Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha


August Victor Louis of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was a German prince of the Catholic House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was a General Major in the Royal Saxon Army and the owner of Čábráď and Štiavnica, both in modern-day Slovakia.

Life

[file:August von Sachsen-Coburg-Koháry als Kind 1820s.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Prince August as a child, 1820s]
Born Prince August Viktor Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, he was the second son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He was born in Vienna on 13 June 1818 and baptised at St. Stephan Cathedral on the 16th of that month. His godparents were his paternal grandmother, Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf, his aunts, Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Louise, Duchess of Saxe Coburg. Following the 1826 re-distribution in the House of Wettin of the Ernestine duchies, his dynastic suffix became "of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha". His mother was Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya, the daughter and heiress of Ferenc József, Prince Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya. When Antonia's father died in 1826, she inherited his estates in Slovakia and Hungary. Prince August was a younger brother of King-Consort Ferdinand II of Portugal, a nephew of Leopold I of Belgium, and a first cousin of Britain's Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert.
In Saint-Cloud on 20 April 1843 August married Princess Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French, and of his wife, Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. The couple lived in Palais Coburg in Vienna. He also owned Bürglaß Castle in Coburg. When his mother died in 1862, he inherited her extensive landholdings in Hungary and became one of the largest landowners in the country. He was an honorary member of the Hungarian Geological Society.
[file:1818 August.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Photograph of August, undated]
Prince August built a Catholic church in Coburg. It was consecrated in 1860 and was named St. Augustin. He was later buried in the crypt below this church, as were his wife, his three sons, his daughter-in-law Leopoldina and her four sons.
August was a recipient of the Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, the Portuguese royal Order of the Tower and Sword, the French Legion of Honour and the Belgian royal Order of Leopold. Furthermore, he was a knight of honour and devotion in the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Memorial

In 1885, the Austrian sculptor Viktor Tilgner was commissioned to create a memorial for the late Prince August. The sculpture still stands on private land in Ebenthal owned by the Saxe-Coburg ducal family. The base of the sculpture contains a Latin inscription and a text in French: Auguste Louis Victor Duc de Saxe Prince de Saxe Cobourg Gotha. À mon mari bien-aimé. 1843 - 1881. Clémentine..

Marriage and issue

In Saint-Cloud on 20 April 1843, August married Princess Clémentine of Orléans, daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French. They had five children:
  1. Ferdinand Philipp Maria August Raphael, married on 4 February 1875 to Princess Louise of Belgium. They had two children. They divorced on 15 January 1906.
  2. Ludwig August Maria Eudes, married on 15 December 1864 to Princess Leopoldina of Brazil. They had four sons.
  3. Marie Adelaide Amalie Clotilde, married on 12 May 1864 to Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria. They had seven children.
  4. Marie Luise Franziska Amalie, married on 20 September 1875 to Duke Maximilian Emanuel in Bavaria. They had three sons.
  5. Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria, installed as Prince of Bulgaria on 7 July 1887; raised to Czar of Bulgaria on. He married Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma on 20 April 1893. They had four children, including Boris III of Bulgaria. He married secondly Eleonore Reuss of Köstritz on 28 February 1908. He married thirdly Alžbeta Brezáková on 12 August 1947.
On 2 May 1881, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria bestowed upon August and his descendants the style of Hoheit, a higher style in Germany than Durchlaucht, which Ernestine princes were usually entitled to. The reason for the grant was that eight days later Princess Stéphanie of Belgium was to marry Franz Joseph's son Crown Prince Rudolf; Franz Joseph considered it appropriate that his son's in-laws have a higher rank at the Austrian court.

Honours

He received the following awards: