Duke of Augustenborg
| House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg |
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| Country | Denmark |
| Parent house | House of Oldenburg |
| Founded | 1647 |
| Founder | Ernest Günther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg |
| Current head | Extinct |
| Extinction | 27 April 1931 |
| Titles | Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Crown Prince of Sweden |
The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (Danish: Slesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Augustenborg) was a branch of the dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg of the House of Oldenburg. The line descended from Alexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. Like all the secondary lines from the Sonderburg branch, the heads of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg were first known as Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein and Dukes of Sonderburg. The family took its name from its ancestral home, Augustenborg Palace, in Augustenborg, Denmark.
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 their dynastically senior kinsmen, the sovereign Dukes of Schleswig and Holstein—who were the Oldenburg Kings of Denmark.
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