House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
| House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Armorial of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||
| Country | Holy Roman Empire, German Empire | ||
| Parent house | House of Wettin | ||
| Titles | |||
| Founder | John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | ||
| Founding year | 1675 | ||
| Ethnicity | Germanic (see details) | ||
| Cadet branches |
| ||
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, known as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld until 1826, is a royal and noble house founded in the 1675 by John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. They are cadets of the Ernestine branch of the ancient Wettin dynasty, paternally Germanic in ancestry. In 1901, a line of the German House (itself a cadet branch of the German House of Wettin) succeeded the House of Hanover to the British monarchy with the accession of King Edward VII, son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1917, the name of the British royal house was changed from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor because of anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during the First World War. There have been five British monarchs of the House of Windsor since then: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and Charles III.
History
After the death of Ernest II, the head descended form the offspring of Albert, Prince Consort and queen Victoria. Technically, genealogical seniority was held by the British Windsor monarchs from 1893—1952. But the Dukedom passed through the hands of king Edward VII's younger brothers instead. For the sake of brevity, this article focuses on the claimants to the Dukedom title.
Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, a strict Lutheran magnate and vast landowner, broke-up his territories and divided them amongst his seven sons. The youngest of these was John Ernest IV, the founder of what was then known as Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Some of his older brothers died without issue and he controversially claimed their territories also.
The dynasty improved its fortunes under Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who was well-educated and a prolific collector of books and illustrations. The dynasty changed its name under Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826. Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a strong supporter of German unionism and Prussian hegemony. After his death the title passed to descendants of prince Albert and British monarch queen Victoria.
- On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 the royal house took the Germanic surname of her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. King Edward VII, who reigned until 1910, was to become the only sovereign of that dynasty to reign in Britain. The House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha descended in the male line from the Wettin family, German Prince-Electors of Saxony, the earliest traceable member of the House of Wettin was Thiedericus who died in 982, who was probably based in the Liesgau. Its earliest known ancestors pushed the frontier of Germany eastward into formerly Slav territory. They acquired their name from their castle on the bank of the Saale river. At the height of World War I, when German xenophobia had reached boiling point, Edward VII's son, King George V (1910- 1936) changed the family name to the more English sounding House of Windsor. Members of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha occupied the thrones of other European countries, including Belgium, Portugal and Bulgaria.[2]
Abolishment
The last reigning head was Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha before the monarchy in Germany was abolished in 1918, he later joined the NSDAP, was president of the German Red Cross and Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft.
Head of the house
The current claimant to the title is Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Various other branches of the family have sat on European thrones, including in Portugal, Bulgaria and Belgium; the latter of which is still reigning today. Another branch inherited the claims of the ancient Hungarian noble family the House of Koháry.
References
- ↑ Since the death of Prince John Henry of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 2010, the Bulgarian line became the senior heir of the Saxe-Coburg-Koháry claims.
- ↑ Saxe Coburg Gotha Kings and Queens
