Eadwig, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit – Wikipedia

Born about 940, Eadwig, sometimes called Edwy, was a teenage King of the English for less than four years. He was the elder of the two sons of Edmund I, King of the English and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury. Eadwig had one younger brother:

On May 26, 946, Eadwig’s father King Edmund I was murdered while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his 23-year-old brother Eadred.  When King Eadred died on November 25, 955, his successor was his 15-year-old nephew Eadwig, the elder son of his brother King Edmund I.

King Eadwig; Credit – Wikipedia

The young king almost immediately began arguing with his uncle Eadred’s advisors, particularly with Dunstan, a future Archbishop of Canterbury and saint, who was then Abbot of Glastonbury. According to The Life of St. Dunstan, written around the year 1000 by a monk known only as “B”, the feud with Dunstan began on the day of Eadwig’s coronation in 956. Eadwig had left the coronation banquet and Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury sent Dunstan to find Eadwig. The young king had tired of the banquet and had retired to his apartments with a young woman he had fallen in love with, Ælfgifu, and her mother Æthelgifu. Ælfgifu was Eadwig’s third cousin and this relationship would have precluded marriage on the grounds of consanguinity. When Eadwig refused to return to the banquet, the infuriated Dunstan dragged him back to the banquet. Soon after, Eadwig secretly married Ælfgifu and exiled Dunstan.

Drawing by Samuel Wale, entitled “The Insolent Behaviour of Dunstan to King Edwy on the Day of his Coronation Feast.” in Thomas Mortimer’s New History of England. 3 vols: vol. 1. 1764-6; Credit – Wikipedia

In 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians revolted and chose Eadwig’s brother Edgar as king of the country north of the River Thames. The south of England, however, remained loyal to Eadwig. Edgar’s advisers recalled Dunstan from his exile and he was made Bishop of Worcester in 957 and then Bishop of London the following year. In 958, Archbishop Oda annulled Eadwig’s marriage for consanguinity, a decision that was likely more political than religious. A child of Eadwig and Ælfgifu would certainly have had a better claim to the throne than Eadwig’s brother Edgar. This would have affected the power of Oda, Dunstan, and of course Edgar.

On October 1, 959, Eadwig died at around the age of nineteen in Gloucester in what some consider suspicious, but certainly unknown, circumstances. He was buried in the New Minster in Winchester but nothing is known about the later fate of his remains. As Eadwig did not have children, his brother Edgar succeeded him and reunified England. Eadwig’s former wife Ælfgifu appears to have reconciled with King Edgar and made substantial donations to monasteries. She was buried in the New Minster in Winchester upon her death.

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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadwig. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadwig [Accessed 18 Feb. 2019].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadwig. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadwig [Accessed 18 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Eadred, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Credit- Wikipedia

Born in 923, Eadred, King of the English was the younger of the two sons and the second of the three children of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great.

Eadred had two full siblings:

Eadred had two half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Ecgwynn:

Eadred had eight half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire:

On May 26, 946, Eadred’s elder brother King Edmund I was murdered while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his 23-year-old brother Eadred who was crowned on August 16, 946 in Kingston-upon-Thames by Oda, Archbishop of Canterbury. The coronation was attended not only by numerous bishops but also by Welsh rulers and Scandinavian earls from the north of England who all appeared to have recognized Eadred as their overlord.

Eadred, King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia

Eadred suffered from ill health all his life. He had symptoms similar to the symptoms Alfred the Great, his grandfather also had. Alfred’s contemporary biographer, the Welsh monk Asser, gave a detailed description of his symptoms, and modern doctors suspect that he had Crohn’s disease. However, a genetic disease such as porphyria, which Alfred’s descendant King George III may have had, is also a possibility. Eadred’s ill health is often given as the reason he never married.

Eadred surrounded himself with the same counselors as his brother had: Archbishop Oda of Canterbury, Bishop Ælfsige of Winchester, Bishop Cenwald of Worcester, Abbot Dunstan of Glastonbury and Ealdorman Æthelstan Half-King of East Anglia. Although both his half-brother King Æthelstan and his full-brother King Edmund both quelled situations in York and Northumbria and were recognized as overlords, Eadred also had issues in that region. However, by 952, the threat of an independent Northumbrian king finally came to an end.

Towards the end of his life, Eadred’s health deteriorated drastically. He had physical difficulties eating and suffered from some kind of physical disability, possibly paralysis. He delegated most of his royal powers to Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and other counselors. Eadred died at the age of 32 on November 23, 955 in Frome in Somerset, and was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester. Sometime between 1093 – 1158, his remains were moved to Winchester Cathedral which was completed and consecrated in 1093. Eadred’s successor was his 15-year-old nephew Eadwig, the elder son of his brother King Edmund.

Mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral believed to contain Eadred’s remains; Credit – By Ealdgyth – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11358612

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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadred. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadred [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Eadred. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadred [Accessed 15 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Edmund I, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Edmund I, King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund I, King of the English was born in 921, the elder of the two sons and the eldest of the three children of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his third wife Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent.  He was also the grandson of Alfred the Great.

Edmund had two full siblings:

Edmund had two half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Ecgwynn:

Additionally, Edmund had eight half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire:

Credit – Wikipedia

Edmund was just three years old when his father Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons, died on July 24, 924. Succeeding his father was Edmund’s 30-year-old half-brother Æthelstan. The young Edmund grew up in the household of Æthelstan and when he was older began accompanying his half-brother on his military campaigns.

Æthelstan and Edmund’s father Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in Mercia and East Anglia. In 927, Æthelstan captured the last Danish stronghold in York and received their submission. Later in 927, the Welsh and Scots kings and princes accepted Æthelstan as their overlord. Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon people and the overlord of all Britain. He then was styled King of the English. In 937, Æthelstan’s position was further cemented after the Battle of Brunanburh in which he triumphed over an alliance of King of Dublin, King of Scots, and King of Strathclyde. As a 16-year-old, Edmund had fought bravely at the Battle of Brunanburh.

Æthelstan died in Gloucester on October 27, 939, around the age of 45. He had never married and was succeeded by his 18-year-old half-brother Edmund I, King of the English. Edmund was the first Anglo-Saxon monarch, whose dominion extended over the whole of England at the time of his accession.

Edmund married Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury around 940. Her father and siblings are unknown but her mother Wynflaed appears to have been associated with Shaftesbury Abbey, founded by Edmund’s grandfather Alfred the Great. Ælfgifu was definitely a patron of Shaftsbury Abbey. She predeceased her husband, dying in 944, and was buried at Shaftsbury Abbey. Soon after her death, Ælfgifu was venerated as a saint and she is referred to as Saint Ælfgifu in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In 944, after Ælfgifu’s death, Edmund married Æthelflæd of Damerham but the couple had no children.

Edmund and his first wife Ælfgifu had two sons:

Shortly after he became king, Edmund faced several military threats. He lost Northumbria but in 844, he successfully regained the land. In 945, Edmund conquered Strathclyde and ceded the territory to Malcolm I, King of Scots to secure him as an ally. Having regained territory and being recognized as overlord of the Welsh and Scots kings and princes, Edmund now seemed to have a successful reign ahead of him.

Murder of Edmund I; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 26, 946, Edmund was celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England. The story usually given is that during the feast, Edmund recognized Leofa, a thief he had exiled several years earlier. He asked his steward to arrest Leofa but a fight erupted. Edmund intervened, was stabbed, and died at the age of 24. Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination and chroniclers fabricated the characterization of Edmund’s killer as a fabricated as a thief to counter rumors that the king was the victim of a political assassination. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England but his tomb was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. Because Edmund’s two sons were very young, he was succeeded by his brother Eadred.

Ruins of Glastonbury Abbey; Credit – 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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edmund I. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_I [Accessed 14 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Æthelstan, King of the English

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Æthelstan presenting a book to St Cuthbert, the earliest surviving portrait of an English king, circa 930; Credit – Wikipedia

Æthelstan is regarded by modern historians to be the first King of England although he used the style King of the English (Rex Anglorum in Latin). The Anglo-Saxon kings of England used numerous different styles, including King of the Anglo-Saxons, King of the English and King of England. Æthelstan, born around 894, was the eldest son of Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons and the only son of Ecgwynn, the first of Edward’s three wives. He was also a grandson of Alfred the Great.  Little is known about Æthelstan’s mother. Some medieval chroniclers describe Ecgywnn as a commoner while others describe her as from a noble family. Similarly, she is described as the wife of Edward and the concubine of Edward. Modern historians also disagree about Ecgwynn’s status.

Like his father Edward the Elder, Æthelstan was unwilling to marry his female relatives to his own subjects so they either became nuns or married foreign husbands. These marriages fostered close relationships with other European courts.

Æthelstan had one full sibling, a sister:

By his father’s second marriage to Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire, Æthelstan had eight half-siblings:

Æthelstan had three more half-siblings from his father’s third marriage to Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent:

Æthelstan was raised at the court of his paternal aunt Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians. His aunt’s husband Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians had ruled Mercia under the overlordship of his grandfather Alfred the Great and then his father Edward the Elder. Because Æthelstan had been raised in Merica, he had a level of loyalty from the Mercians that others from his family never had.

Æthelstan in a fifteenth-century stained glass window in All Souls College Chapel, Oxford; Credit – Wikipedia

When Edward the Elder died on July 24, 924, the Mercians immediately proclaimed Æthelstan as their king but deliberations still continued in Wessex. Perhaps Edward had suggested that Æthelstan would succeed him in Mercia but another son would succeed him in Wessex. It appears that Wessex picked Ælfweard, elder son of Edward’s second wife Ælfflæd, as their king but he died sixteen days after his father. Æthelstan was not to recognized as king in Wessex until a year after his father’s death, suggesting that there was considerable resistance to him.

Æthelstan’s coronation took place on September 4, 925 at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was crowned by Æthelhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury who wrote a new coronation service because Æthelstan was crowned with a crown instead of the traditional helmet. Opposition to Æthelstan continued after the coronation. There was a plot to blind Æthelstan because of his supposed illegitimacy and some nobility and churchmen resisted Æthelstan for some period of time.

The British Isles in the early tenth century; Credit – Wikipedia

Æthelstan’s father Edward the Elder had conquered the Danish territories in Mercia and East Anglia with the assistance of his sister Æthelflæd and her husband, but when Edward died the Danish king  Sitric Cáech still ruled the Viking Kingdom of York. In January 926, Æthelstan arranged for his sister to marry Sihtric Cáech. Æthelstan and Sihtric Cáech agreed not to invade each other’s territories or to support each other’s enemies. When Sihtric Cáech died the following year, Æthelstan saw his chance to invade. He easily captured the last Viking stronghold and received their submission. Later in 927, Welsh and Scots kings and princes accepted Æthelstan as their overlord. Æthelstan became the first king of all the Anglo-Saxon people and overlord of all Britain. He then was styled King of the English. In 937, Æthelstan’s position was further cemented after the Battle of Brunanburh in which he triumphed over an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scots, and Owen, King of Strathclyde.

Æthelstan died in Gloucester on October 27, 939 at around the age of 45. Instead of being buried in the traditional House of Wessex burial sites in Winchester, Æthelstan chose Malmesbury Abbey in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England as his burial site where he was buried under the high altar. According to the 12th-century chronicler William of Malmesbury, Æthelstan was devoted to the abbey and to the memory of its seventh-century abbot Saint Aldhelm. William of Malmesbury also wrote that Æthelstan’s body was disinterred in the 11th century and reburied in the abbot’s garden (now Abbey House Gardens) to avoid desecration by the Normans. Æthelstan is commemorated by an empty 15th-century tomb in the north aisle of Malmesbury Abbey.  Because he was never married, Æthelstan was succeeded by his half-brother Edmund I, King of the English.

Empty fifteenth-century tomb of King Æthelstan at Malmesbury Abbey; Credit – 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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Æthelstan. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons; Credit – Wikipedia

Born circa 874, probably at the royal palace in Wantage, now in Oxfordshire, England, Edward the Elder, King of the Anglo-Saxons was the elder of the two sons and the second of the five known children of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons and his wife Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian nobleman Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini and his wife Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family. Edward was not called “the Elder” during his lifetime. At the end of the tenth century, “the Elder” was added to his name to distinguish him from King Edward the Martyr.

Edward had three sisters and one brother:

According to Asser, the Welsh monk, Alfred the Great’s contemporary biographer, Edward was brought up with his youngest sister Ælfthryth. They were educated at court by tutors and read ecclesiastical and secular works in English. Edward was a child throughout the wars his father fought with the Danes and was more of a soldier than a scholar like his father. By 892, he was commanding part of the Anglo-Saxon army, and upon his father’s death in 899, the Anglo-Saxons were prepared to accept him as their leader. Edward was crowned on June 8, 900 by Plegmund, Archbishop of Canterbury at Kingston-upon-Thames, where the ancient coronation stone can still be seen.

The Coronation Stone in the grounds of the Guildhall in Kingston-upon-Thames; Credit – By Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13202093

However, after Alfred the Great’s death, Edward’s succession was challenged. Alfred the Great’s brother King Æthelred I died on April 23, 871 from battle wounds. Because King Æthelred I left two young sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were deemed too young to succeed to the throne, Alfred became King of Wessex. In the interim, Æthelhelm had died but Æthelwold was alive and challenged his cousin’s succession. Æthelwold seized Wimborne but was soon chased out of Wessex. He was accepted by the Danes of York (then called Jorvik) as their leader and led a revolt of Danes in East Anglia. Æthelwold remained a problem until he was killed at the Battle of the Holme in 902.

Edward married three times and had about fourteen children.  He was unwilling to marry his daughters to his own subjects so they either became nuns or married foreign husbands. His son and successor Æthelstan continued this practice with his sisters.

Around 893, Edward married Ecgwynn but nothing is known about her. They had two children:

Around 899, Edward married Ælfflæd, daughter of Ealdorman Æthelhelm, probably of Wiltshire. It is possible that Ælfflæd was put aside so that Edward could marry his third wife Eadgifu. There is some evidence that Ælfflæd retired to Wilton Abbey, where she was joined by two of her daughters, Eadflæd and Æthelhild, and that all three were buried there.

Edward and Ælfflæd eight children:

Ancient picture of Queen Eadgifu from Canterbury Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

In about 919, Edward married Eadgifu of Kent, the daughter of Sigehelm, Ealdorman of Kent. Eadgifu died in 968.

Edward and Eadgifu had three known children:

England in the late 9th century; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072

In 918, Edward’s sister Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians died. She had been ruling Mercia since the death of her husband. Even though Æthelflæd’s daughter had technically succeeded her, Edward assumed control of Mercia. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a general submission of rulers in Britain to Edward in 920. The Danes in the southern part of the Danelaw submitted to Edward. Even Ragnall ua Ímair of Northumbria eventually submitted to Edward although his successor Sitric Cáech did not. Ragnall’s submission even jolted Constantine II, King of Scots and Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde into submission. Scotland and Strathclyde had been invaded by the Norse, and they needed Edward’s protection. By 922, Edward was the overlord of all of Britain except for York, Orkney, and the Western Isles.

Edward the Elder died at the royal estate of Farndon-on-Dee in Mercia on July 17, 924. He was initially buried in the New Minster, Winchester. In 1109, the New Minster was moved outside the city walls to become Hyde Abbey, and the following year, the remains of Edward and his parents were moved to the new abbey church which was destroyed in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of King Henry VIII. His third wife and widow Eadgifu survived him by 44 years and died in the reign of her grandson King Edgar in 968.

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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Edward the Elder. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_the_Elder [Accessed 9 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, King of the Anglo-Saxons

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Statue of Alfred the Great in Wantage, Oxfordshire; Credit – By Steve Daniels, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8862807

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex and later styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons. Alfred and Cnut, King of England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden are the only British monarchs to be given the epithet “the Great”. Born circa 847 – 849, probably at a royal palace in Wantage, now in Oxfordshire, England, he was the youngest of the four known sons and the youngest of the five known children of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex and his first wife Osburga.

Alfred had four known elder brothers and one known elder sister:

Alfred’s father King Æthelwulf of Wessex; Credit – Wikipedia

From 854 – 855, Alfred accompanied his father on a pilgrimage to Rome and then they spent some time at the court of Charles the Bald, King of West Francia.  Being the fourth of four sons, Alfred was not expected to succeed to the throne and was probably being prepared for a career in the Roman Catholic Church. In 856, Alfred’s father King Æthelwulf married Judith of Flanders, daughter of Charles the Bald. Alfred’s mother Osburga had probably died, although it is possible that she had been put aside. King Æthelwulf and Judith had no children and after King Æthelwulf’s death, she married his son and successor Æthelbald.

King Æthelwulf died on January 13, 858, and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Æthelbald in Wessex and his next surviving son Æthelberht in Kent. When King Æthelbald died two years later, Æthelbert became King of Wessex and remained King of Kent. Alfred’s public life began in 865 with the accession of his fourth brother Æthelred I. Also in 865, the Great Heathen Army of Danes landed in East Anglia with the goal of conquering the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. During King Æthelred I’s reign, Alfred fought beside him against the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless and his brother Halfdan Ragnarsson. King Æthelred I was wounded at the Battle of Marton and died shortly afterward on April 23, 871. Because King Æthelred I left two young sons, Æthelhelm and Æthelwold, who were deemed too young to succeed to the throne, Alfred became King of Wessex.

Alfred’s wife Ealhswith; Credit – Wikipedia

In 868, Alfred married Ealhswith, daughter of a Mercian nobleman, Æthelred Mucel, Ealdorman of the Gaini and his wife Eadburh, a member of the Mercian royal family. As was customary in ninth-century Wessex, Ealhswith was not given the title of queen.

Alfred and Ealhswith had five known children:

Battles with the Danish invaders continued into the early years of Alfred’s reign. Alfred concluded a peace treaty in 876 which involved an exchange of hostages and oaths. However, the Danes broke their oath and killed all the hostages. In January 878, the Danes made a sudden attack on Chippenham, a royal stronghold where Alfred had spent Christmas. Many people were killed but Alfred and a small group made their way to the marshes of Somerset. A fort was built at Athelney in the marshes where Alfred organized an effective resistance movement.

In May 878, Alfred left Athelney and led his army to Wiltshire where large contingents from Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire also gathered. At the Battle of Edington, the Anglo-Saxon army defeated the Great Heathen Army led by Guthrum. Under the Treaty of Wedmore, the Danes agreed to withdraw from Wessex and settle in East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumberland in land ceded to them called the Danelaw.  The Viking leader Guthrum became a Christian and Alfred was his godfather at his baptism, giving him the name Athelstan.

England in 878; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

The next eight years were a peaceful period in Wessex. Alfred came to be regarded by the Anglo-Saxons as their overlord and although he was never really king of all England as the Danes held the north and east, he styled himself King of the Anglo-Saxons.

Map of the burghs; Credit – By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Some accomplishments during the reign of Alfred the Great:

  • Burhs: Alfred the Great set about building a system of fortified towns or forts, known as burhs or burgs, in response to the continued Viking threat. These burhs included former Roman towns where stone walls were repaired and perimeter ditches added along with temporary forts, and new towns.
  • Navy: Alfred ordered the construction of a small fleet of longboats that had 60 oars and were twice the size of Viking longboats. His goal was to intercept raiding Viking fleets before they landed
  • Legal reform: Alfred issued the Doom Book in which he compiled a legal code based on three prior Anglo-Saxon legal codes which he found the most just, those of Æthelberht of Kent (circa 602), Ine of Wessex (circa 694), and Offa of Mercia (circa 786). Alfred also included the Ten Commandments and rules of life from the Mosaic Code and Christian ethics.  Alfred’s legal code was administered by local shire reeves (or sheriffs) and judges.
  • Education: The Danish raids had a devastating effect on learning in England. Inspired by the educational reforms of Charlemagne almost a century before, Alfred undertook an ambitious effort to revive learning. Scholars were recruited from all over Britain and abroad. Alfred established a court school for the education of his own children, children of the nobility, and children of lesser birth. He declared that all sons of freemen should attend school and learn to read and write in English.

Except for a brief period in 885, peace was maintained until 893 when a war with the Danes in East Anglia started and lasted until 897. The Danes caused problems in Mercia and Wales but were unable to penetrate Wessex’s defenses.

Alfred the Great’s statue in Winchester; Credit – Wikipedia

Alfred had long suffered from a mysterious illness with periodic painful attacks. Alfred’s contemporary biographer, the Welsh monk Asser, gave a detailed description of his symptoms and modern doctors suspect that he had either Crohn’s disease or hemorrhoidal disease. However, Alfred’s grandson King Eadred also suffered from ill health all his life. He had symptoms similar to the symptoms Alfred had. A genetic disease such as porphyria, which King George III may have had, is also a possibility.  Alfred died on October 26, 899 at around the age of 50 from unknown causes. He was buried in the Old Minster in Winchester but that is not the end of the story for Alfred’s remains.

Four years later, Alfred’s remains were moved to the New Minster, a royal Benedictine abbey founded in 901 in Winchester. Alfred had intended to build the abbey but only got around to buying the land before he died. His son and successor, King Edward the Elder, finished the abbey according to Alfred’s wishes. In 1109, King Henry I ordered the New Minster to be moved to Hyde Mead and so Hyde Abbey was built just outside the walls of Winchester. When the new church of Hyde Abbey was consecrated in 1110, the remains of Alfred, his wife Ealhswith, and his son Edward the Elder were carried in state through Winchester and interred before the Hyde Abbey high altar.

In 1539, during the reign of King Henry VIII, Hyde Abbey was dissolved and demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Over the next 250 years, the choir end of Hyde Abbey, where Alfred, his wife, and his son had been interred, was gradually forgotten. In 1788, the land where Hyde Abbey had been located was to become the site of a small local prison. The prisoners were put to work digging the foundation and they came across a number of graves.

In the 19th century, excavations carried out on the site of Hyde Abbey claimed to have found the remains of Alfred the Great which then were reburied in a simple grave outside nearby St. Bartholomew’s Church. More recent excavations of the sites have not given positive or definite results. Bones found in 1999 proved to be those of an elderly woman. The bones found in 2003 were carbon-dated but the results showed that they were from the 1300s and therefore could not be Alfred’s. A fragment of a pelvis from the 1999 excavation was found in a box in a Winchester museum storeroom. Carbon dating showed that the pelvis fragment comes from the correct period. It has been suggested that this bone may belong to either Alfred or his son Edward but this remains unproven.

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.

England: House of Wessex Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Ashley, M. (1998). The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens. New York: Carroll & Graf Pub.
  • Cannon, J. and Griffiths, R. (1988). The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Dodson, A. (2004). The Royal Tombs of Great Britain. London: Duckworth.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Alfred the Great. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great [Accessed 9 Feb. 2019].
  • Williamson, D. (1998). Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

The Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1954 until his death, Friedrich Josias was born at Callenberg Castle now in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany on November 29, 1918. His birth occurred just three weeks after the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed his father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His father signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne but he still remained Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Christened Friedrich Josias Carl Eduard Ernst Kyrill Harald, he was the youngest of the five children and the youngest of the three sons of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Friedrich Josias’ father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Friedrich Josias was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.  His mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. His maternal grandfather was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark. His maternal grandmother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from her mother’s first marriage.

Left to right: Prince Hubertus, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Caroline Mathilde, Prince Johann Leopold, Prince Friedrich Josias on the lap of the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Sibylla

Friedrich Josias had four elder siblings:

Friedrich Josias was first educated by tutors at home and then attended the Casimirianum Coburg in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany from 1929 to 1934. He then attended the Schnepfenthal Salzmann School, a boarding school in Gotha, Germany, founded in 1784, graduating in 1938.

In 1938, Friedrich Josias joined the German Army and participated in the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. In 1941, he participated in the German occupation of Poland and France and fought in campaigns in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

In 1932, Friedrich Josias’ elder brother Johann Leopold made an unequal marriage against the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Act of March 1, 1855, and had to renounce succession rights for himself and any children from the marriage. His brother Hubertus was designated the heir to his father as Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. However, after Hubertus was killed in action in an airplane crash during World War II in 1943, Friedrich Josias became the heir to Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1944, Friedrich Josias became an adjutant to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel who was in charge of the German campaign in North Africa. Later in 1944, he was transferred to the staff of General Hermann von Hanneken, the supreme commander of the German forces in Denmark. In May 1945, Friedrich Josias was captured by British forces in Denmark and remained in captivity until he was released that autumn when he returned to Coburg.

Friedrich Josias married his first cousin Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth on January 25, 1942.  The couple divorced on September 19, 1946.

Friedrich Josias and Viktoria-Luise had one son who succeeded his father as the Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha:

On February 14, 1948, Friedrich Josias made a second marriage to Denyse Henriette de Muralt in San Francisco, California. The couple divorced in 1964 and had three children:

  • Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1949 – 2016), married Gion Schäfer, had two daughters
  • Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1951), married Friedrich-Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen, had one son and one daughter
  • Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1955 – 2011), married (1) Lea Rinderknecht, had two sons (2) Gertrud Krieg

Friedrich Josias and his third wife Katrin

Friedrich Josias married one last time, on October 30, 1964, in Hamburg, Germany to Katrin Bremme. The couple had no children. His third wife Katrin survived him by twenty-three years, dying in 2011.

In 1946, Friedrich Josias went to Stockholm, Sweden. There he stayed for a while with his elder sister Sibylla who was married to Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, the second in line to the Swedish throne after his father, the future King Gustaf VI Adolf. Prince Gustaf Adolf, the father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, would have himself become King of Sweden had he not died tragically in an airplane crash in 1947. In Sweden, Friedrich Josias worked for Johnson Line AB, a Swedish shipping company.

In 1948, Friedrich Josias accepted a position with W.R. Grace and Company, another shipping company, in San Francisco, California, and later in Santos, Brazil and Hamburg, Germany. As per his father’s wish, he ended his employment with W.R. Grace and Company and to work for the Foundation of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Foundation for Art and Science. Upon the death of his father in 1954, Friedrich Josias became Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

From 1958 – 1964, Friedrich Josias again worked for the Swedish shipping company Johnson Line AB, this time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Upon his return to Germany, he first lived in Hamburg. Beginning in 1967, he spent his time in Coburg, now in Bavaria, Germany and Grein, Austria. During the last years of his life, Friedrich Josias was in ill health and his son Andreas took over many of his duties. He died on January 23, 1998, in a hospital in Amstetten, Austria at the age of 79 and was buried in the family cemetery in the forest of Schloss Callenberg in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany.

The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle; Credit – 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.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Friedrich Josias Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Josias_Prinz_von_Sachsen-Coburg_und_Gotha [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Josias,_Prince_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
  • Thepeerage.com. (2019). Person Page. [online] Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10859.htm#i108581 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].

Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – https://www.stadtgeschichte-coburg.de

Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, known as Calma, was born on June 22, 1912, at Callenberg Castle in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Bavaria, Germany. She was the younger of the two daughters and the fourth of the five children of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Calma’s father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Calma was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.  Her mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark.  Calma’s mother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from their mother’s first marriage.

Calma had four siblings:

The Christening of Caroline Mathilde; Credit – Wikipedia

Calma was christened Caroline Mathilde Helene Ludwiga Augusta Beatrice on July 25, 1912, at Callenberg Castle.

Her godparents were:

Wedding of Princess Caroline Mathilde and Count Friedrich Wolfgang Otto of Castell-Rüdenhausen at Schloss Greinburg; Credit – By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R14380 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5368325

Calma married Count Friedrich Wolfgang of Castell-Rüdenhausen, son of Hugo Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen and Clementine of Solms-Sonnenwalde, on December 14, 1931, at Greinburg Castle on the Danube in Austria. The marriage was not a happy one. Eventually, Calma left Friedrich, amid much controversy and scandal, and they were officially divorced on May 2, 1938. In 1940, during World War II, Friedrich was killed in action while flying over England.

Calma and Friedrich had three children:

  • Count Bertram Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen (born 1932), married Felicita von Auersperg, had two children
  • Count Conradin Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1933 – 2011), married Marta Catharina Lonegren, had two children
  • Countess Viktoria Adelheid of Castell-Rüdenhausen (born 1935), married Sir John Miles Huntington-Whiteley, 4th Baronet, had three children

On June 22, 1938, in Berlin, Germany, Calma married Captain Max Schnirring, a famous pilot whose aviation career began during World War I. He had been friends with the famous “ Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen. Max was one of the first pilots for Deutsche Luft Hansa, a precursor to today’s Lufthansa. He also worked as a training supervisor for Focke-Wulf and as a test pilot for Arado. He had crashed four times during his test flights without serious injury. However, during a test flight on July 6, 1944, he crashed in a field near Parow, a village a few miles north of Stralsund in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Max died the next day, at the age of 49, in a hospital in Stralsund, Germany.

Calma and Max had three children:

  • Calma Barbara Schnirring (born 1938), married (1) Richard Darrell Berger, had six children (2) James Cook, adopted a daughter
  • Dagmar Schnirring (born 1940), married (1) Heinrich Walz, had two children, divorced in 1989 (2) married Eberhard Schäl, no children
  • Peter Michael Schnirring (1943 – 1966), unmarried

Calma married a third time on December 23, 1946, to Karl Otto Andree. The couple had no children and divorced on October 10, 1949.

After the end of World War II, Calma’s father Charles Edward was placed under house arrest at his residence the Veste Coburg because of his Nazi sympathies. In 1949, a denazification appeals court classified Charles Edward as a Nazi Follower, Category IV. He was heavily fined and almost bankrupted. Calma had a difficult time adjusting to her family’s circumstances and became estranged from some of her children. To make ends meet, she became a shoemaker. She had numerous relationships with different men and one relationship caused her to spend some time in prison.

Calma became involved with an engineer and factory owner named Alexander Glascow who had left his wife and five children for her. Glascow was accused of having sex with two underage girls who worked at his factory. One of the girls, just 15-years-old, became pregnant. Calma did not want to lose Glascow and became involved in the situation. She arranged for one of her sons to be named the father and further arranged for the pregnant girl to have an abortion, which was illegal. Unfortunately, the girl died during the abortion. Calma and Glascow were charged with committing a “continuing crime of acquiescence to a serious abortion crime”. On December 21, 1956, both Calma and Glascow were convicted and both spent about six months in prison.

Calma died on September 5, 1983, at the age of 71 in Erlangen, Germany. She was buried in the family cemetery in the forest of Schloss Callenberg.

The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle; Credit – 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.

Works Cited

  • Australia, K., profile, V. and Australia, K. (n.d.). H.H. Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1912 – 1983). [online] Royalchristenings.blogspot.gr. Available at: http://royalchristenings.blogspot.gr/2014/08/hh-princess-caroline-mathilde-of-saxe.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Caroline_Mathilde_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Carolina Matilde de Sajonia-Coburgo-Gotha. [online] Available at: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Matilde_de_Sajonia-Coburgo-Gotha [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Parow-info.de. (n.d.). Flugkapitän Max Otto Schnirring. [online] Available at: https://www.parow-info.de/c/Schnirring.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Stegemann, W. (2013). Caroline Prinzessin von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha saß 1956 im Dorstener Amtsgerichtsgefängnis | DORSTEN-transparent.de. [online] Dorsten-transparent.de. Available at: http://www.dorsten-transparent.de/2013/01/caroline-prinzessin-von-sachsen-coburg-und-gotha-sas-1956-im-dorstener-amtsgerichtsgefangnis/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].

Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was born on August 24, 1909, at Reinhardsbrunn Castle, now in Friedrichroda, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, near Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. Christened with the names Dietmar Hubertus Friedrich Wilhelm Philip, he was the third of the five children and the second of the three sons of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Hubertus’ father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Hubertus was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.  His mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her mother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from her mother’s first marriage.

Hubertus and his family in 1918: (left to right) Hubertus, his mother Viktoria Adelheid, his sister Sibylla, his sister Karoline Mathilde, his father Charles Edward, and his brother Johann Leopold. His youngest brother was not yet born; Credit – Wikipedia

Hubertus had four siblings:

Hubertus and his sister Sibylla; Credit – Wikipedia

Hubertus was first educated by tutors at home, and then attended the Casimirianum Coburg in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany. On November 9, 1918, the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed Hubertus’ father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Five days later, Charles Edward signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne but remained Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1932, Hubertus’ elder brother Johann Leopold made an unequal marriage against the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Act of March 1, 1855 and renounced succession rights for himself and any children from the marriage. As the next son, Hubertus was designated the heir to his father as Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Hubertus became a member of the Nazi Party on October 1, 1939. He saw action with the German Army on the Eastern Front during World War II. He served as a first lieutenant on the High Command of the Army and was deployed as a Luftwaffe pilot serving as a squadron leader. Hubertus was killed in action in an airplane crash at the age of 34 on November 26, 1943, in Velyki Mosty, in present-day Ukraine. His funeral took place on November 30, 1943, at the German Luftwaffe base in Lötzen in East Prussia, now Giżycko, Poland. Hubertus was buried in the family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany.

The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2019). Hubertus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus_von_Sachsen-Coburg_und_Gotha [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1909–1943). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Hubertus_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha_(1909%E2%80%931943) [Accessed 22 Jan. 2019].
  • Petropoulos, Jonathan. (2009) Royals and the Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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.

Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

Johann Leopold was the eldest of the five children and the eldest of the three sons of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. He was born on August 2, 1906, at Callenberg Castle now in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany. On September 19, 1906, Johann Leopold was christened Johann Leopold Wilhelm Albrecht Ferdinand Viktor with his father’s first cousin Wilhelm II, German Emperor and his wife Empress Augusta Victoria serving as godparents. Because he was the firstborn son, Johann Leopold was the heir to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was styled Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife with their son Johann Leopold: Credit – Wikipedia

Johann Leopold had four younger siblings:

Johann Leopold and his sister Sybilla in the park of Castle Reinhardsbrunn: Credit – Wikipedia

Johann Leopold’s mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her mother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from her mother’s first marriage.

Johann Leopold’s parents in 1905; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Edward, Johann Leopold’s father, was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Johann Leopold was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. At the time of Johann Leopold’s birth, his father also held the British title Duke of Albany. However, due to his participation in World War I with the German Imperial Army, Charles Edward lost his British title via the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act. Charles Edward and his children also lost their titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom and the styles Royal Highness and Highness. According to the Titles Deprivation Act, the male heirs of those deprived of their titles have the right to ask the British Crown to reinstate their titles. Johann Leopold remained heir to the title Duke of Albany and was eligible to apply for its reinstatement, though he did not do so and neither have any heirs since then.

At 11 AM on November 11, 1918 – “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” – a ceasefire ending World War I went into effect. On November 9, 1918, the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed Charles Edward as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Five days later, he signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne.

In 1926, Johann Leopold completed his studies at the Ritterakademie in Brandenburg. He then studied economics, art history, and constitutional law at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn, now the University of Bonn. During this period, Johann Leopold had many conflicts with his father. The conflicts came to a head when Johann Leopold wanted to marry against the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Law of March 1, 1855, which stated that members of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha could make only equal marriages with members of princely or royal houses. His intended bride was Feodora Freiin von der Horst, from a noble family – Freiin means Baroness – but not from a princely or royal house. If Johann Leopold and Feodora married, Johann Leopold would have to renounce his succession rights for himself and any children from the marriage. The couple married civilly on March 9, 1932, in Niedersedlitz near Dresden, Germany, and religiously on March 14, 1932, at a church in Dresden. Johann Leopold was allowed to keep his title of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Johann Leopold and Feodora had three children:

  • Princess Marianne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1933), married Michael Nielsen, had two daughters
  • Prince Ernst Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1935 – 1996), married (1) Ingeborg Henig, divorced 1963, had one son (2) Gertraude Monika Pfeiffer, divorced 1985, had two daughters and three sons (3) Sabine Biller, with whom he died by suicide, no children
  • Prince Peter of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1939), married Roswitha Henriette Breuer; had two sons

On April 1, 1932, Johann Leopold joined the Nazi Party but his loyalty to the party was repeatedly questioned. During World War II, he served as a sergeant in an anti-aircraft regiment but was released in 1943 because of political unreliability. After World War II, proceedings against him in a denazification appeals court were discontinued on February 20, 1947.

In 1948, Johann Leopold made headlines when he was sentenced to two years in prison by a criminal court in Amberg, Bavaria, Germany on charges of indecency with children. After this, he broke off all connections with his family. He did not attend the funeral of his father in Coburg in 1954.

On February 27, 1962, his marriage to Feodora ended in divorce. Johann Leopold married again on May 3, 1963, to a divorced commoner Maria Theresia Reindl. The two lived in Karlstein near Maria’s hometown of Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria, Germany. On May 4, 1972, Johann Leopold died at the age of 65 from cancer in Grein, Austria. He was buried in his second wife’s family grave at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Zeno in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, Germany. His second wife Maria survived him by 24 years, dying in 1996 at the age of 88.

Ill-fortune also followed Johann Leopold’s elder son Ernst Leopold. In 1986, Ernst Leopold married for a third time to Sabine Biller, a journalist. The couple began to have money problems as they were living beyond their means. On June 27, 1996, in the parking lot of a chalet restaurant in Bad Wiessee, Bavaria, Germany, the bodies of Ernst Leopold and Sabine were found in their car, dead from gunshot wounds from hunting rifles. Apparently, they had simultaneously shot themselves.

The Church of St. Zeno where Johann Leopold is buried; Credit – Von Wolfgang Sauber – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11612030

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.

Works Cited

  • “Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 May 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Leopold,_Hereditary_Prince_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha.
  • “Johann Leopold Von Sachsen-Coburg Und Gotha.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Jan. 2019, de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Leopold_von_Sachsen-Coburg_und_Gotha.
  • Karacs, Decca Aitkenhead/Imre. “Royal Couple Could Not Afford Lavish Life.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 23 Oct. 2011, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/royal-couple-could-not-afford-lavish-life-1339488.html.