in the 1790s. In 1785, when Augustus was two years old, his father became
Prince-Bishop of
Lübeck and was furthermore appointed
regent of the
Duchy of Oldenburg for his incapacitated cousin
William, Duke of Oldenburg. From 1788 to 1803, the two princes were educated at home under the supervision of their father. Together with his brother, he studied at the
University of Leipzig from 1803 to 1805. From 1805 to 1807 he and his brother travelled extensively in
England and
Scotland. In 1808, he accompanied his father to the
Congress of Erfurt, the meeting between
Emperor Napoléon I of France and
Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Between 1810 and 1814, Oldenburg was occupied by
Napoleonic France. In December 1810, the Duchy of Oldenburg was
annexed by the
French Empire and Augustus and his father traveled to
Russia to stay in exile with their relatives, the
Russian imperial family. This annexation was one of the causes for the diplomatic rift between former allies France and
Russia, a dispute that would lead to war in 1812 and eventually to Napoleon's downfall. From 1811 to 1816, he was
Governor of
Estonia where he led the work to prepare the
abolition of serfdom. He participated in the
Napoleonic Wars from 1812 to 1814. After the end of the
Napoleonic Wars, he returned to Russia to finish his work as governor of Estonia. He returned to Oldenburg in 1816.
First marriage . On 24 July 1817, at the age of 34, Augustus married
Princess Adelheid of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. She was the daughter of
Victor II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, and Princess Amalie Charlotte of
Nassau-Weilburg. Augustus and Adelheid had two daughters;
Amalia, who was born in 1818 and later married
Prince Otto of Bavaria, the elected
King of Greece, and thus became
Queen consort of
Greece; and Frederica, who was born in 1820 and later married Baron Maximilian Emanuel von
Washington (1829–1903) son of
Baron Jakob von Washington, a distant relative of the first
President of the United States George Washington. However, Princess Adelheid died suddenly in 1820. ==Hereditary Prince==