Princess Auguste of Bavaria (1875–1964)


Princess Auguste of Bavaria was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and the spouse of Archduke Joseph August of Austria.

Birth and family

Auguste was born in Munich, Bavaria, the second child of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and his wife, Archduchess Gisela of Austria. She had one older sister, Princess Elisabeth Marie of Bavaria and two younger brothers, Prince Georg of Bavaria and Prince Konrad of Bavaria.

Marriage and issue

She married Joseph August, Archduke of Austria, on 15 November 1893 in Munich. The couple had six children;

World War I

On the outbreak of war with Italy in 1915, Augusta Maria Louise, though in her 40s and the mother of a son serving as an officer, went to the front with the cavalry regiment of which her husband, the Archduke Josef August, a corps commander, was honorary colonel, and served a common soldier, wearing a saber and riding astride, until the end of the war.