Landgravine Auguste of Hesse-Homburg

A portrait photograph of Auguste, taken in 1850.

Auguste was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg and his wife Landgravine Caroline of Hesse-Darmstadt, in turn daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a member of the House of Hesse and a Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg by birth. Through her marriage, she became a member of the House of Mecklenburg and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Because all her older sisters married very early, Auguste became by 1793 in the primary caretaker of her parents, and a particular support to her ailing father.

In Homburg on 3 April 1818, the 41-years-old Auguste married Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, twice a widower and father of four surviving children. The marriage was suggested by the late second wife of the Hereditary Grand Duke, Princess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Auguste's first-cousin) at her deathbed.

The union was childless and lasted only 18 months until Frederick Louis' death on 29 November 1819. She was a devoted stepmother for her husband's children, taking responsibility for their upbringing and education. She developed a particularly close relationship with her stepdaughter Helene, second child and only daughter of her cousin Caroline Louise.

Auguste, who never remarried, remained in Mecklenburg-Schwerin for the rest of her life, dying in Ludwigslust aged 94. She was buried at the Helena Paulovna Mausoleum, next to her husband and his two previous wives.

• Paule Marquise d’Harcourt: Die Herzogin von Orleáns Helene von Mecklenburg-Schwerin p. 10.
• Karl Schwartz: Landgraf Friedrich V. von Hessen-Homburg und seine Familie. Archives and family documents, Rudolstadt 1878.

• Books about Auguste Friederike of Hesse-Homburg in: Landesbibliographie Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
• Auguste Friederike, Prinzessin von Hessen-Homburg in: zeno.org