Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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Prince Alfred
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Duke of Edinburgh

Predecessor	Ernest II
Successor	Charles Edward
Spouse	Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Issue
Prince Alfred of Edinburgh Marie, Queen of Romania Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera
Full name
Alfred Ernest Albert
Titles
HRH The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Prince Alfred
Royal House	House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Father	Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Mother	Victoria
Born	6 August 1844 Windsor Castle, Berkshire
Baptised	6 September 1844 St George's Chapel, Windsor
Died	30 July 1900 Rosenau Castle, Coburg
Occupation	Military

Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August, 1844 – 30 July, 1900) was the third Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha between 1893 and 1900. He was also a member of the British Royal Family, the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster in the peerage of the United Kingdom on 24 May 1866. He succeeded his paternal uncle Ernst as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire on 23 August 1893.

1 Early life
2 Entering the Royal Navy
3 Heir to the British throne
4 Duke of Edinburgh
5 Military career
6 Marriage
7 Flag Rank
8 Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
9 Later life
10 Titles, Styles, Honours & Arms
- 10.1 Titles
- 10.2 Honours
11 Issue
12 Legacy
13 See also

[edit] Early life

Alfred was born at Windsor Castle. His mother was the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, the only daughter of Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. His father was Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the second son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As a son of the monarch, he was styled His Royal Highness The Prince Alfred at birth, and was second in the line of succession behind his elder brother, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. He was known to his family as "Alfie".

Alfred was christened by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury at the Private Chapel in Windsor Castle on 6 September 1844. His sponsors were his maternal great-uncle, the Duke of Cambridge (represented by his son, Prince George of Cambridge); his paternal aunt, Alexandrine, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (represented by his maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Kent); and Queen Victoria's half-brother, Prince Carl of Leiningen (represented by the Duke of Wellington).

[edit] Entering the Royal Navy

In 1856 it was decided that Prince Alfred, in accordance with his own wishes, should enter the Royal Navy. A separate establishment was accordingly assigned to him, with Lieutenant Sowell, R. E., as governor. He passed the examination for midshipman in August 1858, and was appointed to the HMS Euryalus. In July 1860, while on this ship, he paid an official visit to the Cape, and made a very favourable impression both on the colonials and on the native chiefs. On the abdication of King Otto of Greece, in 1862, Prince Alfred was chosen to succeed him, but political conventions of long standing rendered it impossible for the British government to accede to their wishes.

Prince Alfred, therefore remained in the navy, and was promoted lieutenant on 24 February 1863, serving under Count Gleichen on HMS Racoon, and captain on 23 February 1866, being then appointed to the command of the frigate HMS Galatea.

In 1868, Alfred survived an assassination attempt while picnicking on the beach in the Sydney suburb of Clontarf while in New South Wales.

[edit] Heir to the British throne

Alfred remained second-in-line to the British throne from his birth until 8 January, 1864. His older brother Edward and his wife Alexandra of Denmark had their first son Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence on this date. Any legitimate children his older brother had took priority in the succession list. Alfred became third-in-line heir to the throne.

As Edward and Alexandra continued to have children, Alfred was further demoted in the order of succession:

On 3 June, 1865 when the future George V of the United Kingdom was born, Alfred became fourth in line.
On 20 February, 1867 when Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was born, Alfred became fifth in line.
On 6 July, 1868 when Princess Victoria Alexandra of the United Kingdom was born, Alfred became sixth in line.
On 26 November, 1869 when Maud of Wales was born, Alfred became seventh.
On 6 April, 1871 when Prince Alexander John of Wales was born, Alfred became eighth in line. However, Alexander died the following day and Alfred resumed being seventh.
On January 14, 1892, when Prince Albert Victor died, he once again became sixth in line to the throne.

British Royalty
House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Image:Royal Standard of England.svg
Descendants of Victoria & Albert
Victoria, Princess Royal
Edward VII
Princess Alice
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha
Princess Helena
Princess Louise
Arthur, Duke of Connaught
Leopold, Duke of Albany
Princess Beatrice

[edit] Duke of Edinburgh

In the Queen's Birthday Honours in May 1866, the prince was created Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Ulster and of Kent, with an annuity of £15,000 granted by Parliament. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 8 June.

[edit] Military career

While still in command of the Galatea, the Duke of Edinburgh started from Plymouth on January 24, 1867 for his voyage round the world. On 7 June 1867, he left Gibraltar and reached the Cape on 24 July and paid a royal visit to Cape Town on 24 August 1867 after landing at Simonstown a while earlier. He landed at Glenelg, South Australia, on October 31.

Being the first English prince to visit Australia, the Duke was received with great enthusiasm. During his stay of nearly five months he visited Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Tasmania.

On March 12 1868, on his second visit to Sydney while picnicking in the beachfront suburb of Clontarf, he was wounded in the back by a revolver fired by Henry James O'Farrell. The Prince was shot just to the right of his spine, and was tended for the next two weeks by six Florence Nightingale trained nurses led by Matron Lucy Osburn who were newly arrived in Australia (February 1868).

On the evening of 23 March 1868, the most influential people of Sydney voted for a memorial building to be erected, “to raise a permanent and substantial monument in testimony of the heartfelt gratitude of the community at the recovery of HRH”. This led to a public conscription which paid for the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's construction.

Prince Alfred soon recovered from his injury and was able to resume command of his ship and return home in early April 1868.

Henry James O'Farrell was arrested at the scene, quickly tried, convicted and hanged on 21 April 1868.

Prince Alfred reached Spithead on 26 June 1868, after an absence of seventeen months. He was also the first member of the Royal Family to visit New Zealand, arriving in 1869 on HMS Galatea. The Duke's next voyage was to India, where he arrived in December 1869. Both there and at Hong Kong, which he visited on the way, he was the first British prince to set foot in the country. The native rulers of India vied with one another in the magnificence of their entertainments during the Duke's stay of three months.

[edit] Marriage

On 23 January 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh married Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the second (and only surviving) daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and his wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmine of Baden, at the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh made their public entry into London on 12 March. The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and the bride was thought haughty by London society. She insisted on taking precedence before the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) because she and her father the Tsar considered the Princess of Wales' family (the Danish Royal family) as inferior to their own. Queen Victoria refused this demand and granted her precedence immediately after the Princess of Wales. Her father gave her the then staggering sum of £100,000 as a dowry plus an annual allowance of £28,000.

[edit] Flag Rank

The Duke of Edinburgh devoted himself to his profession, showing complete mastery of his duties and unusual skill in naval tactics. He was stationed in Malta for several years and his third child, Victoria Melita, was born there in 1876. He was promoted rear-admiral on 30 December 1878; vice-admiral, 10 November 1882; admiral, 18 October 1887; and received his baton as Admiral of the Fleet, 3 June 1893. He commanded the Channel fleet, 1883-1884; the Mediterranean fleet, 1886-1889; and was commander-in-chief at Devonport, Plymouth, 1890-1893. He always paid the greatest attention to his official duties and was most efficient as an admiral.

[edit] Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Styles of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

On the death of his uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on August 22 1893, the vacant duchy fell to the Duke of Edinburgh, since the Prince of Wales had renounced his right to the succession. At first regarded with some coldness as a "foreigner," he gradually gained popularity, and by the time of his death in 1900 he had generally won the good opinion of his subjects. The Duke was exceedingly fond of music and an excellent violinist, and took a prominent part in establishing the Royal College of Music. 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, a big fortress near Coburg. When he became Duke of Saxe-Coburg he surrendered his British allowance of £15,000 a year and his seats in the House of Lords and the Privy Council, but retained the £10,000 granted on his marriage in order to maintain Clarence House as his London residence.

[edit] Later life

The Duke's only son, the Hereditary Prince Alfred, became involved in a scandal involving his mistress and shot himself in January 1899, in the midst of his parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations. He survived, but his embarrassed parents sent him off to Merano to recover, where he died two weeks later, on 6 February. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg died of throat cancer on 30 July 1900 at Schloss Rosenau his summer residence outside Coburg. He was buried at the ducal family's mausoleum on the public cemetery of 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. (Alfred's next brother, the Duke of Connaught and his son, Prince Arthur of Connaught, had renounced their succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha).

[edit] Titles, Styles, Honours & Arms

[edit] Titles

1844-1863: His Royal Highness The Prince Alfred KG KT KP GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO PC
1863-1866: His Royal Highness The Prince Alfred KG KT KP GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO PC
1866-1893: His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT KP GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO PC
1893-1900: His Royal Highness The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

[edit] Honours

British (all awarded 24 May 1863):

Foreign:

Prussia: Order of the Black Eagle
Schwarzenberg: Star of Schwarzenberg
Spain: Order of the Golden Fleece
Italy: Order of the Most Holy Annunciation
France: Legion of Honour
Austria: Order of St. Stephen
Russia: Order of St. Andrew
Ottoman Empire: Ostmanieh of the Ottoman Empire

[edit] Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Notes
Prince Alfred ("Young Affie")	15 October 1874	6 February 1899	Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893
Princess Marie	29 October 1875	18 July 1938)	married, 10 January 1893, King Ferdinand I of Romania (1865-1927); had issue
Princess Victoria Melita ("Ducky")	25 November 1876	2 March 1936	married (1), 19 April 1894, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; had issue; divorced 21 December 1901 (2) 8 October 1905, the Grand Duke Cyril of Russia; had issue
Princess Alexandra	1 September 1878	16 April 1942	married, 20 April 1896, Prince Ernst of Hohenloe-Langenburg; had issue
Stillborn son	13 October 1879	13 October 1879
Princess Beatrice	20 April 1884	13 July 1966	married, 15 July 1909, Don Alfonso, Infante of Spain, 3rd Duke of Galliera; had issue

[edit] Legacy

Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the main settlement of Tristan da Cunha was named after Alfred after he visited the remote Islands in 1867 while Duke of Edinburgh.

[edit] See also

A biography of duke Alfred

Preceded by: Ernst II	Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1893–1900	Succeeded by: Carl Eduard
Preceded by: New Creation	Duke of Edinburgh 1866–1900	Succeeded by: Title Extinct