Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (full name: Emil Leopold August) (23 November 1772 — 17 May 1822), was a Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and the author of one of the first modern novels to treat of homoerotic love. He was the maternal grandfather of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria.
Early life
Augustus was born on 23 November 1772 in Gotha, the second son of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen. In 1779, the death of his older brother Ernst made him heir to the duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. In his youth he was very well educated, and his environment—sympathetic to the Jacobins—impressed on him the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity.
Reign
Augustus was already a supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte when he succeeded his father in 1804, which proved to be an advantage during the Napoleonic wars. Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg joined the Rhine Confederation in 1806. When the French Army marched into his duchy in this year, Augustus remained in Gotha and thus prevented a potential escalation. He also stood up for the imprisoned critical journalist Rudolph Zacharias Becker and persuaded the military commander to swiftly set him free.
Napoleon Bonaparte, who always started his letters to Augustus with and ended them with , visited the Duke several times in Gotha as a sign of his appreciation, but never stayed the night at Friedenstein Castle. The following visits by Napoleon to the town (some of them very short) and meetings with Duke Augustus are known:
23 July 1807 (reception at the Schloss and lunch with the Duke and Duchess) 27 September 1808 (on the way to the Congress of Erfurt, meeting with the Duke and dinner at the Schloss) 14 October 1808 (return from the Congress of Erfurt, stop at Schloss Friedrichsthal and brief meeting with Augustus) 15 December 1812 (on the way to Russia, no meeting with Augustus) 25 October 1813 (return from Russia, overnight stay at the inn Zum Mohren, no meeting with Augustus).
From 1811 to 1813 the Duke celebrated Napoleon's birthday on 15 August with a gala reception at Schloss Friedenstein. In 1807 he had acquired one of Napoleon's bicorn hats from his servant Louis Constant Wairy, which is displayed to this day at Friedenstein. On Napoleon's visit on 23 July 1807, Augustus gave the French Emperor an extravagant black carriage, which Napoleon however declined to use, due to its similarity with a death's head. Augustus' Napoleon obsession peaked when he built a Napoleon room in Schloss Friedenstein in the Empire style, which he had designed personally — still a highlight of the museum today. The room's ceiling shows a starry sky with sun and moon, while the sun shows features of Napoleon, and the moon shows Augustus' face.
Augustus was known as a patron and collector of art, but had an aversion to hunting or riding. Carl Maria von Weber (whose debts he paid) dedicated his 2nd piano concerto to him out of gratitude. He was also seen as an eccentric, with a penchant for shocking or provocative appearances. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described him as "pleasant and distasteful at the same time" and noted: "I can not complain about him, but it was always a nervous matter accepting an invitation to his table, as one could not predict which of the guests of honour he might decide on a whim to treat mercilessly". His tendency towards transvestism is characteristic: he liked to appear in women's clothing and thereby shock the court of Gotha. The well-known painter Caroline Louise Seidler, who was at the court of Gotha in the winter of 1811 to paint the Duke's family, described him as the "greatest original of his time," whose appearance had something "lady-like" about it. He also had a preference for dancing, wearing silk socks and feminine clothes. He called himself "Emilie" among his friends. There are references to a possible homosexuality in his literary works. In 1805 he published anonymously the poetic novel A Year in Arcadia: Kyllenion. This is a pastoral idyll, set in ancient Greece, in which several couples fall in love, overcome various obstacles and live happily ever after. It is unique in that one of the couples is homosexual and their love affair is treated no differently from that of any of the others. This is perhaps the first novel since antiquity in which same-sex love is so treated. A man of great culture, Augustus was also in correspondence with Jean Paul, Madame de Stäel and Bettina von Arnim.