[1] Auguste was the sixth and youngest child of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg and his wife Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis.

[2] In 1752, her eldest brother Karl Eugen had wanted her to marry a French prince of the blood to assist in his reorientation of Württemberg policy towards France.

[2] The match fell through however, and to save the cost of maintaining Auguste, she was instead married off to her maternal cousin Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis.

Karl Anselm took many mistresses, and Auguste complained of ill-treatment to her brother, who wrote to her father-in-law, demanding more respect for his sister.

[3] Auguste was first told that she was escorted to her brother in Stuttgart, but she was instead taken to Burg Trugenhofen (later renamed Schloss Taxis) in Dischingen, where she was imprisoned.