Amalie Auguste of Bavaria | |
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Queen consort of Saxony | |
Amalie Auguste, Princess of Bavaria and Queen of Saxony, c. 1823.
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Coronation | 1 October 1854 |
Born |
Munich, Electorate of Bavaria |
13 November 1801
Died | 8 November 1877 Dresden |
(aged 75)
Burial | Katholische Hofkirche, Dresden |
Spouse | John, King of Saxony |
Issue Detail |
Albert, King of Saxony Maria Elisabeth, Duchess of Genoa George, King of Saxony Anna, Grand Duchess of Tuscany Archduchess Margaretha of Austria Sophie, Duchess in Bavaria |
House | Wittelsbach |
Father | Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria |
Mother | Caroline of Baden |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Amalie Auguste (Munich, 13 November 1801 – Dresden, 8 November 1877) was a Princess of Bavaria and Queen of Saxony.
Amalie was the fourth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden. She was the identical twin sister of Elisabeth Louise, later Queen of Prussia as wife of Frederick William IV of Prussia. Three other sisters married King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Archduke Franz Karl of Austria and Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria.
In 1851 Amalie Auguste became chairwoman of Women's Association of Dresden (Frauenverein zu Dresden), an organisation founded by her sister, the then queen. Three years later, her husband inherited the throne and she became queen. In 1859 she reorganized the association as the Zentralausschuß obererzgebirgischen und der vogtländischen Frauenvereine and established a legal basis for it, under which the organisation continued until 1932.
A firm believer in divine-right absolute monarchy, the queen despised representative government and liberalism. Although she was an ultraconservative Catholic, it is unclear to what extent she was involved in the government's harsh persecution of Saxon Protestants in the 1860s, which included torture and long periods of incarceration.
Amalie Auguste married on 21 November 1822 Prince John of Saxony, who reigned as King of Saxony between 1854 and 1873. John and Amelia had nine children, of whom six died at young ages and predeceased her:
After a long illness, she died from tuberculosis in Dresden.