Wife of the heir to the throne (1840–1858)
With the death of King Frederick William III on 7 June 1840, William became heir to the throne. Augusta was critical of the policies of the new ruling Prussian king, her brother-in-law Frederick William IV. She viewed its lack of reform as a mistake that would cost the monarchy the loyalty of the population. Augusta advocated early "voluntary surrender" and the fulfillment of the "general wishes" of the subjects. In their opinion, the existence of the monarchical form of rule itself was at risk if the crown did not respond to the demands of the political public. She shared the assessment with the British Queen's husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, that Prussia should first become a constitutional state following the British model and only then should it implement national unity for Germany.
According to the historian Caroline Galm, Augusta saw it as her duty to give her son Frederick William a chance at the throne through his own political involvement. She therefore increasingly turned to political topics and from 1843 onwards wrote several memoranda, which she presented to both her husband and Prussian statesmen. For her advice, Augusta contacted, among others, the envoys Alexander von Schleinitz and Franz von Roggenbach, a politician from the Grand Duchy of Baden. The correspondence between Roggenbach and Augusta has only been partially preserved, as Augusta had politically explosive letters destroyed or returned by confidants for fear of censorship. At court, the manner in which their opinions were presented was perceived as overly temperamental. William therefore jokingly referred to his wife as a "little opposition devil" in letters. Internally, she expressed doubts about William's intellectual abilities and accused him of not being sufficiently sophisticated in his observations.
Augusta now also maintained contacts with the British Queen Victoria. In 1845 the monarch visited Augusta and William in Berlin. The following year, the princely couple made a return visit to London. Victoria showed sympathy for Augusta and said in a letter to the Belgian king:
She is too enlightened and too liberal not to have enemies at the Prussian court, but I believe that I have found in her a friend who can be very useful to us.
The correspondence between the British Queen and Augusta continued for several decades and ultimately initiated the marriage between her son Frederick William and Victoria's eldest daughter and namesake, the Princess Royal. Since the 1840s, Augusta also wrote letters to Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, a famous writer and world traveler at the time. Augusta had known him from the Weimar court since 1826. She particularly appreciated the conversation with Pückler, who, in her opinion, stood out from the Prussian court with his eloquent and intellectual manner. She talked to him about, among other things, the Weimar court, England, Paris and her health. In 1842–1843 she entrusted the prince with the landscaping of Babelsberg Park. Augusta and Pückler agreed in their preference for the English cottage style and were based on English pattern books, for example by the architect Robert Lugar. In order to emphasize his artistic proximity to Augusta, Pückler had a blacksmith's shop built in Branitzer Park, which was similar to the Small Castle in Babelsberg Park.
During the Revolutions of 1848–1849 there were also violent clashes between the military and the civilian population in Berlin. Augusta's husband was seen as primarily responsible for the bloodshed and was forced into exile in Great Britain. Meanwhile, Augusta took her two children to safety in Potsdam. Since she was considered comparatively enlightened by the public, she remained safe there. In response to the revolution, Augusta called for rapid reforms. In a letter to William dated 5 June 1848, she said: "It is now a matter of saving the monarchy and its support, the dynasty, this is the task for which no sacrifice can be big enough". She also recommended that Prussia, in the German question, take the initiative and push forward a national agreement regardless of the politics in Vienna and St. Petersburg. She again advised that the Prussian people should have a say in political decisions. A constitution could create a legal and clearly regulated basis for this.
The revolution of 1848–1849 had long-term consequences for Augusta's relationship with the future Chancellor Otto von Bismarck: on 23 March 1848, shortly after the March Revolution of 1848, she received him in the Potsdam City Palace. According to Augusta's version, Bismarck tried to win her over to a counter-revolution against King Frederick William IV. Bismarck wanted to find out where her husband was so that he could ask him to give him orders to march on Berlin. That would have treasonously counteracted the retreat of the soldiers ordered by King Frederick William IV. She was also bothered by the fact that Bismarck stated that he was acting on behalf of her brother-in-law Prince Charles, William's younger brother. Just a few days earlier, Charles had suggested that the King and Prince William abdicate or forego the royal succession. Augusta therefore suspected him of wanting to take the royal throne himself and stage a coup with Bismarck's help. Bismarck, for his part, subsequently accused Augusta of having plotted against William in 1848: she had worked towards taking over the regency for her son Frederick William herself. For him, it was only about protecting the reigning king from the revolution with the help of the military. Since, according to the historian and Bismarck biographer Eberhard Kolb, Augusta's and Bismarck's notes about the events contradict each other, the contents of the conversation can no longer be reconstructed. All that can be said with certainty is that Augusta had been hostile to Bismarck since this encounter.
The historian David E. Barclay estimates her role to the effect that "she successfully defended William's position as heir to the throne in the spring and summer". William's relationship with his wife improved as a result. According to Barclay's account, he also approached her politically —influenced by Augusta's memoranda and letters. The prince, who had previously been absolutist-minded, "slowly moved in a moderate-conservative but constitutional direction". However, this view is controversial. According to historian Jan Markert, William independently recognized during the 1848 revolution that the Prussian monarchy would have to come to terms with a constitutional form of government. Wehler, Hans-Ulrich, on the other hand, sees Augusta as the reason for William's later turn to the right-wing liberal Wochenblattpartei.
At the same time, the possibility of forcing a change of ruler was being considered in liberal circles. Augusta was brought into discussion as a possible regent for her underage son Frederick William. In contrast to Great Britain, Portugal and Spain, there was no tradition of reigning queens or regents in Prussia. Since King Frederick William IV also promised reforms, the plan was quickly rejected. Augusta subsequently destroyed some of her letters from the revolutionary years.
In 1849, King Frederick William IV appointed Prince William military governor of the Rhine Province and the Province of Westphalia. From 1850 onwards, the prince moved to Koblenz, the capital of the Prussian Rhine Province. In the Electoral Palace there, Augusta had the opportunity to live a court life like she was accustomed to during her childhood at the Weimar court. In Koblenz she was able to surround herself with a group of people she liked, establish contacts with the Rhineland bourgeoisie and maintain a less distant relationship with the local population. Their tolerance towards the Catholic denomination and charitable support contributed to this. Barclay characterizes her production as both "royal-dynastic" and "close to the people". Some of Augusta's confidants at the Koblenz court, often members of the Wochenblattpartei, became ministers of state under Prince Regent William in the so-called New Era. The reigning monarch and partly also Prince William disliked Augusta's comparatively liberal choice of guests. William did not always have influence on this, as he was often not in Koblenz Castle.
In Koblenz, Augusta had a park with a promenade created on the left bank of the Rhine from 1856 onwards, the so-called Rheinanlagen. Until then, there had only been a representative section of the bank directly at the Electoral Palace and on the Rheinlache. In addition, she had the Rheinanlagen upgraded with pavilions and newly planted trees. For the first time, Augusta supported organizations on a larger scale that worked in the area of nursing or caring for the poor. These included, among others, the Catholic order of the Brothers of Mercy in Weitersburg and the Kaiserswerther Diakonie. In 1850 she became patron of the Evangelical Women's Association (Evangelischen Frauenvereins), and two years later also of the Catholic Women's Association (Katholischen Frauenvereins).
Augusta initiated the marriage of her daughter Louise to Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden, who was considered liberal, which took place in 1856. Two years later, she welcomed the marriage of her son Frederick William to Victoria, the eldest daughter of the British Queen. Augusta herself had promoted the marriage and saw it as a means of leading Prussia away from what she saw as an autocratically ruled Russia in terms of alliance policy. Instead, it should move closer to Great Britain and France.
Historian Hannah Pakula also attributes her reservations about Russia to the fact that Augusta blamed the "Russians" for the assassination of her grandfather Emperor Paul I in 1801. On the other hand, she sympathized with France throughout her life, as she was particularly familiar with its culture during her upbringing. Despite her sympathies for the British royal family, Augusta's relationship with her daughter-in-law Victoria remained quite cool. Victoria herself complained about Augusta's temperamental moodiness. Although both women shared a similar political stance, they argued about the proper upbringing of Frederick William's children. While Augusta valued traditional courtly representation, Victoria led a more middle-class family life. To Augusta's displeasure, Victoria also acted publicly and, for example, advocated university education for women. She was close to the women's movement of her time. According to Monika Wienfort, Augusta's charitable support always remained in the area of "traditional monarchical charity". Augusta's commitment was intended to increase the social standing of her class. Like many women from the aristocracy and bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th century, she did not intend to achieve emancipatory equality with men.
