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- BIOGRAPHY
Auguste Sophie was born in Sulzbach on 22 November 1624, the daughter of August, Pfalzgraf von Sulzbach, and Princess Hedwig of Holstein-Gottorp. After the death of her father in 1632, Auguste Sophie came to the royal court in Sweden to her second cousin, Queen Maria Eleonora, the widow of Gustaf II Adolphus, king of Sweden, who had lost his life in the Battle of Lützen in November that year. There she was educated and lived mostly with the widowed queen in Nyköping.
In 1650 Auguste Sophie had been introduced to Václav Eusebius, Fürst von Lobkowicz, an important advisor to Emperor Ferdinand III. Even then he thought of marrying her, but it was not until 1651, after a full year of grieving for his first wife, that he sent his counsellor Röthel to Sulzbach and Nürnberg, to ask her brother and mother for the hand of the princess. On 3 February 1653 the marriage contracts were signed in Nürnberg, and on 6 February 1653 the wedding took place.
The marriage of a German princess from an old, austerely Protestant line with a Catholic prince, from a family whose zeal for the Catholic religion was well known, created a sensation. The times were not yet ready for religious tolerance. In spite of the peace, religious hatred was still alive, and was fanned by both the Protestant and Catholic clergy. State political considerations must have played a role, and perhaps the emperor wanted to send a signal of reconciliation with the marriage of Václav Eusebius and Auguste Sophie.
In the first months after their marriage, Václav Eusebius also tried to influence the religious beliefs of his wife. Little by little, however, he came to accept her religious convictions, all the more as she took on only Catholics as her servants, and the Catholic clergy in Neustadt created no difficulties for her. In a part of the residence, a Protestant chapel was even furnished for her.
Václav Eusebius soon returned to his duties in Bohemia and Vienna. In later years he usually came for some weeks in the spring or summer to Neustadt. Auguste Sophie lived there until near the end of her life. She settled at Neustadt, where she bore five children, whom she raised as Catholics (though three died very young; a crypt in the parish church of Neustadt has a memorial to two of them). Only their son Ferdinand August would have progeny. The princess was popular with the people, even with the Catholic clergy. She was friendly, helpful and comforting to all.
Because her husband spent most of his time in Prague and Vienna, Auguste Sophie became the virtual regent of Neustadt. On 9 September 1673 Václav Eusebius formally handed over its government to her. Auguste Sophie died in Nürnberg on 30 April 1682.
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