Articles of
Interest Section - 2012
Hohenberg
History, Genealogy and Pictures.
History,
Life, Marriage and Pictures.
History,
Life, Marriage and Pictures.
History
of the Almanach de Gotha from
its creation in 1763
to its end in 1944.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
He died at the early age of 42, 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 House of Wettin
- Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, named after the ducal house to which Prince Albert belonged.
