The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) served as the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826 and 1918. The Duchy came to an end in 1918 with the other German monarchies, and the Free State of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was established. This was merged into the new state of Thuringia two years later.
The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha also may refer to the family of the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which played many varied roles in nineteenth and twentieth-century European dynastic and political history, branches of which currently reign in Belgium and the Commonwealth realms.
The History of the Duchy - The two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, were among the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty. The duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha originated as the personal union of these two duchies in 1826, after the death of the last Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who died without male heirs. His Wettin relations repartitioned his lands. The former husband of Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, the only niece of the last duke, was Duke Ernest III of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He received Gotha and changed his name and title to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha although, technically, the two duchies remained as separate duchies.
Ernst I died in 1844. His elder son and successor, Ernest II, ruled until his own death in 1893. As he died childless, the throne of the duchies would have passed to the male descendants of Ernst's late brother Albert, the Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, the constitutions of both duchies excluded the British heir apparent from the ducal thrones if there were other eligible male heirs, although Albert Edward, Prince of Wales had already renounced his claim to the ducal throne in favour of his next brother, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
Alfred's only son, also named Alfred, committed suicide in 1899, so when Duke Alfred died in 1900, he was succeeded by his nephew the Duke of Albany, the sixteen-year-old son of Queen Victoria's youngest son, Leopold. Alfred's next brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his son Prince Arthur of Connaught having renounced the succession. Reigning as Duke Carl Eduard, or Charles Edward, under the regency of the Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg until he came of age in 1905, the new duke also continued to use his British title, Duke of Albany.
As a result of Charles Edward fighting for Germany against the British in the First World War, he was stripped of his British titles in 1919. Charles Edward reigned until November 18, 1918 during the German Revolution, when the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha deposed him. The two Duchies, now without a common ruler, became separate states until shortly thereafter, when they ceased to exist. Saxe-Coburg became a part of Bavaria and Saxe-Gotha merged with other small states in 1920 to form the new state of Thuringia in the Weimar Republic.
The House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors (Kurfürsten) and kings that once ruled the area of today's German states of Saxony, the Saxon part of Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia for more than 800 years as well as holding at times the kingship of Poland. Agnates of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium; of these, only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today. The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain was Thiedericus (died 982), who was probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, as part of the German conquest of Slavic territory, the family acquired Wettin Castle, after which they named themselves.
Wettin Castle is located in Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. The prominence of the Wettin family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in 1423 they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg,thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. The family divided into two ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly. The elder son Ernest, who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, received the territories assigned to the Elector (Electoral Saxony) and Thuringia, while his younger brother Albert obtained the March of Meissen, which he ruled from Dresden. As Albert ruled under the title of "Duke of Saxony", his possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony.
The older, Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Their predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant Schmalkaldic League against Emperor Charles V. Although itself Protestant, the Albertine branch rallied to the Empire's cause; Charles V rewarded them by forcing the Ernestines to sign away their rights to the Electoral title and lands to the Albertines. The Ernestine line was thereafter restricted to Thuringia, and its dynastic unity swiftly crumbled. The Albertine Wettin maintained most of the territorial integrity of Saxony, preserving it as a significant power in the region, and using small appanage fiefs for their cadet branches, few of which survived for significant lengths of time. The Ernestine Wettin, on the other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia.
The junior Albertine branch ruled as Electors (1547-1806) and Kings of Saxony (1806-1918) and also played a role in Polish history: two Wettin were Kings of Poland (between 1697-1763) and a third ruled the Duchy of Warsaw (1807-1814) as a satellite of Napoleon. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Albertine branch lost about 40% of its lands, including the old Electoral Saxony, to Prussia, restricting it to a territory coextensive with the modern Saxony.
The Family Titles and Styles - The members of this family bear the titles Prince or Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke or Duchess of Saxony together with the formal appellation of His or Her Highness.
The Website of the Ducal Family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha:
http://
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
Part One: http://
Part Two: http://
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