Landgravine Auguste of Hesse-Homburg


Landgravine Auguste Fredericka of Hesse-Homburg, was a member of the House of Hesse and a Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by birth. Through her marriage she was also a member of the House of Mecklenburg and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
She was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg and his wife Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Darmstadt, in turn daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Life

Because all her older sisters married very early, by 1793 Auguste became in the primary caretaker of her ailing father.
In Homburg on 3 April 1818, the 41-years-old Auguste married Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, twice a widower and father of four surviving children. The marriage was suggested by the late second wife of the Hereditary Grand Duke, Princess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach at her deathbed.
The union was childless and lasted only 18 months until Frederick Louis' death on 29 November 1819. She was a devoted stepmother for her husband's children, taking responsibility for their upbringing and education. She developed a particularly close relationship with her stepdaughter Helene, eldest child and only daughter of her cousin Caroline Louise.
Auguste, who never remarried, remained in Mecklenburg-Schwerin for the rest of her life, dying in Ludwigslust aged 94. She was buried at the Helena Paulovna Mausoleum, next to her husband and his two previous wives.

Ancestry