Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg

Frederick Augustus II (16 November 1852, Oldenburg – 24 February 1931, Rastede) was the last ruling grand duke of Oldenburg. He married Princess Elisabeth Anna of Prussia, daughter of Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau and Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. After her death, he married Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Family

Reign

Marriages and issue

On 18 February 1878, Frederick Augustus married Princess Elisabeth Anna of Prussia, a daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia.^[1] It was a double wedding, in which Princess Charlotte of Prussia (daughter of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia) married Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen on the same day as Elisabeth Anna in Berlin.^[2] The marriages were the first such occasions performed since Prussia had become the German Empire in 1870. Due to this increased status, the weddings were attended by many important personages, including King Leopold II of Belgium and his wife Queen Marie Henriette.^[3] The Prince of Wales also attended, as one of the brides (Charlotte) was his niece.^[4]

Frederick Augustus and Elisabeth Anna had two children:

Elisabeth died on 28 August 1895, before he succeeded as Grand Duke.^[6] Before her death, her husband had been building a new residential palace; once she died, Frederick named the new building the Elisabeth-Anna-Palais in her honor.

On 24 October 1896, Frederick Augustus married Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a daughter of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg.^[1][5] He succeeded as Grand Duke of Oldenburg in 1900, making Elisabeth Grand Duchess consort of Oldenburg.

Frederick Augustus and Elisabeth had four children:

Frederick was forced to abdicate his throne at the end of World War I, when the former Grand Duchy of the German Empire joined the post-war German Republic.^[7] He and his family took up residence at Rastede Castle, where he took up farming and local industrial interests.^[5] A year after his abdication, he asked the Oldenburg Diet for a yearly allowance of 150,000 marks, stating that his financial condition was "extremely precarious".^[5]

In 1931, Frederick died in Rastede. Elisabeth died on 3 September 1955, having been widowed for 24 years.^[7]

Ancestry

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage: Elisabeth Anne Prinzessin von Preußen". http://www.thepeerage.com/p10384.htm#i103839. Retrieved 26 December 2009. 
2. ^ Radziwill, pp. 116-17.
3. ^ Radziwill, pp. 117-18.
4. ^ Radziwill, p. 118.
5. ^ ^{a b c d} "Former Grand Duke of Oldenburg Dies", The New York Times (Oldenburg), 25 February 1931 
6. ^ "Princess Elizabeth of Prussia Dead", The New York Times (Berlin), 29 August 1895 
7. ^ ^{a b} "Duchess Elisabeth", The New York Times (Oldenburg), 5 September 1955 

Sources

• Radziwill, Catherine (1915). Memories of Forty Years. London: Funk & Wagnalls Company.