
Princess Augusta's life ended in 1813, but her legacy endured,
a narrative etched into the annals of British and European history.
She was a princess of Great Britain, a Duchess consort of Brunswick,
but above all, she was a woman of formidable resilience,
navigating the ebbs and flows of her time with dignity and unwavering allegiance
to her English roots.