Duke of Augustenborg was a title conferred by the
King of Denmark to the head of a
certain younger branch of the
House
of Oldenburg (
Danish,
Oldenborg), the branch known in Danish as
Slesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Augustenborg, and in
German as
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.
History
Duke Ernst Günther I, first Duke of Augustenborg (1609-1689).
Duchess Auguste, first Duchess of Augustenborg (1633-1701).
The branch
originated from Ernest Gunther, a member of the ducal House of
Schleswig-Holstein
(its branch of Sønderborg) and a cadet of the
royal house of Denmark, the third son of Alexander (1573-1627), 2nd
Duke of Sonderborg, thus a grandson of duke Hans (1545-1622), the 1st
duke, who was a son of King Christian III.
Ernest Gunther had a castle built in the years after 1651, which
received the name
Augustenborg in honor
of his wife, Auguste, herself also from a branch of
Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein,
daughter of Philip (1584-1663), Duke of Glucksburg. As that castle
became the chief seat of their line, the line eventually used the
name Augustenborg as its branch name. As they were
agnates of the ducal house, the title of Duke
belonged to everyone of them (as is the Germanic custom).
The Dukes of Augustenborg were not sovereign rulers — they held
their lands in
fief to the sovereign Dukes of
Schleswig and
Holstein - the Kings of Denmark.
Later, a Danish king made the head of that line specifically Duke
of Augustenborg. In the late 18th century, since 1764, the branch
of Slesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Augustenborg was genealogically the
next senior immediately after the main line of Danish kings, and
had much Danish nobility blood in their veins. King
Frederick VI of Denmark, or rather
his chief adviser
Andreas Peter
Bernstorff, made his only sister
Louise Auguste of Denmark to marry
the then
Hereditary Prince of
Augustenborg.
In 1764
Sønderborg
castle
, the seat of that elder Schleswig-Holstein branch,
passed upon its extinction into the hands of the Duke of
Augustenborg, but against expectations it did not became a
residence (they remained at Augustenborg). Instead it was
rented out as a warehouse. The penultimate Duke of Augustenborg,
also named Ernst Günther, allowed Sønderborg County Museum to move
into a part of the castle in 1920. The next year the Danish state
bought the castle from the Duke.
In 1810, a younger scion of the family,
Prince Christian
August, was chosen as the Crown Prince of Sweden, and adopted
by king
Charles XIII of
Sweden. The Augustenborg dynasty on a royal throne was however
not to be actualized, as Prince Christian August died just in a
couple of months after his arrival in Sweden.
In the early 19th century the Danish royal line started to go
extinct. The Duke of Augustenborg was the next male-line heir to
the royal house, though not descended in male line from
Frederick III of Denmark and
Norway. This made the duke a player in the convoluted
Schleswig-Holstein Question, as
well in the
Danish succession.
Frederik August of Augustenborg attempted to proclaim himself as
Duke
Frederick VIII
of Schleswig-Holstein in 1864 upon the final extinction of the
main branch, Danish kings.
His daughter
Augusta Victoria of
Schleswig-Holstein became German Empress as consort of Wilhelm
II.
The ducal line died out in 1931.
After its extinction, the senior status
went to the line of Dukes of Glucksburg
, heads of another line, the line known in German as
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
and in Danish as
Slesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Lyksborg.
List of Dukes
- Dukes of Augustenborg
- Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein
- Frederick proclaimed himself Duke of Schleswig-Holstein in 1863 and was recognized by Prussia as equivalent
of mediatized principalities.
With the death of Duke Albert the Augustenburg line became extinct.
The sub-branches of
Targino-Flensburg became pretenders.
Like the previous Oldenburg dynasty all previous monarchs of the
Glücksburg dynasty in Denmark also claimed the titles as Dukes of
Schleswig and Holstein. The current Danish monarch, Queen
Margrethe II abandoned this
tradition upon ascending the Danish throne in 1972. The Glücksburg
dynasty considered the two territories to be separate entities and
it consequently never used the form "Schleswig-Holstein" in titles.
The
Russian
Romanov dynasty used the
form "Schleswig-Holstein".
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