Duchess Auguste Sophie
Countess Reuß zu Ebersdorf, later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (* 1757; + 1831)
Auguste came from a deeply religious Protestant family devoted to Pietism. Her father, Count Heinrich XXIV Reuss of Ebersdorf, actively sought suitors for his daughter. In 1777, the young countess married the Coburg heir prince Franz Friedrich Anton of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. They had nine children, although two died young.
Due to the duchy’s desperate financial situation, Auguste sought advantageous marriages for her children. In 1795, she undertook an adventurous journey to the Russian court in St. Petersburg, successfully marrying off her youngest daughter Juliane to the grandson of Catherine the Great!
Subsequently, her other children also entered financially and socially advantageous marriages-with the royal houses of Great Britain and Württemberg, and leading families in France, Austria, and Hungary.
