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.

He also stood up for the imprisoned critical journalist Rudolph Zacharias Becker and persuaded the military commander to swiftly set him free.

[citation needed] Carl Maria von Weber (whose debts he paid) dedicated his 2nd piano concerto to him out of gratitude.

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".

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.

[1][2] This is a pastoral idyll, set in ancient Greece, in which several couples fall in love, overcome various obstacles and live happily ever after.

[3] A man of great culture, Augustus was also in correspondence with Jean Paul, Madame de Stäel and Bettina von Arnim.

After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, and the Vienna Congress, Augustus became a persona non grata in aristocratic and diplomatic circles, and was likewise unpopular with the nationalist-inclined public.

The simple floral oval, which once marked the tomb, has not been recognisable for decades, and thus the exact burial location of the couple is unknown.