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| House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent house | House of Oldenburg |
| Country | Denmark |
| Founded | 1647 |
| Founder | Ernest Günther |
| Titles |
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| Dissolution | 27 April 1931 |
TheHouse of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (Danish:Slesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Augustenborg) was a branch of the dukes ofSchleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg of theHouse of Oldenburg. The line descended fromAlexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. Like all of 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 inAugustenborg,Denmark.
The branch originated fromErnest Günther, a member of the ducal house ofSchleswig-Holstein (its branch ofSønderborg) and a cadet of the royal house of Denmark. He was the third son ofAlexander, 2nd Duke of Sonderborg (1573–1627), and thus a grandson ofJohn the Younger (1545–1622), the first duke, who was a son of KingChristian III of Denmark.
Ernest Günther had a castle built in the years after 1651, which received the name of Augustenburg in honor of his wife,Auguste. She was also from a branch of theDukes of Schleswig-Holstein as a daughter of Philip (1584–1663), Duke of Glücksburg. As that castle became the chief seat of their line, the family eventually used the name of Augustenborg as its branch name. As they wereagnates of the ducal house, the title of duke belonged to every one of them (as is the Germanic custom).
The Dukes of Augustenburg were not sovereign rulers—they held their lands infief to their dynastically-senior kinsmen, the sovereign Dukes ofSchleswig andHolstein—who were the Oldenburg Kings of Denmark.
Later, a Danish king made the head of that line specifically Duke of Augustenburg. In the late 18th century, since 1764, the branch of Schleswig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Augustenburg was genealogically the next senior branch immediately after the main line of Danish kings. KingFrederick VI of Denmark (or, rather, his chief adviserAndreas Peter Bernstorff), made his only sisterLouise Auguste of Denmark marry the thenHereditary Prince Christian of Augustenburg.
In 1764,Sønderborg castle, the seat of that elder Schleswig-Holstein branch, passed upon its owners' extinction into the hands of the Duke of Augustenburg, but against expectations it did not become a residence (they remained at Augustenborg). Instead it was rented out as a warehouse. The penultimate Duke of Augustenburg, also named Ernst Günther, allowed Sønderborg County Museum to move into a part of the castle in 1920. The next year the Danish state bought the castle from the Duke.
In 1810, a younger scion of the family,Prince Christian August, was chosen as the Crown Prince of Sweden, and adopted by kingCharles XIII of Sweden. An Augustenburg dynasty on a royal throne was however not to be, as Prince Christian August died a couple of months after his arrival in Sweden.
In the early 19th century, the Danish royal line started to go extinct. The Duke of Augustenburg was the next male-line heir to the royal house, though not descended in male line fromFrederick III of Denmark and Norway. This made the duke a player in the convolutedSchleswig-Holstein Question, as well as a candidate in theDanish succession. Frederik August of Augustenburg attempted to proclaim himself reigning DukeFrederick VIII of Schleswig-Holstein in 1864, upon the final extinction of the senior branch of the Danish kings. His daughter,Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, became German Empress as consort ofWilhelm II.
The ducal line died out in 1931. In November 1920, its penultimate head had adopted Prince Johann Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his sister Princess Marie Luise, children of Prince Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.[1] After Augustenborg's extinction in 1931, seniority fell to the line of the Dukes ofGlücksburg, heads of the second line of Holstein, known in German asSchleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and in Danish asSlesvig-Holsten-Sønderborg-Lyksborg.
Like the kings of the earlier Oldenburg line, of which the House of Glücksburg is acadet branch, monarchs of the Glücksburg dynasty in Denmark also bore the titles of Dukes of Schleswig and Holstein.Margrethe II of Denmark abandoned this tradition upon ascending the Danish throne in 1972.
