Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

Princess Augusta
Duchess of Cambridge
198px William Beechey: Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, 1818
Born	(1797-07-25)25 July 1797 Rumpenheim Castle, Kassel
Died	St. James's Palace, Pall Mall, London
Spouse	Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
Issue	Prince George, Duke of Cambridge Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck
Full name Augusta Wilhelmina Louisa
House	House of Hanover House of Hesse-Kassel
Father	Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel
Mother	Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (German: Auguste Wilhelmine Luise von Hessen-Kassel; 25 July 1797 – 6 April 1889) was the wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the tenth-born child, and seventh son, of George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The longest-lived daughter-in-law of George III, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary of Teck, wife of George V.

Early life

Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, third daughter of Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen, was born at Rumpenheim Castle (French: Château de Rumpenheim, German: Rumpenheimer Schloss), Kassel, Hesse. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of George II of Great Britain, her grandfather having married George II's daughter Mary. Her father's older brother was the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. In 1803, her uncle's title was raised to Elector of Hesse — whereby the entire Kassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

Marriage

On 7 May, in Kassel, and then, again, on 1 June 1818 at Buckingham Palace, Princess Augusta married her second cousin, the Duke of Cambridge, when she was 20 and he 44. Upon their marriage, Augusta gained the style HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children.

From 1818 until the accession of Queen Victoria, and the separation of the British and Hanoverian crowns in 1837, the Duchess of Cambridge lived in Hanover, where the Duke served as viceroy on behalf of his brothers, George IV and William IV. In 1827 Augusta allowed that a new village, founded on 3 May 1827 and to be settled in the course of the cultivation and colonisation of the moorlands in the south of Bremervörde, would bear her name. On 19 June the administration of the Hanoveran High-Bailiwick of Stade informed the villagers that she had approved the chosen name Augustendorf for their municipality (since 1974 it is a component locality of Gnarrenburg). The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Great Britain, where they lived at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, and later at St. James's Palace. The Duchess of Cambridge survived her husband by thirty-nine years, dying at the age of ninety-one.

She was buried at St Anne's Church, Kew, but her remains were later transferred to St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 25 July 1797 – 7 May 1818: Her Serene Highness Princess Augusta Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse
• 7 May 1818 – 6 April 1889: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge

Ancestry

Family of Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

16. Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel               8. William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel                       17. Duchess Maria Amalia of Courland               4. Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel                             18. Moritz Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz               9. Duchess Dorothea of Saxe-Zeitz                       19. Margravine Marie Amalie of Brandenburg               2. Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel                                   20. George I of Great Britain               10. George II of Great Britain                       21. Princess Sophia Dorothea of Celle               5. Princess Mary of Great Britain                             22. Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach               11. Margravine Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach                       23. Princess Eleanor of Saxe-Eisenach               1. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel                                         24. William Henry, Prince of Nassau-Usingen               12. Charles, Prince of Nassau-Usingen                       25. Princess Charlotte Amalie of Nassau-Dillenburg               6. Charles William, Prince of Nassau-Usingen                             26. John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach               13. Duchess Christiane Wilhelmine of Saxe-Eisenach                       27. Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels               3. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen                                   28. Count Johann of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim               14. Count Christian Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg                       29. Countess Johanna Magdalena of Hanau-Lichtenberg               7. Countess Caroline of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg                             30. Count George Ludwig of Solms-Rödelheim               15. Countess Katharina Polyxene of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim                       31. Countess Charlotte Sibylle of Ahlefeld-Langeland

Issue

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children:

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Prince George, Duke of Cambridge	26 March 1819	17 March 1904	illegally married, 1847, Sarah Louisa Fairbrother; had issue
Princess Augusta of Cambridge	19 July 1822	4 December 1916	married, 1843, Frederick William, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue
Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge	27 November 1833	27 October 1897	married, 1866, Francis, Duke of Teck; had issue, including Mary of Teck, wife of George V