Auguste von Harrach

Countess Auguste von Harrach (30 August 1800 – 5 June 1873), was the second spouse of King Frederick William III of Prussia. At the time of their marriage Harrach family was still not recognized as equal, although, later in 1841, they were officially recognized as a mediatized family (former ruling family within the Holy Roman Empire), with the style of Illustrious Highness which allowed them having equal status for marriage purposes to those reigning and royal families. Due to that, in 1824 when the marriage occurred, it was treated as morganatic, so she was not named Queen, but was given the titles Princess von Liegnitz (modern-day Legnica) and Countess von Hohenzollern. Frederick reportedly stated, that he did not wish to have another queen after Queen Louise.

Auguste Fürstin Liegnitz

Life

Auguste was daughter of Austrian Count Ferdinand Joseph von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen (1763–1841) and Saxonian noblewoman Johanna Christiane Rayski von Dubnitz (1767–1830), whose father Johann Heinrich Adolf Rayski von Dubnitz was the owner of Struppen Castle near Dresden. Patrilineally, she was descendant of Count Aloys von Harrach (1669-1742), who served as Viceroy of Naples and Count Friedrich August von Harrach (1696-1749), who served as Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. Through her mother, Auguste has descended from Saxonian and Bohemian nobility. Among others, she was direct matrilinear descendant of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger.

Marriage

She met King Frederick William III on a spa in Teplitz in Bohemia in 1822. Auguste and Frederick married at Charlottenburg Palace 9 November 1824. As Auguste was a Catholic and considered non-royal at the time, the marriage was initially kept a secret. In many quarters the marriage was greeted with great surprise and some initially refused to believe it. The greatest opponents of this marriage were Mecklenburg-Strelitz cousins, family of his first wife Queen Louise. The Princess von Liegnitz converted to Protestantism in 1826.

As a morganatic spouse, Auguste was ignored in the protocol of the court life of Berlin, ranking after all the princes and princesses of the royal family. She was not politically active and had no children. She nursed Frederick when he was dying in 1840, and it was decided to allow her to attend his funeral.

Widowhood

Auguste was given a large allowance and allowed to continue to live in the royal palace as a widow. She made numerous travels during her later years, to Italy and England. She was the godmother to her nephew, the painter Count Ferdinand von Harrach (1832–1915).

Ancestry

Sources
  • Wichard Graf Harrach: Auguste Fürstin von Liegnitz. Ihre Jahre an d. Seite König Friedrich Wilhelms III. von Preussen (1824 - 1840) Stapp, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-87776-190-9.
  • Gisela und Paul Habermann: Fürstin von Liegnitz. Ein Leben im Schatten der Königin Luise Nicolaische, Berlin 1988 ISBN 3875842294

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