Augusta was born on 9 November 1836 at Villa Bonaparte in Rome as the daughter of first cousins Charles Lucien Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano, and Zénaïde Bonaparte. Zénaïde was Napoleon Bonaparte’s niece as the daughter of his elder brother Joseph. Charles was his nephew as the son of his younger brother Lucien.
She received a private education, though little else is known about her youth. On 1 February 1856, she married another cousin, Placido Gabriello, who was the son of Charlotte Bonaparte, the eldest daughter of Lucien. They married in the Imperial Chapel in the Tuileries in Paris with Emperor Napoleon III and his wife, Empress Eugénie in attendance. Augusta and her new husband received a yearly allowance of 6,250 francs from the French Government. They would have no children together.
Augusta was said to be close to the Emperor and Empress’s son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial and she received several of his possessions when he died in 1879. The couple moved to Rome around 1870 where Augusta was known for her charity work. They lived at the Palazzo di Monte Giordano.
She was in bad health for the last years of her life, and she died in Rome on 29 March 1900. She was buried in the Chiesa della Strammetta in Prossedi.
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