Category Archives: Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2015

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: In 1675, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg died. Initially, his seven sons collectively governed the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, as set out in their father’s will. In 1680, the seven brothers concluded a treaty of separation, with each brother getting a portion of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg and becoming a Duke. One of the seven new duchies was the Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld and Johann Ernst, one of the seven sons of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became the first Duke of Saxe-Saalfeld.  When two of his brothers died without male heirs, Johann Ernst took possession of Coburg (in 1699) and Römhild (in 1714). In 1699, Johann Ernst’s title changed to Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

In 1825, 145 years after the initial split, another line became extinct and there was another split between three surviving duchies. Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld became Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. For more information on the switch, see Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Index.

On November 9, 1918, after the German Empire lost World War I, the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Charles Edward, a grandson of Queen Victoria.  Five days later, he signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne. The territory that encompassed the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is now in the German states of Bavaria and Thuringia.

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Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Credit – Wikipedia

The grandmother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Augusta Caroline Sophie was born a Countess Reuss of Ebersdorf on January 19, 1757, in Ebersdorf Castle, in Ebersdorf, County of  Reuss-Ebersdorf, now in Thuringia, Germany. She was the second of the seven children of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg.

Ebersdorf Castle, Augusta’s birthplace; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Only three of Augusta’s six siblings survived childhood:

Ebersdorf was a center of Pietism in Germany. Pietism was a form of Lutheranism that stressed practicing individual piety and living a strict Christian life, and Augusta’s grandparents were considered ardent admirers of their religion. As a result, Augusta developed a deep religious belief.

Little is known of Augusta’s upbringing, but a portrait exists of Augusta in her youth as Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BCE), the sister, the wife, and the successor of Mausolus, ruler of Caria. Augusta is the picture of serenity in the portrait with a peaceful smile on her face and her hands and eyes resting on an urn and an accompanying goblet. The painter, German artist Johann Heinrich Tischbein, made his living from painting German nobility and minor royalty. Augusta’s father had the portrait exhibited at the Perpetual Diet of Regensburg, the general assembly of Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire, so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter.

Augusta Reuss of Erbersdorf as Artemisia; Credit – Wikipedia

Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld had fallen in love with the beautiful Augusta and had purchased the Artemisia painting for four times the original price. However, he had to marry a relative, Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, but Sophie died seven months after the wedding. On June 13, 1777, in the bride’s hometown of Ebersdorf, Franz married Augusta.

Franz and Augusta had nine children:

Franz Friedrich Anton,Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Credit – Wikipedia

Like her famous granddaughter Queen Victoria, Augusta kept a detailed journal of her adult life, outlining much of her rather astonishing accomplishments. Her great-granddaughter Princess Beatrice, the youngest child of Queen Victoria, translated and edited the memoirs of her great-grandmother which were published under the title In Napoleonic Times.

At the time of his marriage to Augusta, Franz was an avid collector of art (particularly engravings) and books. When he inherited the dukedom from his father in 1800, Franz inherited the legacy of his father’s poor administration and huge debts. Furthermore, Franz had little aptitude for or interest in running the duchy himself. Franz’s art-buying days were over as the family began a life of aristocratic poverty. Victoria, the future Duchess of Kent, remembered her mother once scolding her for tearing her dress, as there was no money for another.

Augusta may have been the first person to suggest a marriage between two of her grandchildren. In 1821, in a letter to her daughter Victoria, Duchess of Kent, she suggested the possibility of marriage between Victoria’s daughter, the future Queen Victoria, and Albert, the second son of her son Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Victoria and Albert were only two years old at the time.

Augusta did not live long enough to see the marriage of her grandchildren Victoria and Albert. She died in Coburg at the age of 74 on November 16, 1831, five months after the election of her son Leopold as King of the Belgians, and was buried with her husband in a mausoleum in the Coburg Court Garden.

Mausoleum of Franz Friedrich Anton and Augusta; Credit – “Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum” von Störfix. Lizenziert unter CC BY-SA 3.0 über Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum.jpg#/media/File:Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum.jpg

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: In 1675, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg died. Initially, his seven sons collectively governed the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, as set out in their father’s will. In 1680, the seven brothers concluded a treaty of separation, with each brother getting a portion of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg and becoming a Duke. One of the seven new duchies was the Duchy of Saxe-Saalfeld and Johann Ernst, one of the seven sons of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became the first Duke of Saxe-Saalfeld.  When two of his brothers died without male heirs, Johann Ernst took possession of Coburg (in 1699) and Römhild (in 1714). In 1699, Johann Ernst’s title changed to Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

In 1825, 145 years after the initial split, another line became extinct and there was another split between three surviving duchies. Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld became Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. For more information on the switch, see Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Index.

On November 9, 1918, after the German Empire lost World War I, the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Charles Edward, a grandson of Queen Victoria.  Five days later, he signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne. The territory that encompassed the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is now in the German states of Bavaria and Thuringia.

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Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 15, 1750, Franz Frederick Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the grandfather of both Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, was born in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now a town in Bavaria, Germany. He was the eldest of the seven children of Ernst Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his wife Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Out of the seven children, only Franz Frederick Anton, a sister, and a brother survived childhood.

  • Karl (1751-1757), died in childhood
  • Friederike Juliane (born and died 1752), died in infancy
  • Caroline Ulrike Amalie (1753-1829), an abbess at the secular Lutheran abbey, Gandersheim Abbey
  • Ludwig Karl Friedrich (1755-1806), had an illegitimate son Ludwig Frederick Emil of Coburg (1779 – 1827) whose five children were created Freiherren (Barons) von Coburg
  • Ferdinand August Heinrich (1756-1758), died in childhood
  • Friedrich (born and died 1758), died in infancy

On March 6, 1775, Franz married Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a daughter of Ernst Friedrich III Karl, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen and his third wife Princess Ernestine of Saxe-Weimar.  At the time, Franz was already in love with his future wife, Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf, but he was unable to break off his engagement with Sophie. The bride was only 16 years old and died of influenza just six months after the wedding which allowed Franz to marry his beloved Augusta.

Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 13, 1777, in the bride’s hometown of Ebersdorf, County of Reuss-Ebersdrof, now in Thuingia, Germany, Franz married Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf, the eldest daughter of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg.

Franz and Augusta had nine children:

Franz Friedrich Anton; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1800, Franz succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, but he ruled only for six years before his death in 1806. In 1805, due to the ailing finances, Franz was forced by his Prime Minister Theodor Konrad von Kretschmann to make a contract between the two duchies, Coburg and Saalfeld, for a uniform system of government. In 1806, with the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the Duchy regained its independence and joined the Confederation of the Rhine.

Franz was a great lover of art and books. In 1775, he began a print collection that ultimately consisted of 300,000 prints. The collection can be visited at the Veste Coburg. Because of Franz, the family’s library had an extensive collection of books. Franz conducted an extensive renovation of the family castles. Walls, ditches, and towers were demolished and replaced by gardens and other green areas. In 1805, Franz bought back Schloss Rosenau which the family had been forced to sell in 1704 due to debts.

Franz Frederick Anton died, aged 56, on December 9, 1806, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in Bavaria, Germany. He was buried in a mausoleum in the Coburg Court Garden in Coburg. Twenty-five years later, his second wife Augusta was buried next to him.

Mausoleum of Franz Friedrich Anton and Augusta; Credit – “Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum” von Störfix. Lizenziert unter CC BY-SA 3.0 über Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum.jpg#/media/File:Coburg-Hofgarten-Mausoleum.jpg

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld/Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

The mother of Queen Victoria, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Marie Louise Victoire), was born on August 17, 1786, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Bavaria. She was the fourth daughter of the five daughters and seventh child of the ten children of Franz Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

Victoria had nine siblings:

At age 17, on December 21, 1803, Victoria became the second wife of Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, who was 23 years her senior.  Emich Carl died of pneumonia in 1814 and was succeeded by his 10-year-old son Karl.

Victoria and Emich Carl’s children:

In November of 1817, the death in childbirth of Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only legitimate grandchild of King George III, necessitated the marriages of the unmarried sons of King George III to provide an heir to the throne. On May 29, 1818, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (fourth son of King George III) married the 32-year-old widow Victoria at Schloss Ehrenburg in Coburg. Edward had never married but had lived for 28 years with his mistress Julie de Montgenêt de Saint-Laurent. Upon the couple’s return to England, they had a second marriage ceremony on July 13, 1818, at Kew Palace in the presence of Edward’s ailing mother Queen Charlotte.

In September of 1818, Edward and Victoria set out for Leiningen, where the Duchess of Kent’s young son was the Sovereign Prince. However, when the Duchess became pregnant, they were determined to return to England so the possible heir to the throne would be born there. They took up residence in an apartment at Kensington Palace and it was there that their only child was born on May 24, 1819:

Toward the end of 1819, Edward leased Woolbrook Cottage in Sidmouth, a town on the English Channel, due to the need to economize and for benefits the sea air would have on the Duchess’ health. In early January, Edward caught a cold but insisted on taking a walk in the chilly weather. Within days, the cold worsened, he became feverish and delirious and developed pneumonia. His condition was aggravated by the bleeding and cupping of the physician sent from London to treat him. Edward became increasingly weaker and died on January 23, 1820, just six days before his father King George III died.

After King George III’s death, the infant Victoria was third in the line of succession after her uncles Frederick, Duke of York and William, Duke of Clarence. Neither the new king, George IV, nor his brothers Frederick and William had any heirs, and the Duchess of Kent decided she would take a chance on Victoria’s accession to the throne. The Duchess decided to stay in England rather than return to her homeland.

Victoria and the Duchess of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

The Duchess of Kent and her daughter Victoria were given little financial support from Parliament. The Duchess’ brother Leopold (the future King Leopold I of the Belgians) was the widower of Princess Charlotte and received a very generous 50,000 pounds per year income from Parliament upon his marriage to Charlotte which was continued after her death. Leopold provided much-needed financial and emotional support to his sister and niece. In 1831, with King George IV dead for a year and his younger brother and heir King William IV still without legitimate issue, Victoria’s status as heir presumptive and her mother’s prospective place as regent led to major increases in income. Uncle Leopold became King of the Belgians in 1831, so an additional consideration was the impropriety of a foreign monarch supporting the heir to the British throne. Leopold had surrendered his British income upon his accession to the Belgian throne.

The Duchess developed a very close relationship with John Conroy, her household comptroller, who wanted to use his position with the mother of the future queen to obtain power and influence. Conroy and the Duchess tried to control and influence Victoria with their Kensington System, a strict and elaborate set of rules. The Duchess’ relationship with her daughter Victoria suffered greatly and did not normalize until Victoria herself had children.

There was no love lost between King William IV and his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Kent. Despite the Regency Act 1830 making the Duchess of Kent regent in case William died while Victoria was still a minor, the king distrusted the duchess’s capacity to be regent. William had been denied access to his young niece as much as the Duchess dared. The Duchess had offended the King by taking rooms in Kensington Palace that the King had reserved for himself. Both before and during William’s reign, the Duchess had snubbed his illegitimate children, the FitzClarences. All of this led to a scene at a dinner in 1836 where King William IV declared in the Duchess’ presence that he wanted to live until Victoria’s 18th birthday so that a regency could be avoided.

On May 24, 1837, Victoria turned 18 years old and it would not be necessary for the Duchess of Kent to serve as regent, much to the relief of Victoria’s uncle King William IV. Less than a month later, on June 20, 1837, King William IV died and Victoria acceded to the British throne. On the day Victoria became queen, she demonstrated her determination to free herself from her mother’s influence by ordering her bed removed from the room she and her mother had always shared.

In 1840, Queen Victoria married her first cousin and her mother’s nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. After the birth of Victoria and Albert’s first child Victoria, Princess Royal, the Duchess was reconciled with Victoria probably due to Albert’s persuasion. Thereafter, the Duchess became a doting grandmother and her relationship with her daughter became closer than it had ever been.

Dowager Duchess of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

In March of 1861, after the Duchess had surgery on her arm to remove an ulcer, a severe infection developed. On March 15, 1861, Queen Victoria was notified that her mother was not expected to survive for more than a few hours. Victoria, Albert, and their daughter Alice immediately traveled from London to Windsor where the Duchess resided at Frogmore House near Windsor Castle. The Queen found her mother in a semi-coma and breathing with great difficulty. At 9:30 on the morning of March 16, 1861, the Duchess of Kent died at the age of 74 without regaining consciousness. Victoria did not deal well with losing her mother and dealt even worse with a death that was to come at the end of 1861, that of her beloved husband Albert.

The Duchess of Kent’s final resting place is a mausoleum near Victoria and Albert’s mausoleum at Frogmore in Windsor Home Park.

Mausoleum of the Duchess of Kent. photo: Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.