Kaiser Wilhelm I & Augusta of Saxe-Weimar

[Martyn]

Augusta and Victoria may have been friends but the latter was not slow to take up the cudgels with her friend when she felt that there was a need.
One of these issues was the proposed union of Pcss Beatrice and Pce Henry of Battenberg, which seems to have caused some indignation at the Prussian court.  David Duff relates this as follows:
'Yet this was but a short interlude before another storm.  Berlin raved in anger and indignation over the engagement.  In a letter to Queen Victoria, the Empress was distinctly "unamiable".  Fritz, the Crown Prince, considered Prince Henry to be an unsuitable brother-in-law for the future Emperor of Germany, as he was not of "Geblut".  Prince william and his wife Dona, were "insolent, impertinent and unkind".
The Queen, now as whole-heartedly on the side of Liko as previously she had been against, was furious.  Not only did she fix her verbal bayonet in his defence, but she moved right in to the attack.  The Empress, she parried, had "no right to write to me in that tone".  She accused the Crown Prince of regarding the breeding of the Battenbergs as if they were animals.  Dona she dismissed as "foolish" and a "poor little insignificant Princess".  "As for Willie, that very foolish, undutiful and, I must add, unfeeling boy, I have no patience with and I wish he could get a good 'skelping' as the Scotch say and seriously a good setting down."  She added that "morganatic marriages were unknown in England and if a King chose to marry a peasant girl she would be Queen just as much as any Princess".
Having repulsed the attack, the Queen moved on to the offensive.  She shattered the opposition by pointing out that the Empress's son-in-law, and his brothers and sisters, "were the children of a Fraulein von Geyersburg, a very bad woman, and that they had been acknowledged by the whole of Europe as Princes of Baden".
Having shown that, single-handed, she was the master of Berlin, the Queen concerned herself with domestic planning, firstly for the birth of Princess Louis of Battenberg's child, and, secondly, the wedding of Princess Beatrice.'
As Bismarck rightly said of Victoria:
" What a woman.  One could do business with her!"

[Martyn]

Am I right in thinking that the basis of this friendship had been formed in the late 1840's when Wilhelm and Augusta were staying in England due to the uncertain political climate in Prussia?
That they managed to remain friends in spite of all these ups and downs is nothing short of miraculous; after all, Victoria did not brook interference in any affair in which she was remotely interested.
David Duff in "Hessian Tapestry" attributed these quotes to the Liko/Beatrice betrothal but is less specific about what was said on the subject of Sandro and Moretta.
We do know however that it was Willy who delivered the coup de grace to the Sandro & Moretta affair, sending a Prussian diplomatic representative to Pce Alexander of Hesse to announce that all question of a marriage must be at an end.  Q.Victoria was privately very indignant about this out of sympathy for both Vicky and Sandro.
Her final comment on the matter when informed of Sandro's morganatic marriage to Johanna Loisinger is quite surprising in its sympathy.  She simply said:
"Perhaps they love one another."

[jfkhaos]

Are there any pictures of the location of the Empress Augusta's burial?  What about at her coronation?  Thanks in advance!

[jfkhaos]

I am trying again!

I recently saw a picture of Wilhelm I lying in state...I think it was in the Massie book on the Courts of Europe.  Does anyone have any additional information on Augusta's funeral?  Thank you!

[Marlene]

Are there any pictures of the location of the Empress Augusta's burial?  What about at her coronation?  Thanks in advance!

Not photos but you can find descriptions of the funeral in Pakula's bio on Vicky, as well as Clara Tschudi's bio on Augusta.  The NYTimes provides good details on Augusta's death, burial and funeral.

[Michael_II]

Do any of our posters have either pictures of the coronation of Wilhelm I of Prussia as King of Prussia.
I believe it was in 1861 or 1862.  Thanks.

[HerrKaiser]

I'll keep looking for a pic, but I do know it took place in Konigsberg, the ancestral royal seat of the Hohenzollerns. Once a most beautiful city of spires and domes and canals and gently hilly avenues.

I think the "coronation" was not as typical as most monarchs in that the Hohenzollern kings/emperors were not much into crown jewels and while there was a family crown, it was not used much. The "crowning" was a blessing from the Lutheran bishop.

[HerrKaiser]

This woman spent much time being difficult and unfriendly toward Vicky, but was there another side to her? She raised Fritz so something must be worth discussing.

[grandduchessella]

She was a highly intelligent and liberal-minded woman who seems to have grown increasingly bitter by her cold marriage (her husband never getting over his first love Elise Radziwill) and isolation within the Court which, much like Vicky later, despised her intelligence and beliefs.

She seems to have been a rather cold mother--at least towards Fritz, Louise is less written about--who didn't find the comfort in her children that Vicky found.

[grandduchessella]

[kmerov]

It does seem strange that Augusta and Vicky didn't have a more friendly relationship, considering their mutual liberal views, isolation at court, and Augustas friendship with Queen Victoria. 
But maybe Augusta was just bitter and lashing out at Vicky,and Vicky did have a very happy marriage which she didn't.
Augusta also seems to have been more "Prussian" in regards to etiquette and views on equal marriages.

[HerrKaiser]

Sorry for missing the thread already established for augusta! Well, so much for being able to read....

Anyway, thanks for these comments/info. it is ironic that she and Vicky did not have a much greater and solid relationship given their large number of similarities. Augusta could have been a significant help to Vicky, but on the contrary, Augusta may have felt that distancing herself from Vicky may have been an indirect means to the best help she could give....not to have Vicky ally herself with someone who the Prussian court already had issues with.

Bertie's wife Alexandra snubbed Augusta in Koblenz when Alexandra was training through. She would't even get off the train to meet Augusta which seems so utterly rude and shameful.

the tiara she is wearing in the painting above is lovely. Is this one of the treasure of jewels she bequeathed to Vicky?

[grandduchessella]

There's a CDV of the picture Kmerov posted and it's ID'd as Wilhelm and his daughter, Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden.

[kmerov]

There's a CDV of the picture Kmerov posted and it's ID'd as Wilhelm and his daughter, Louise, Grand Duchess of Baden.

In the book I have it's ID'd at as Augusta (not sure what CDV is ), but wasn't sure myself, so it's probably Louise of Baden.

[grandduchessella]

Sorry--CDV is carte-de-visite, those smaller size photos from that period. 

I'm 99% sure it's Louise but I'm going to give myself some wiggle room since everytime I say I'm absolutely positive, of course I'm wrong.