Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
the New York Times, 1900
Hundreds of miles from Surrey, lay the German town of Coburg.
Although it was not part of the great matriarch’s worldwide empire, it held a very special place in the Queen’s heart;
it was the birthplace of her beloved Prince Albert. And when the reigning Duke of Coburg died, with no legitimate air to his name, the queen decreed that one of her sons or grandsons would become the next Duke.
A succession crisis loomed as the next airs in line did not want a thing to do with the duchy.
As illustrated in the New York Times, Prince Charles Edward was thrust into the title.
The fourteen-year old Prince was now the Duke of Albany and with this came great wealth and huge responsibilities; thirteen castles in Germany and Austria, hunting lodges, hotels, a power station, plus tens of thousands of hectares in farmland and forest in Bavaria. The annual income of the duchy was worth the equivalent of seventeen million pounds today.
The year was now 1900, and at age sixteen, Charles Edward Duke of Albany, became Carl Eduard Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. His transformation from Eton-Schoolboy to German Aristocrat was complete.
Soon after, he married to Victoria Adelheid and together they had five children.
Along with a number of other positive things, he had put the finances of the duchy and the dynasty in order and had successfully restored the residences he had inherited.
Although it was not part of the great matriarch’s worldwide empire, it held a very special place in the Queen’s heart;
it was the birthplace of her beloved Prince Albert. And when the reigning Duke of Coburg died, with no legitimate air to his name, the queen decreed that one of her sons or grandsons would become the next Duke.
A succession crisis loomed as the next airs in line did not want a thing to do with the duchy.
As illustrated in the New York Times, Prince Charles Edward was thrust into the title.
The fourteen-year old Prince was now the Duke of Albany and with this came great wealth and huge responsibilities; thirteen castles in Germany and Austria, hunting lodges, hotels, a power station, plus tens of thousands of hectares in farmland and forest in Bavaria. The annual income of the duchy was worth the equivalent of seventeen million pounds today.
The year was now 1900, and at age sixteen, Charles Edward Duke of Albany, became Carl Eduard Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. His transformation from Eton-Schoolboy to German Aristocrat was complete.
Soon after, he married to Victoria Adelheid and together they had five children.
Along with a number of other positive things, he had put the finances of the duchy and the dynasty in order and had successfully restored the residences he had inherited.
