Auguste von Harrach

Wife of Prussian King

(m. 1824; died 1840)
FatherCount Ferdinand Joseph von Harrach zu Rohrau und ThannhausenMotherJohanna Christiane Rayski von Dubnitz

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

Early life and ancestry

Kleinstruppen castle, owned by the Rayski family

Auguste was the daughter of Austrian Count Ferdinand Joseph von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen (1763–1841) and Saxon noblewoman Johanna Christiane Rayski von Dubnitz (1767–1830), whose father, Adolf Heinrich Rayski von Dubnitz (1726–1778), was the owner of Kleinstruppen Castle near Dresden. Patrilineally, she descended from Aloys Thomas Raimund, Count Harrach (1669–1742), who served as Viceroy of Naples, and Count Friedrich August von Harrach (1696–1749), Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. Through her mother, Auguste has descended from Saxon and Bohemian nobility, including her grandmother Christiane Sophie von Leyser (1735–1806) who was a direct matrilineal descendant of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger.[1]

Marriage

Auguste met King Frederick William III at a spa in Teplitz in Bohemia in 1822. They married at Charlottenburg Palace on 9 November 1824. As Auguste was a Catholic and considered a non-dynast 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 the Mecklenburg-Strelitz cousins, the family of the King's first wife, Queen Louise. Auguste 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 while 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. In her later years, she often traveled to Italy and France. She was godmother to her nephew, Count Ferdinand von Harrach (1832–1915), a painter, from the Upper Silesian branch of the family.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Auguste von Harrach
16. Count Aloys Raymund Harrach zu Rohrau
8. Count Friedrich August von Harrach-Rohrau
17. Countess Anna Cäcilia von Thannhausen
4. Count Ernst Quido von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen
18. Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein
9. Princess Maria Eleonore Karolina von und zu Liechtenstein
19. Countess Eleonore Barbara von Thun-Hohenstein
2. Count Ferdinand Joseph von Harrach
20. Walther Franz Xaver Anton, 4th Prince von Dietrichstein
10. Karl Maximilian von Dietrichstein-Proskau, 5th Prince of Dietrichstein
21. Countess Karolina Maximiliana von Proskau
5. Princess Maria Josepha von Dietrichstein-Proskau
22. Count Siegmund Friedrich I von Khevenhüller zu Hohenosterwitz
11. Countess Maria Anna Josepha von Khevenhüller zu Aichelberg
23. Countess Ernestine von Orsini und Rosenberg
1. Auguste von Harrach
12. Johann Carl Rayski von Dubnitz
6. Johann Heinrich Adolf von Rayski von Dubnitz
26. Georg Friedrich von Leoben
13. Sophie Dorothea von Leoben
27. Eva Sophie von Schönberg
3. Johanne Christiane Sophia Rayski von Dubnitz
28. Christian Leyser
14. Johann Gottlieb von Leyser
29. Anna Clara Detzschel
7. Christiane Sophie von Leyser
30. Johann Weller von Molsdorff
15. Sophie Elisabeth Weller von Molsdorff
31. Dorothea Fiedler

References

  1. ^ "Pedigree Chart for Auguste, Gräfin von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen : Genealogics".

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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