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:
- Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1906 – 1972), married (1) Feodora, Baroness von der Horst, divorced 1962, had three children, unequal marriage, causing Johann Leopold to renounce his rights to be Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (2) Maria Theresa Reindl, no children
- Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1908 – 1972), married Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, had five children including King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden whose middle name Hubertus is in honor of his uncle.
- Princess Karoline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1912 – 1983), married (1) Friedrich Wolfgang Otto, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen, divorced 1938, had three children (2) Flight Captain Max Schnirring killed in an airplane accident in 1944, had three children (3) Karl Otto Andree, divorced 1949, no issue
- Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1918 – 1998), married (1) Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth, divorced 1947, had one son Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha descends from this marriage (2) Denyse Henrietta de Muralt, divorced 1964, had three children (3) Katherine Bremme, no issue
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.
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