1. The History and Creation of the
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Duke Ernst I - 1826-1844
The two duchies of Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha originated in the
division of the ancestral estates of Duke Ernest the Pious (d. 1675), the
founder of all the Saxon ducal lines (except the grand-ducal line of Saxe-
Weimar-Eisenach), among his seven sons. With Duke Frederick IV, who
had become a Catholic at Rome in 1807, the line of Saxe-Gotha became
extinct (1821), and, after long disputes concerning the succession, the
territory of Gotha fell to the line of Coburg-Saalfeld in 1826. were among
the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty.
2. Coburg Castle
The duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originated as the personal union of
these two duchies in 1826, after the death of the last Duke of Saxe-Gotha-
Altenburg, who died without male heirs. His Wettin relations
repartitioned his lands. The former husband of Louise of Saxe-Gotha-
Altenburg, the only niece of the last duke, was Duke Ernest III of Saxe-
Coburg-Saalfeld. He received Gotha and changed his name and title to
Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha although, technically, the two
duchies remained as separate duchies.
3. Schloss Rosenau in Coburg
Many members of the ruling house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha ascended the
thrones of several European countries during the nineteenth century. By
his marriage with Queen Victoria (1840), Prince Albert became the
founder of the present royal house of England; Prince Leopold was
elected hereditary King of Belgium in 1831, the Belgian branch of the
House of Saxe-Coburg becoming Roman Catholic.
Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry
4. The line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary, founded through the
marriage of Prince Ferdinand with the heiress of the Hungarian princely
House of Kohary (1816), is also Roman Catholic. A son of this marriage,
Ferdinand, was the founder (1837) of the dynasty which ruled in Portugal
until 1910; a grandson, also named Ferdinand, became in 1887
hereditary Prince, and in 1909 King (Tsar) of Bulgaria. In the Duchy of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the main line became extinct in 1893, the
succession falling to the English branch; Duke Charles Edward (b. 1884),
son of the Duke of Albany and grandson of the Prince Consort Albert and
Queen Victoria, has reigned since 1899 (until 1905 under a guardian).
Duke Ernst II - 1844-1893
Duke Ernst I died in 1844. His elder son and successor, Ernest II, ruled
until his own death in 1893. As he died childless, the throne of the
duchies would have passed to the male descendants of Ernst's late
brother Albert, the Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria of the
United Kingdom. However, the constitutions of both duchies excluded
the British heir apparent from the ducal thrones if there were other
eligible male heirs, although Albert Edward, Prince of Wales had already
renounced his claim to the ducal throne in favour of his next brother,
Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
5. Duke Alfred - 1893-1900
Alfred's only son, also named Alfred, committed suicide in 1899, so when
Duke Alfred died in 1900, he was succeeded by his nephew the Duke of
Albany, the sixteen-year-old son of Queen Victoria's youngest son,
Leopold. Alfred's next brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his
son Prince Arthur of Connaught having renounced the succession.
Reigning as Duke Carl Eduard, or Charles Edward, under the regency of
the Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg until he came of age in
1905, the new duke also continued to use his British title, Duke of
Albany. As a result of Charles Edward fighting for Germany against the
British in the First World War, he was stripped of his British titles in
1919.
6. Duke Carl Eduard - 1900-1918
Charles Edward reigned until November 18, 1918 during the German
Revolution, when the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha deposed
him. The two Duchies, now without a common ruler, became separate
states until shortly thereafter, when they ceased to exist. Saxe-Coburg
became a part of Bavaria and Saxe-Gotha merged with other small states
in 1920 to form the new state of Thuringia in the Weimar Republic.
7. Friedenstein Castle in Gotha
The capitals of Duchy were Coburg and Gotha, the Duchy had an area of
751 sq. miles made up of the two chief divisions, the Duchy of Coburg
(216 sq. miles) and the Duchy of Gotha (541 sq. miles), these divisions are
separated from each other by a portion of Saxe-Meiningen and a strip of
land belonging to Prussia (Kreis Schleusingen). In 1910 the territory had
257,208 inhabitants; in 1905 its population of 242,432 included 3897
Catholics (2 per cent), 237,187 Evangelicals, and 714 Jews. The two
duchies were united in 1826 but each territory has still its own
constitution, diet, and internal administration, even as regards religion
and education.
8. Ernst I - Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
According to the House law of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the
full title of the Reigning Duke was: Wir, Ernst, Herzog zu Sachsen-
Coburg und Gotha, Jülich, Cleve und Berg, auch Engern und Westphalen,
Landgraf in Thüringen, Markgraf zu Meißen, gefürsteter Graf zu
Henneberg, Graf zu der Mark und Ravensberg, Herr zu Ravenstein und
Tonna usw, English Translation: We, Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha, Jülich, Cleves and Berg, also Angria and Westphalia, Landgrave
in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, Princely Count of Henneberg, Count
of the Mark and Ravensberg, Lord of Ravenstein and Tonna, et cetera.
9. Prince Albert - Prince Consort of Great Britain
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Francis Albert Augustus
Charles Emmanuel; later The Prince Consort; 26 August 1819 - 14
December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and
Ireland. He was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, at the
age of 20 he married his first cousin, Queen Victoria, with whom he
would ultimately have nine children. At first, Albert felt constrained by
his position as consort, which did not confer any power or duties upon
him.
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with their Nine Children
10. Over time he adopted many public causes, such as educational reform
and a worldwide abolition of slavery, and took on the responsibilities of
running the Queen's household, estates and office. He was heavily
involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Albert
aided in the development of Britain's constitutional monarchy by
persuading his wife to show less partisanship in her dealings with
Parliament-although he actively disagreed with the interventionist
foreign policy pursued during Lord Palmerston's tenure as Foreign
Secretary.
Portraits of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert the Prince Consort
Prince Albert died at 10:50 p.m. on 14 December 1861 aged only 42 years
old, in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, in the presence of the Queen
and five of their nine children. The contemporary diagnosis was typhoid
fever, but modern writers have pointed out that Albert was ill for at least
two years before his death, which may indicate that a chronic disease,
such as Crohn's disease, renal failure, or cancer, was the cause of death.,
plunging the Queen into a deep mourning that lasted for the rest of her
life. Upon Queen Victoria's death in 1901, their eldest son, Edward VII,
succeeded as the first British monarch of the Ducal line of Saxe-Coburg
und Gotha of the Ernestine House of Wettin to which his father Prince
Albert belonged.
