Coronation of King Wilhelm I and Queen Augusta of Prussia, 1861

With the death of his issueless older brother, Friedrich Wilhelm IV (1795-1861), Wilhelm I (1797-1888), who had been serving as regent during the former’s illness, became King of Prussia. His coronation—the first crowning of the Prussian monarch in 160 years—along with that of his consort, Queen Augusta (1811-90) took place on October 18, 1861 at the Schlosskirche in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia).

Figure 1.1. Krönung König Wilhelms I. zu Königsberg (Skizze), by Adolf Menzel, 1861. Collection of Alte Nationalgalerie, via Wikimedia Commons.

Queen Augusta’s coronation robe

Figure 1.2. Minna Pfüller (German), Queen Augusta (after Franz Xaver Winterhalter), 1864, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam, GK I 9084, source: Hypotheses.

Figure 1.3. Hermann Gerson (German), Fragments of Queen Augusta of Prussia’s coronation robe, 1861, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam, source: Facebook.

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