Auguste von Harrach

Auguste Fürstin Liegnitz

Auguste von Harrach (30 August 1800 – 5 June 1873), was the second spouse of King Frederick William III of Prussia. As she belonged to the junior branch of the mediatized Harrach family who didn't have sovereign rights like the elder branch, this marriage was considered morganatic and she was not named Queen, but was given the titles Princess of Liegnitz (modern-day Legnica) and Countess of Hohenzollern. Frederick reportedly stated, that he did not wish to have another queen after his first one.

Auguste was the issue of Count Ferdinand Joseph Harrach von Rohrau und Thannhausen (1763–1841) and Christiane von Rayski (1767–1830). She met Frederick 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 a non-royal, 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 Princess of Liegnitz converted to Protestantism in 1826.

Auguste was put more or less outside the protocol in the court life of Berlin, she ranked after all the princes and princesses of the royal family. She was not politically active and had no children. She nursed Frederick when he died in 1840, but was not allowed at first but later it was decided to her attend the funeral.

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

Ancestry

Family 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 Dietrichstain 10. Karl Maximilian von Dietrichstein-Proskau, 5th Prince of Dietrichstein 21. Karolina Maximiliana Pruskovská z Pruskova 5. Princess Maria Josepha von Dietrichstein-Proskau 22. Siegmund Friedrich I Count von Khevenhüller zu Hohenosterwitz 11. Countess Maria Anna Josepha von Khevenhüller zu Aichelberg 23. Countess Gfn Ernestine von Orsini und Rosenberg 1. Auguste von Harrach 12. Johann Carl Rajský z Dubnice 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

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