Alternative History
Augustus I
Augustus Ferdinand of the United States
King of the United States
Reign August 3, 1802 - May 2, 1813
Coronation February 10, 1803
Predecessor Henry I
Successor Augustus II
Born May 23, 1730
Berlin, Prussia
Died May 2, 1813
Philadelphia, United States
Spouse Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Schwedt
Issue Princess Louise

Crown Prince Louis
Augustus II

Full name
Augustus Ferdinand
House Hohenzollern-Amerika
Father Frederick William I of Prussia
Mother Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

Augustus I was the king of the United States from 1802 to 1813. As king, Augustus was noted for his advanced age and dull personality, being constantly outshone by his own children in the press. Augustus was appointed heir to the American throne in 1794 by his elder brother Henry I following an assassination scare; Augustus accepted the offer but only because his children’s controversial marriages meant that he was becoming less popular at court in Berlin.

Biography[]

Early and Middle life[]

He was the youngest child of King Frederick William I of Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. He was also a younger brother of King Frederick the Great (Frederick II of Prussia), Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, and Wilhelmine Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Already at the age of five, he joined the Infantry regiment "Kronprinz". In 1740, his brother named him commander of Infantry regiment Nr. 34. In 1756, he became Major General and accompanied his brother the King on his campaigns in Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia. He fought in the Battle of Breslau and the Battle of Leuthen but in 1758, bad health forced him to leave the army. On September 12, 1763, Ferdinand was elected as Master of the Knights of the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John, a post he held until he became king.

Reign[]

With the death of his brother, Henry I, he was invited to take the throne.

Marriage and children[]

He married his niece, Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, on 27 September 1755. She was a daughter of his older sister Sophia Dorothea and her husband Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Despite this family tie, she was only eight years younger than he, due to the significant age difference between him and his sister.

They had seven children (those in bold survived into adulthood):

  1. Princess Friederike Elisabeth Dorothea Henriette Amalie (1761–1773)
  2. Prince Friedrich Heinrich Emil Karl (1769–1773)
  3. Princess Louise (1770–1836), married to Prince Antoni Radziwiłł. Had issue.
  4. Prince Friedrich Christian Heinrich Ludwig (1771–1790)
  5. Crown Prince Louis (1772–1812), killed in Tecumseh's War. No issue.
  6. Prince Friedrich Paul Heinrich August (1776)
  7. King Augustus II (1779–1843), marriage to aristocrat Marie Adelaide de la Grange. Had issue.

Augustus died in Washington City on 2 May 1813, as the last surviving grandchild of George I of Great Britain. Elisabeth Louise would die seven years later, on 10 February 1820.