Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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| Prince Charles Edward | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Duke of Albany | |
| Predecessor | Albany: Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany SG&C: Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Successor | SG&C: Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in pretence) |
| Spouse | Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein |
| Issue | |
| Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Sibylla, Duchess of Västerbotten Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
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| Full name | |
| Charles Edward George Albert Leopold German: Carl Eduard Georg Albert Leopold |
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| Titles | |
| HH The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha HRH The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha HRH The Duke of Albany |
|
| Royal house | House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha |
| Father | Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany |
| Mother | Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany |
| Born | 19 July 1884 Claremont House, Surrey |
| Baptised | 4 August 1884 Claremont House, Surrey |
| Died | 6 March 1954 Coburg, Germany |
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Charles Edward George Albert Leopold; 19 July 1884 - 6 March 1954) was the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a principality in Germany (from 30 July 1900 to 14 November 1918). A male-line grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he was also a Prince of the United Kingdom and held the title of Duke of Albany.
The Duke was a controversial figure in the United Kingdom. He was deprived of his British peerages and honours because of his support for Germany in World War I. In 1918, he was forced to abdicate his ducal throne and later joined the Nazi Party.
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[edit] Early life
Charles Edward was born at Claremont House near Esher, Surrey. His father was Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His mother was The Duchess of Albany (née Princess Helena of Waldeck).
As Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany died before his birth, Charles Edward succeeded to his father's titles on his birth and was styled His Royal Highness The Duke of Albany.
After becoming sick, he was privately baptised at Claremont on 4 August 1884, two weeks after his birth and later baptised publicly in Esher Parish Church on 4 December 1884 four months later. His godparents were Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the Marchioness of Lorne, Princess Frederica of Hanover and George Victor, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. His uncle, Edward VII made him a Knight of the Garter on 15 July 1902.
[edit] Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
In 1900, the fourteen year-old Duke of Albany inherited from his uncle Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Queen Victoria's second son, the German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Duke of Edinburgh's only son, Prince Alfred ("Young Affie"), died in 1899, and the Duke of Connaught, the Queen's third son, renounced his claims to the duchy. Arthur's son, Prince Arthur of Connaught, was attending school at Eton with Prince Charles, and threatened to beat his cousin up if Charles did not accept the dukedom. For the next five years, he reigned under the regency of the Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Upon coming of age on 19 July 1905, the Duke of Albany assumed full constitutional powers as Duke Carl Eduard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As a grandson of Queen Victoria, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a first cousin of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, the Prince of Wales (the future King George V), the Empress Alexandra of Russia, Queen Marie of Romania, Queen Maud of Norway, and Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. The Duke was also a first cousin of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.
| Styles of Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
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|---|---|
| Image:S-c-g-arms.JPG | |
| Reference style | His Royal Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
| Alternative style | Your Grace |
[edit] Marriage
On 11 October 1905, at Glücksburg Castle, Holstein, the Duke married Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (31 December 1885 – 3 October 1970), the daughter of the Duke Friedrich Ferdinand of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha had five children.
Through his daughter Sibylla, Charles Edward is the maternal grandfather of Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden.
[edit] World War I
During World War I, Duke Charles Edward supported Germany and held a commission as a general in the German Army (although he never held a major command). Consequently, George V ordered his name removed from the register of the Knights of the Garter in 1915. In July 1917, in an effort to distance his dynasty from its Germanic origins, George V changed the name of British Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor. That year, the British Parliament passed the Titles Deprivation Act which empowered the Privy Council to investigate "any persons enjoying any dignity or title as a peer or British prince who have, during the present war, borne arms against His Majesty or His Allies, or who have adhered to His Majesty's enemies." Under the terms of that act, an Order in Council on 28 March 1919 formally removed the Duke's British peerages, the Dukedom of Albany, Earldom of Clarence, and the Barony of Arklow. The Duke and his children also lost their entitlement to the titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom and the styles Royal Highness and Highness[1]
[edit] Private Citizen
On 18 November 1918, the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha deposed the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Five days later, the Duke signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne. Now a private citizen, the deposed Duke became associated with various right-wing paramilitary and political organizations.[2] In 1932, he took part in the creation of the so-called Harzburg Front, through which the Deutschnationale Partei (lit: "German-national party") Conservative Party became associated with the Nazi Party. He joined the Nazi Party and became a member of the SA (or Brownshirts), rising to the rank of Obergruppenführer. He also served a member of the Reichstag from 1937 to 1945 and as president of the German Red Cross from 1933 to 1945. He formally joined the Nazi Party in 1935.
In 1936, Adolf Hitler sent the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Britain as president of the Anglo-German Friendship Society. His mission was to improve Anglo-German relations and to explore the possibility of a pact between the two countries. The Duke, who attended the funeral of George V in his SA uniform, approached the new king, Edward VIII, about the possibility of a pact. Nothing came of these talks. Nonetheless, he continued to send Hitler encouraging reports about the strength of pro-German sentiment among the British aristocracy. After the abdication crisis, he played host to the former British king and his wife, by then the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, during their official tour of Germany in 1938.
When World War II ended, the American Military Government in Bavaria, under the command of General George S. Patton, placed the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha under house arrest because of his Nazi sympathies. In 1946, he was sentenced by a denazification court and heavily fined. Many of his properties in Saxony and Coburg were seized by the Soviet army.
The former Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha spent the last years of his life in poverty and seclusion. He died in 1954 as the older one of only two surviving male grandchildren of Queen Victoria.
[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms
[edit] Titles
- 1884-1900: His Royal Highness The Duke of Albany
- 1900-1917: His Royal Highness The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Following the withdrawal of the British titles and styles by George V, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and members of his family may have only been entitled to the style of Highness granted to them after the Congress of Vienna.
[edit] Honours
[edit] Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 2 August 1906 | 4 May 1972 | married (1) unequally, renouncing his rights to the headship of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), 9 March 1932, Feodora, Baroness von der Horst; divorced 1962; had issue (2), 5 May 1963, Maria Theresia Reindl; no issue |
| Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 18 January 1908 | 28 November 1972 | married, 20 October 1932, Prince Gustav Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten; had issue, inc. Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden |
| Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 24 August 1909 | 26 November 1943 | |
| Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 22 June 1912 | 5 September 1983 | married (1), 14 December 1931, Friedrich Wolfgang Otto, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen; divorced 2 May 1938; had issue (2), 22 June 1938, Captain Max Schnirring; he died 1944; had issue (3), 23 December 1946, Karl Andree; divorced 27 December 1947; no issue |
| Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 29 November 1918 | 23 January 1998 | married (1), 25 January 1942, Victoria Louisa, Countess of Solms-Baruth; divorced 19 September 1947; had issue (2), 14 February 1948, Denyse Henrietta de Muralt; divorced 17 September 1964; had issue (3), 30 October 1964, Katrin Bremme; no issue |
[edit] References
- ^ As a male-line grandson of the British Sovereign, Prince Carl Eduard was a Prince of the United Kingdom with the qualification of Royal Highness, in accordance with Queen Victoria's Letters Patent of 30 January 1864 and of 27 May 1898. The suspension of his peerages under the Title Deprivation Act, did not affect the Duke's place in the line of succession to the British throne. Under settled practice dating to 1714, Duke Carl Eduard's children, as legitimate male-line great grandchildren of the British Sovereign, were Princes and Princesses of the United Kingdom with the qualification of Highness. However, their right to use these British titles and styles ceased with George V's Letters Patent of 30 November 1917.
- ^ The hereditary and legal privileges of the various German royal, princely, ducal, and noble families ended in August 1919 when the constitution of the Weimar Republic went into effect. However, the Weimar Republic did not ban the use of titles and the designations of nobility, as did Austria. Instead, the Reichstag passed legislation that made the former royal and noble titles part of these families' surname. Legally, the former reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became Carl Eduard Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha.
| House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Born: 19 July 1884 Died: 28 March 1954 |
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|---|---|---|
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Leopold |
Duke of Albany 1884-1919 |
Succeeded by suspended |
| Regnal Titles | ||
| Preceded by Alfred |
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 30 July, 1900-14 November, 1918 |
Succeeded by None |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Preceded by None |
* NOT REIGNING * Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (14 November, 1918-28 March, 1954) |
Succeeded by Friedrich Josias |
Prince Charles Edward (1884-1919) · Prince Leopold (1881-1884) · James VII (1660-1685) · Charles I (1604-1625) · James VI (1567) · Lord Darnley (1565-1567) · Arthur Stewart (1541) · John Stewart (1485-1536) · Alexander Stewart (c. 1458-1485) · Murdoch Stewart (1420-1425) · Robert Stewart (1398-1420)
