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Frederick Augustus III of Saxony

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Frederick Augustus III
Formal portrait, 1913
Formal portrait, 1913
King of Saxony
Reign 15 October 1904 – 13 November 1918
Predecessor George
Successor Monarchy abolished
Born 25 May 1865
Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony
Died 18 February 1932 (aged 66)
Sibyllenort, Province of Lower Silesia, Weimar Republic
(present-day Szczodre, Poland)
Burial Katholische Hofkirche, Dresden
Spouse Archduchess Louise of Austria
(m. 1891; div. 1903)
Issue
more... 		Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony
Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen
Prince Ernst Heinrich
Princess Margarete Karola
Princess Maria Alix Luitpolda
Princess Anna
Names
German: Friedrich August Johann Ludwig Karl Gustav Gregor Philipp
English: Frederick Augustus John Louis Charles Gustav Gregory Philip von Wettin
House Wettin (Albertine line)
Father George, King of Saxony
Mother Maria Anna of Portugal

Frederick Augustus III (German: Friedrich August III.; 25 May 1865 – 18 February 1932) was King of Saxony from 1904 until his abdication in 1918. Born in Dresden, he was the eldest son of King George of Saxony and Maria Anna of Portugal. Like his father and grandfather, he was educated at Leipzig University.

Frederick Augustus served in the Royal Saxon Army before becoming king, and later was promoted to Generalfeldmarschall. Though well-loved by his subjects, he voluntarily abdicated as king on 13 November 1918 after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. He died in his Sibyllenort Palace in Lower Silesia (now Szczodre in Poland) in 1932 and was buried in Dresden.

Military career

Frederick Augustus entered the Royal Saxon Army in 1877 as a second lieutenant, despite being only twelve years old. Given his royal status, he advanced rapidly through the ranks. He served initially with the Royal Saxon 1. (Leib-) Grenadier Regiment Nr. 100. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1883, captain in 1887, major in 1889 and lieutenant colonel in 1891. By 1891, he was commander of the 1st Battalion of Schützen (Füsilier)-Regiment Nr. 108. He was promoted to colonel on 22 September 1892 and took command of the Schützen (Füsilier)-Regiment Nr. 108 on the same day. On 20 September 1894, the 29-year-old prince was promoted to Generalmajor and given command of the 1st Royal Saxon Infantry Brigade Nr. 45 (Saxon higher units usually bore two numbers: one their Saxon Army number and the other their number in the Prussian Army order of battle). On 22 May 1898, he was promoted to Generalleutnant and given command of the 1st Royal Saxon Infantry Division Nr. 23. He commanded this division until 26 August 1902, when he took command of the XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps. He was promoted to General der Infanterie one month later, on 24 September. He remained in command of the corps until October 1904, when he became king. His military career effectively ended with his accession to the throne, but he was promoted subsequently to Generaloberst and then to Generalfeldmarschall (on 9 September 1912).

Following his father's accession, he was in July 1902 appointed à la suite of the German Marine Infantry by Emperor Wilhelm II during a visit to Kiel.[1]

Abdication

When the German Revolution of 1918 broke out in November, Frederick Augustus made no attempt to defend the Saxon monarchy. Knowing that it was futile to continue the war, he demurred when asked to quell a worker-sponsored uprising in the Altmarkt with troops still loyal to the king, and instead quietly left Dresden Castle through a side-gate to Moritzburg Castle.

While seeking refuge in Guteborn, he received news that Hermann Fleissner had proclaimed the Free State of Saxony on 10 November. Three days later, he signed his abdication on a single sheet of paper that consisted of one sentence: "I renounce the throne". Frederick Augustus then relieved all Saxons of their oath of loyalty to the monarchy, calling for unity and urging the citizens to work towards the better good of the state, whereupon he withdrew to Sibyllenort Palace, which he privately owned, near Breslau.

Marriage and issue

Frederick Augustus married Archduchess Louise of Austria, in Vienna on 21 November 1891. They were divorced in 1903 by the royal decree of the King after she ran away while pregnant with her last child. Louise's flight from Dresden was due to her father-in-law's threatening to have her interned in a mental asylum at the Sonnenstein Castle for life. Her brother supported her in her wish to escape from Saxony. Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria-Hungary did not recognise the divorce.

They had seven children:

Their two eldest sons, Friedrich August and Friedrich Christian, were both born in 1893, but were not twins. Friedrich August was born in January, and Friedrich Christian was born in December.

Decorations and awards

Ancestry

References

  1. Back to citation "Latest intelligence - the German Emperor and Saxony". The Times. No. 36812. London. 5 July 1902. p. 7.
  2. Back to citation Brekle, Ursula. "Pater Georg von Sachsen S.J." [Father Georg of Saxony S.J.]. Sachsen-Lese (in German). Retrieved 30 June 2025.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.00 Back to citation occurrence 3.01 Back to citation occurrence 3.02 Back to citation occurrence 3.03 Back to citation occurrence 3.04 Back to citation occurrence 3.05 Back to citation occurrence 3.06 Back to citation occurrence 3.07 Back to citation occurrence 3.08 Back to citation occurrence 3.09 Rangliste de Königlich Preußischen Armee (in German), Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn, 1903, p. 139 – via hathitrust.org
  4. Back to citation Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1878) (in German), "Königliche Ritter-Orden", p. 3
  5. Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 "Friedrich August III. Johann Ludwig Karl Gustav König von Sachsen". the Prussian Machine. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  6. Back to citation Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1888), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 62, 74
  7. Back to citation Hof und Staatshandbuch für den Königreich Bayern (1906) (in German), "Königliche Orden", p. 7
  8. Back to citation Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1890), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 46
  9. Back to citation "Ludewigs-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, p. 5 – via hathitrust.org
  10. Back to citation "Schwarzer Adler-orden", Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 1, Berlin, 1886, p. 9 – via hathitrust.org
  11. Back to citation Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach Archived 6 September 2020 at the Wayback Machine (1900), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 16
  12. Back to citation Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 29
  13. Back to citation "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, pp. 50, 52, 55, retrieved 2 November 2019
  14. Back to citation occurrence 14.0 Back to citation occurrence 14.1 Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha (1923) pp. 108–109
  15. Back to citation Sveriges Statskalender (in Swedish), 1915, p. 671, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
  16. Back to citation Royal Thai Government Gazette (23 March 1899). "พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ ที่ประเทศยุโรป" (PDF). Royal Thai Government Gazette (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
  17. Back to citation "Caballeros extranjeros del collar de la Orden de Carlos III", Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish), 1920, p. 213, retrieved 12 July 2020
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