Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (Augusta Wilhelmina Louisa; later Duchess of Cambridge; 25 July 1797 – 6 April 1889) was the consort of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the tenth-born child, and seventh son, of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The longest-lived daughter-in-law of George III, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary of Teck, queen consort to George V.

Early life

Her Highness Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, third daughter of Prince Frederick of Hesse and his wife, Princess Caroline Polyxene of Nassau-Usingen, was born at Rumpenheim Castle, Kassel, Germany. Her father, Prince Frederick, was the youngest son of The Princess Mary, third daughter of George II. In 1803, her uncle assumed the title of Elector of Hesse-Kassel — whereby the whole extended Hesse-Cassel dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy, including young Augusta.

Marriage

On 7 May, at Kassel, and then, again, on 1 June 1818, Princess Augusta married her second cousin, the Duke of Cambridge, when she was 21 and he 43. 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 ascension 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. 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.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

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

Ancestry

Issue

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children: