Career
After acquiring the estate of Beck in Westfalen in 1646, he took the title of Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. August Philipp was born in 1612 in Sonderburg, Duchy of Schleswig (now Sønderborg, Denmark) as the fifth son of Alexander, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg and Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. In 1633, at the age of 21, he emigrated to Germany.