• Source: Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf

Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf (German: Gräfin Reuß zu Ebersdorf; 19 January 1757 – 16 November 1831), was by marriage the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the grandmother and godmother of both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband and cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.




Family



Augusta was born on 19 January 1757, the second child of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. Her birthplace, Ebersdorf, was a center of Pietism in Thuringia and Augusta's grandparents were ardent admirers of this religious movement.
Augusta's grandaunt, Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf, was married to Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, leader of the revivalist Moravian Church. This background explains the deep religious feelings of Duchess Augusta in later years.




Marriage



Her father commissioned a portrait of Augusta as Artemisia by the painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein. Count Heinrich XXIV showed this painting during the Perpetual Diet so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter.
In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777, Augusta married Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who previously acquired the Artemisia painting for four times the original price because he was deeply in love with Augusta, but he was already obliged to marry his relative Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Princess Sophie died 7 months after the wedding, so the young Duke was free to wed again.
During her marriage, Augusta bore her husband 10 children, though only seven of them survived to adulthood; some of their children played important roles in European history: Victoria, Duchess of Kent, and King Leopold I of Belgium.




Issue






Notable descendants


Countess Augusta was the grandmother of many notable monarchs of Europe, including both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (through her mother Victoria) and her husband, Prince Albert (through his father Ernst), King Consort of Portugal Ferdinand II (through his father Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and also Empress Carlota of Mexico and her brother Leopold II of Belgium (through their father Leopold I who was elected King of the Belgians on 26 June 1831).




Ancestry






References



Gertraude Bachmann: Natur und Kunst in den Reisetagebüchern der Herzogin Auguste Caroline Sophie von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld (text of the lecture from the 175th anniversary of Duchess Augusta's death on 16 November 2006 at the Naturkunde-Museum Coburg), Coburg 2006.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Countess Augusta Reuss dari Ebersdorf
• Putri Victoria, Adipatni Kent dan Strathearn
• Keturunan Victoria dari Britania Raya
• Victoria dari Britania Raya
• Francis, Adipati Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
• Victoria Eugenie dari Battenberg
• Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf
• Reuss-Ebersdorf
• Reuss
• Imperial County of Reuss
• Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg
• Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
• Descendants of Queen Victoria
• Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf
• Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
• Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld