Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein

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Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
German Empress, Queen of Prussia

Titles	HI&RM The German Empress (1888-1921) HI&RH The German Crown Princess (1888) HRH Princess William of Prussia (1881-1888) HSH Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1881)
Born	October 22, 1858
	Dolzig Palace
Died	April 11, 1921
	Huis Doorn
Consort	June 15, 1888 - November 9, 1918
Consort to	William II
Issue	Wilhelm, Eitel Friedrich, Adalbert, August Wilhelm, Oskar, Joachim, Viktoria Luise
Royal House	Augustenburg
Father	Frederick VIII of Schleswig-Holstein
Mother	Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein (October 22, 1858 - April 11, 1921), was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia.

She was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Her maternal grandparents were Ernst Christian Carl IV, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Feodora of Leiningen, half-sister of Queen Victoria. As a granddaughter of Feodora, Augusta and her husband were half second cousins.

On February 27, 1881, Augusta married the then Prince William of Prussia in an eight hour ceremony that required everyone to remain standing. She accompanied him to the Netherlands after World War I. She is reputed to have been a woman who loved the arts, she even composed music for her clarinet. Before her marriage and indeed for sometime after it, Augusta was looked down upon by some members of William's family, his sister, Princess Charlotte, in particular thought she was of insufficient rank to marry a Crown Prince being merely the daughter of a duke with questionable sovereignty.

Augusta was known as "Dona" within the family. She enjoyed a somewhat cool relationship with her mother-in-law the Empress Frederick, whom had hoped that Dona would help to heal the rift between herself and William; sadly, this was not to be the case. The Empress was also annoyed that the title of the head of the Red Cross went to Dona who had no nursing or charity experience or inclination. However, in her memoirs, Princess Viktoria Luise, paints a different picture saying how much her mother loved charity work. Dona often took pleasure in snubbing her mother-in-law, usually small incidents, such as telling her that she would be wearing a different dress to the one the Empress had recommended, that she would not be riding to get her figure back after childbirth as William had no intention of stopping at one son, and taking pleasure in informing the Empress that Augusta's daughter, Viktoria, was not named after her. However, in her memoirs, Viktoria Luise is of the belief that she was named after both her grandmother and great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

The pair grew closer for a few years when William became Emperor, as Dona was often lonely when he was away on military exercises and Dona turned to Vicky for companionship of rank, although she never left her children alone with Vicky in case her mother-in-law’s well known liberality should influence them. Nevertheless, they where often seen out riding in a carriage together. Dona was also at the bedside when the Empress Frederick died of cancer in 1901.

Dona also had less than cordial relationships with some of William's sisters, especially the Crown Princess Sophie of Greece. In 1890, when Sophie announced her intention to leave her Lutheran faith for Greek Orthodoxy, Dona summoned her and told her that if she did so, not only would William find it unacceptable, being the head of the German church; she would be barred from Germany and her soul would end up in hell. Sophie replied that it was her business whether or not she did. Dona became hysterical and her son, Prince Joachim, was born too early causing her to cling to him for the rest of his life as she believed he was delicate. Evidently, so did William as he wrote to his mother that if the baby died Sophie would have murdered it.

In 1920, the shock of exile and abdication, combined with Joachim's suicide over the abdication and break down of his marriage, proved too much for Dona and she died without ever fulfilling her lifelong dream of visiting the Louvre in Paris.

Empress Augusta gave birth to seven children by William II: