Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Part III. Conclusion.

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Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Ernst II, Grand Duchess Maria, Malta, Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Royal Navy, Victoria Melita of Edinburgh

Flag rank

Alfred was stationed in Malta for several years and his third child, Victoria-Melita, was born there in 1876. Promoted rear-admiral on December 30, 1878, he became admiral superintendent of naval reserves, with his flag in the corvette HMS Penelope in November 1879.

Promoted to vice-admiral on November 10, 1882, he became Commander-in-Chief, Channel Fleet, with his flag in the armoured ship HMS Minotaur, in December 1883. He became Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, with his flag in the armoured ship HMS Alexandra, in March 1886, and having been promoted to admiral on October 18, 1887, he went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in August 1890. He was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on June 3, 1893.

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Percy Scott wrote in his memoirs that “as a Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh had, in my humble opinion, no equal. He handled a fleet magnificently, and introduced many improvement in signals and manoeuvring.” He “took a great interest in gunnery.” “The prettiest ship I have ever seen was the [Duke of Edinburgh’s flagship] HMS Alexandra. I was informed that £2,000 had been spent by the officers on her decoration.”

Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

On the death of his uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on August 22, 1893, the duchy fell to the Duke of Edinburgh, since his elder brother (the Prince of Wales) had renounced his right to the succession before he married. Alfred thereupon surrendered his British allowance of £15,000 a year and his seats in the House of Lords and the Privy Council, but he retained the £10,000 granted on his marriage to maintain Clarence House as his London residence. At first regarded with some coldness as a “foreigner”, he gradually gained popularity. By the time of his death in 1900, he had generally won the good opinion of his subjects.

Alfred was exceedingly fond of music and took a prominent part in establishing the Royal College of Music. He was a keen violinist, but had little skill. At a dinner party given by his brother, he was persuaded to play. Sir Henry Ponsonby wrote: ‘Fiddle out of tune and noise abominable.’

He was also a keen collector of glass and ceramic ware, and his collection, valued at half a million marks, was presented by his widow to the Veste Coburg, the enormous fortress on a hill top above Coburg.

Later life

Alfred and Maria’s only son, Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became involved in a scandal involving his mistress and apparently shot himself in January 1899, in the midst of his parents’ twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations at the Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha. He survived, but his embarrassed mother sent him off to Meran to recover, where he died two weeks later, on February 6, His father was devastated.

The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg died of throat cancer on July 30, 1900 in a lodge adjacent to Schloss Rosenau, the ducal summer residence just north of Coburg. He was 55 years old and was buried at the ducal family’s mausoleum in the Friedhof am Glockenberg in Coburg.

He was succeeded as the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by his nephew, Prince Charles-Edward, Duke of Albany, the posthumous son of his youngest brother, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.

He was survived by his mother, Queen Victoria, who had already outlived two of her children, Alice and Leopold. She died six months later.

April 16, 1942: Death of Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg by marriage.

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Alexandra of Edinburgh, Alexandra of Hohenlohe-Lagenburg, Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Ernst II, Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Alexandra Louise Olga Victoria; September 1, 1878 – April 16, 1942).

Princess Alexandra was born on September 1, 1878 at Rosenau Castle, Coburg. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her mother was Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom as well as of Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

Nicknamed ‘Sandra’ by her family, Alexandra spent her childhood first in England and between 1886 and 1889 in Malta, where her father was serving with the British Royal Navy. In 1889 the family moved to Coburg, Germany since her father, Alfred, was the heir apparent to the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1893, her great-uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (brother of her paternal grandfather, Prince Albert) died without issue. Since Albert was dead, and her uncle, The Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) had renounced his claim to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the vacant duchy fell to Alexandra’s father, the Duke of Edinburgh. Thus, Princess Alexandra was both a British princess and a Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. She was a bridesmaid at the 1885 wedding of Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter The Princess Beatrice to Prince Henry of Battenberg.

She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York on 6 July 1893. Throughout her life, Alexandra was usually overshadowed by her two eldest sisters, Marie and Victoria Melita. Alexandra, was considered by some individuals as being less beautiful and more subdued than her sisters, was plain, placid and not as brilliant. This author personally disagrees with that assessment.

Princess Alexandra with her three sisters. From left to right, Princess Beatrice, Princess Victoria Melita, Princess Alexandra, and Queen Marie of Romania.

During Alexandra’s formative years, her father, occupied with his career in the Navy and later as a ruler in Coburg, paid little attention to his family. It was Alexandra’s mother who was the domineering presence in their children’s life. The duchess believed in marrying her daughters young, before they began to think for themselves.

At the end of 1895, she arranged Alexandra’s engagement to Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (September 16, 1863 – December 11, 1950). Alexandra’s grandmother, Queen Victoria, complained that she was too young. Alexandra’s father objected to the status of his future son-in-law. The House of Hohenlohe-Lagenburg was mediatized – a formerly ruling family who had ceded their sovereign rights to others while (in theory) retaining their equal birth.

It was not considered a brilliant match, but they were also related. Ernst was a grandson of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, Queen Victoria’s half-sister. The wedding took place on April 20, 1896 in Coburg, Germany. Together, they had five children.

Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Alexandra lived for the rest of her life in Germany. At the death of her father in 1900, Alexandra’s husband was appointed regent of the duchy of Saxe-Coburg during the minority of the new Duke, Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany who was her first cousin. Alexandra’s only brother, Alfred, had died in 1899. During World War I, she worked as a Red Cross nurse. In February 1916 her eldest daughter was married at Coburg to Prince Friedrich of Gluckburg and she became a grandmother when the couple’s first child, Prince Hans of Glucksburg was born in May 1917. On her thirty-fifth wedding anniversary in April 1931, her son Gottfried married Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, the eldest child and daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. She was the first great-great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, and the eldest sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In the years preceding World War II, Alexandra was an early supporter of the Nazi Party, which she joined on May 1, 1937, together with several of her children. She died in Schwäbisch Hall, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany in 1942.