When her husband ascended the throne on 15 June 1888, Augusta became German Empress and Queen of Prussia. Her husband, who often suffered from bouts of melancholia, was often emotionally supported by her. At the same time she was widely believed to have exerted a harmful political influence over the Emperor;
Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt called her "the evil spirit of Wilhelm II." Augusta was known as "Dona" within the family. She had a somewhat lukewarm relationship with her mother-in-law, Empress
Victoria, who had hoped that Dona would help to heal the rift between herself and Wilhelm; this was not to be the case. Victoria was also annoyed that the title of head of the
Red Cross went to Dona, who had no nursing or charity experience or inclination (though in her memoirs,
Princess Viktoria Luise paints a different picture, stating that her mother loved charity work). Augusta often took pleasure in snubbing her mother-in-law, usually small incidents, such as telling her that she would be wearing a different dress than the one Victoria recommended, that she would not be riding to get her figure back after childbirth as Wilhelm had no intention of stopping at one son, and informing her that Augusta's daughter, Viktoria, was not named after her (though, again, in her memoirs, Viktoria Luise states that she was named after both her grandmother and her great-grandmother,
Queen Victoria). Augusta and her mother-in-law grew closer for a few years when Wilhelm became emperor, as Augusta was often lonely while he was away on military exercises and turned to her mother-in-law for the companionship of rank, although she never left her children alone with her lest they be influenced by her well-known
liberalism. Nevertheless, the two were often seen riding in a carriage together. Augusta was at Victoria's bedside when she died of breast cancer in 1901. Augusta was deeply religious, a devout adherent of the
Protestant Church of the Old Prussian Union, and a representative of strict moral conduct. She had a strong aversion to divorced women and generally refused to receive them at court. Likewise, she had less than cordial relationships with some of Wilhelm's sisters, particularly the recently married Crown Princess
Sophie of Greece. In 1890, when Sophie announced her intention to convert to
Greek Orthodoxy, Dona summoned her and told her that if she did so, not only would Wilhelm find it unacceptable as the head of the
Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces, but she would be barred from Germany and her soul would end up in Hell. Sophie replied that it was her business whether or not she did. Augusta became hysterical and gave birth prematurely to her son, Prince
Joachim, as a result of which she was overprotective of him for the rest of his life, believing that he was too delicate. Evidently, so did Emperor Wilhelm; he wrote to his mother that if the baby had died, Sophie would have murdered it. In 1893 the Empress could not reconcile with her conscience to visit
Pope Leo XIII during a trip to
Rome, though repeated entreaties from the Foreign Office and her husband eventually persuaded her to make the visit so as not to cause an international complication. in
Jerusalem Under Augusta's patronage the Evangelical Church Aid Society was founded soon reorganised as the
Evangelical Church Construction Association and she energetically promoted the construction of Protestant churches in Berlin, primarily in the new workers' quarters, and also elsewhere. After accompanying her husband on his Palestine journey in 1898, the evangelical "
Augusta Victoria Foundation" in
Jerusalem was able in 1914 to consecrate the Church of the Ascension on the
Mount of Olives. Her strong support for Protestant church building earned her the nickname "
Kirchenjuste." Augusta was also highly engaged in the social sphere; for this reason she was more popular and esteemed than her husband, whose public actions were often criticised and ridiculed by the population. She supported the women's movement and worked, thanks to suggestions from
Marie Martin, for improved education for girls and young women. Through her support for charitable and church-related efforts within the German Reich she came into contact with Christian reform movements led by
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder and
Adolf Stoecker. During the
First World War she was active in charitable organisations and especially concerned with hospital work. In late 1918, as Germany was collapsing toward defeat in World War I and revolutionary unrest was spreading, Kaiser Wilhelm II was under increasing pressure from his government and political leaders to abdicate the throne to avoid further chaos. After President
Woodrow Wilson's third note of 23 October 1918, it became increasingly clear that Wilhelm's abdication would be necessary to secure tolerable peace conditions for his people. At that point, Augusta Victoria strongly insisted that Wilhelm should not step down and tried to block abdication efforts. On 1 November she reportedly telephoned
Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden, threatening to publicly expose his
homosexuality if he continued to push her husband toward abdication; he then suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be sedated for several days with opium-based medicine. ==Death and exile==