Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf

Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf (; 19 January 1757 – 16 November 1831), was by marriage the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the maternal grandmother and godmother of Queen Victoria and the paternal grandmother of Albert, Prince Consort, as well as his godmother. Family Augusta was born on 19 January 1757, the second child of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. Her birthplace, Ebersdorf, was a center of Pietism in Thuringia and Augusta's grandparents were ardent admirers of this religious movement. Augusta's grandaunt, Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf, was married to Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, leader of the revivalist Moravian Church. This background explains the deep religious feelings of Duchess Augusta in later years. Marriage Her father commissioned a portrait of Augusta as Artemisia by the painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein. Count Heinrich XXIV showed this painting during the Perpetual Diet so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter. In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777, Augusta married Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who previously acquired the Artemisia painting for four times the original price because he was deeply in love with Augusta, but he was already obliged to marry his relative Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Princess Sophie died 7 months after the wedding, so the young Duke was free to wed again.