Prince Augustus of Prussia

Military career

Augustus joined the Prussian army as a young man, earning the rank of captain by eighteen years old. In 1803, he became a major and was granted an infantry battalion of his own. Three years later, now a lieutenant colonel, he and his battalion took part in the Battle of Auerstedt. His brother, Prince Louis Ferdinand, had been killed by the French army under Napoleon I four days earlier. Augustus himself was captured and held by the French until 1807.

In March 1808, his cousin, King Frederick William III of Prussia, made him brigadier general. The Prince spent the next five years reorganizing the Prussian artillery together with Gerhard von Scharnhorst. Seven years after the failure of the Prussian army at Auerstedt, the Prince distinguished himself at the Battle of Leipzig. He continued his campaign against Napoleon throughout 1814. In the winter 1814-1815, Augustus attended the Congress of Vienna. He moved to the north of France in June 1818 and then back to Berlin after the war had ended.

He spent his last years inspecting artillery units in various garrison towns. He died suddenly in Bromberg during one such trip, and was buried in Staats- und Domchor Berlin.

Relationships & Estate

Although he was one of the richest landowners in Prussia, his estates were reverted to the Crown upon his death, since he never married or left any legitimate heirs. The mother of his eldest children was his first mistress, Karoline Friederike Wichmann, with whom he cohabited from 1805 until 1817. Their union produced four children. She was ennobled as Baroness von Waldenburg. His second extramarital relationship was with Auguste Arend, later ennobled as Baroness von Prillwitz. It began in 1818, lasted until her death in 1834 and produced seven children.

At the time of his death, he was the last surviving grandchild of Frederick William I of Prussia.