Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (
German: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) served as the name of the two German duchies of
Saxe-Coburg and
Saxe-Gotha in
Germany, in the present-day states of
Bavaria and
Thuringia, which were in
personal union between
1826 and
1918.
The name
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha may also refer to the family of the ruling House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: this family played many and varied roles in 19th-century European dynastic and political history.
The two duchies of
Saxe-Coburg and
Saxe-Gotha were both 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 in 1826, following the death of the last Duke of
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg without male heirs. His Wettin relations repartitioned his lands, and his son-in-law Duke
Ernst I of
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld received
Gotha, and changed his title to
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, although the two duchies remained technically separate.
Ernst I died in
1844 and his elder son and successor,
Ernst II, ruled until his death in
1893. As he died childless, the throne of the Duchy would have passed to
the Prince of Wales, but he had already renounced the throne in favor of his next brother,
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Alfred's only son, also named
Alfred, committed suicide in
1899, so when Alfred died in 1900, he was succeeded by his nephew
the Duke of Albany, son of Queen Victoria's youngest son, who reigned as Duke Carl Eduard (Duke Arthur of Connaught and his son did not want to receive the Coburg-Gotha Duchy).
Carl Eduard reigned until
November 18,
1918 when the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha deposed him during the
German Revolution. The two Duchies, bereft of a common ruler, became separate states, but ceased to exist shortly thereafter, with Saxe-Coburg becoming a part of
Bavaria, and Saxe-Gotha merging with other small states to form the new state of
Thuringia in
1920 in the
Weimar Republic.
The capitals of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were
Coburg and
Gotha. The combined duchy had an area of 1,977 km² and a population of 242,000 (1905).
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was the only European country to appoint a diplomatic consul to the
Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The consul was named
Ernst Raven, assigned to a position in the State of Texas. Raven applied to the Confederate Government for a diplomatic
exequatur on July 30, 1861 and was accepted.[
1]
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was formerly the
Royal House of several European monarchies, and branches currently reign in
Belgium through the descendants of
Léopold I, and in the
United Kingdom and its associated Commonwealth realms through the descendants of
Prince Albert. In the
United Kingdom,
King George V changed the name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the
House of Windsor in
1917. The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a line of the Saxon House of Wettin.
Other members of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha came to rule in various other European countries. Ernst's younger brother
Léopold became King of the
Belgians in 1831, and his descendants continue to serve as Belgian Head of State. Ernst's nephew
Ferdinand married
Queen Maria II of Portugal, and his descendants continued to rule
Portugal until that country became a republic in 1910.
Another scion of the family, also named
Ferdinand, became Prince, and then
Tsar, of
Bulgaria, and his descendants continued to rule there until
1946. The current head of the House of Bulgaria, the former King
Simeon II, goes by the name
Simeon Sakskoburggotski and on
24 July 2001 became Bulgaria's Prime Minister. This marked the first occasion in history where a former monarch returned to a position of
power via democratic election.
In 1826, a cadet branch of the house inherited the Hungarian princely estate of
Kohary, and converted to
Catholic creed. The Princes of Kohary were wealthy and are
magnates of Hungary and Fuerst in the Austrian Empire. They managed to marry an imperial princess of Brazil, an archduchess of Austria, a royal princess of "the French", a royal princess of Belgium and a royal princess of Saxony.
Main branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1826 - 1918
*
Ernst I 1826-
1844*
Ernst II 1844-
1893*
Alfred 1893-
1900*
Carl Eduard 1900-
1918Heads of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha since 1918
*
Carl Eduard 1918-
1954*
Prince Friedrich Josias 1954-
1998*
Prince Andreas 1998-present
Other branches of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Kingdom of Belgium
*
Léopold I (
1831-
1865)
*
Léopold II (1865-
1909)
*
Albert I (1909-
1934)
*
Léopold III (1934-
1951)
*
Baudouin I (1951-
1993)
*
Albert II (1993- )
=Name(s) of the Belgian Royal House
=Because of the First World War, King Albert I decided in 1920 to no longer use the name
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the official family name of the Belgian royal family. The decision was done in silence and not enacted in an official royal decree. Therefore there is still some confusion in other countries and even in Belgium that
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha still is the family name used by the Belgian royals. The family name was changed to
van België,
de Belgique and
von Belgien. As Belgium is a country with three official languages, it was chosen to employ all three language versions as official family name with none having precedence over the other, probably making the Belgian royals the only family in the world with three different but equally valid family names. It is this family name which is used on the royals' identity cards and which they use in all official documents (marriage licenses, etc.)
On the accession of a member of the royal family to the Belgian throne, his/hers family name is officially changed to
der Belgen -
des Belges as to denote the fact that Belgium is a popular monarchy.
Kingdom of Portugal
:
Note: In Portugal the Royal House is usually not distinguished from the House of Braganza, and when so, it is known as House of Braganza-Wettin. *
Pedro V (
1853â€"
1861)
*
Louis (
1861â€"
1889)
*
Carlos (
1889â€"
1908)
*
Manuel II (
1908â€"
1910) (d.1932)
Tsardom of Bulgaria
*
Ferdinand (
1887â€"
1918)
*
Boris III (
1918â€"
1943)
*
Simeon II (
1943â€"
1946) â€" later
Prime Minister of Bulgaria (
Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (Northern Ireland from 1922)
*
Edward VII (
1901â€"
1910)
*
George V (
1910â€"
1936, after 1917 using the name
Windsor).
*
Edward VIII (
1936)
*
George VI (
1936â€"
1952)
*
Elizabeth II (
1952â€")
According to the official website of the British Monarchy, however, "the only British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was King Edward VII, who reigned for nine years . . . . King George V replaced the German-sounding title with that of Windsor during the First World War. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha survived in other European monarchies, including the current Belgian Royal Family and the former monarchies of Portugal and Bulgaria."[
2]
= Name(s) of the British Royal House
=
Ernst I's younger son, Prince
Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became Prince Consort to Queen
Victoria, Ernst's
niece through his sister
Viktoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. As a consequence of their marriage,
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the
Royal House name of the
British Royal Family from the accession of Edward VII in 1901 until changed to
Windsor by King
George V in
1917 because a German name was deemed unpatriotic during
World War I.
Contrary to common belief,
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was not the
personal surname of either Prince Albert, his wife or their descendants. Neither Albert nor Victoria, in fact, knew their actual surname (royalty had no need of and never used such common labels) until in the late
19th century Queen Victoria launched an inquiry to identify her surname. After an exhaustive search her advisors concluded that Prince Albert (and thus the Queen â€" by virtue of her marriage) had the surname
Wettin.
George V changed both
Wettin and
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to
Windsor in
1917. However, an Order-in-Council in
1960 again separated the Royal House name and the personal family surname of the monarch and her family. It decreed that while the Royal House name would remain
Windsor, the descendants of Queen
Elizabeth II and of
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh would use the surname
Mountbatten-Windsor. However, Prince Philip belongs to the house of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and, technically, so will his descendants in the male line.
*
Ernestine duchies*
Palais Coburg in Vienna
*
The Catholic Encyclopedia: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (article about the duchy, with details of religious issues, written in 1910). 
