Career
He and Ernest also travelled to the Netherlands and England between 1768 and 1769. August then took a Grand Tour to Italy from 1771 to 1777 and got to know Voltaire in Geneva. Considered to be an enlightened, open-minded and progressive prince, he gathered a witty circle around him at his palace in Gotha from 1778 onwards.
He also had a lively correspondence with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Gottfried Herder and Christoph Martin Wieland, being considered a particular supporter of Wieland, to whose Oberon he was especially devoted.