Marriage
On 27 February 1881, Augusta married Prince Wilhelm of Prussia in an eight-hour ceremony that required everyone to remain standing. Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a strong proponent of the marriage, believing that it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Augusta's father.
Wilhelm had earlier proposed to his first cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (known in the family as "Ella,") but she declined. Wilhelm did not take that well - and was adamant to soon marry another princess.
Wilhelm's family was originally against the marriage with Augusta Viktoria, whose father was not even a sovereign. But in the end, Wilhelm's intransigence, the support of Bismarck, and a determination to move beyond the rejection of his proposal to Ella, led the reluctant imperial family to give official consent.
Read more about this topic: Augusta Victoria Of Schleswig-Holstein
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Worst, when this sensualism intrudes into the education of young women, and withers the hope and affection of human nature, by teaching that marriage signifies nothing but a housewife’s thrift, and that woman’s life has no other aim.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“In almost every marriage there is a selfish and an unselfish partner. A pattern is set up and soon becomes inflexible, of one person always making the demands and one person always giving way.”
—Iris Murdoch (b. 1919)