House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (orig. Haus Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) is a German dynasty, the line of the Saxon House of Wettin that ruled the Ernestine duchies, including the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Founded by Ernest Anton, the sixth duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, it is also the royal house of several European monarchies, and branches currently reign in Belgium through the descendants of Leopold I, and in the Commonwealth realms through the descendants of Prince Albert. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, George V of the United Kingdom changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917. The same happened in Belgium where it was changed to "van België" (Dutch) or "de Belgique" (French).

History

The first duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was Ernest I, who reigned from 1826 until his death in 1844. He had previously been Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (as Ernest III) from 1806 until the duchy was reorganized in 1826. Ernst's younger brother Leopold became King of the Belgians in 1831, and his descendants continue to serve as Belgian head of state. Léopold's only daughter, Princess Charlotte of Belgium, was the consort of Maximilian I of Mexico, known as the Empress Carlota of Mexico, in the 1860s. 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.

Ernst I's second son, Prince Albert (1819–1861), married Queen Victoria in 1840, and thus is the progenitor of the United Kingdom's current royal family, called Windsor since World War I.

In 1826, a cadet branch of the house inherited the Hungarian princely estate of Koháry, and converted to Roman Catholicism. Its members 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. A scion of this branch, 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 Tsar Simeon II who was deposed and exiled during World War II, goes by the name Simeon Sakskoburggotski and served as Bulgaria's prime minister from 2001 to 2005.

The ducal house consisted of all male-line descendents of John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld legitimately born of an equal marriage, males and females (the latter until their marriage), their wives in equal and authorised marriages, and their widows until remarriage. According to the House law of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha the full title of the Duke was:

Wir, Ernst, Herzog zu Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, Jülich, Cleve und Berg, auch Engern und Westphalen, Landgraf in Thüringen, Markgraf zu Meißen, gefürsteter Graf zu Henneberg, Graf zu der Mark und Ravensberg, Herr zu Ravenstein und Tonna usw.

We, Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Jülich, Cleves and Berg, also Angria and Westphalia, Landgrave in Thuringia, Margrave of Meissen, Princely Count of Henneberg, Count of the Mark and Ravensberg, Lord of Ravenstein and Tonna, et cetera.

Branches

Ducal branch

Dukes, 1826–1918

Ernest I 1826–1844
Ernest II 1844–1893
Alfred 1893–1900
Charles Edward 1900–1918

Heads of the house since 1918

Charles Edward 1918–1954
Friedrich Josias 1954–1998
Andreas 1998–present

Although the ducal branch is eponymous with the dynasty, its head is not the genealogically or agnatically senior member of the family. In 1893 the reigning duke died childless, whereupon the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha would have devolved, by male primogeniture, upon the British branch descended from Prince Albert. However, as heirs to the British throne, Albert's descendants consented and the law of the duchy ratified that the ducal throne would not be inherited by the British monarch or heir apparent. Therefore, the German duchy became a secundogeniture, hereditary among the younger princes of the British royal family who belonged to the House of Wettin, and their male-line descendants.

Instead of the future Edward VII of the United Kingdom inheriting the duchy, it was diverted to his next brother, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and, upon the latter's death without surviving sons, to the youngest grandson of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany (bypassing Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (and his male line) who, although senior by birth to his nephew Charles Edward, preferred to remain on British soil).

The current head of the ducal branch, Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, is therefore the descendant and German heir of Charles Edward. Should his legitimate male line become extinct, the claim to the Saxon duchy (which lost its sovereignty and independent existence in 1918) would revert to the male line of Edward VII, currently represented in chief by Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

Kings of the Belgians

Leopold I (1831–1865)
Leopold II (1865–1909)
Albert I (1909–1934)
Leopold III (1934–1951)
Baudouin (1951–1993)
Albert II (1993–present )

Belgian royal house

Because of the First World War, the family name was changed to van België, de Belgique or von Belgien ("of Belgium"), depending upon which of the country's three official languages (Dutch, French and German) is in use. It is this family name which is used on the identity cards and in all official documents by Belgium's royalty (marriage licenses, etc.).^{[citation needed]}

Kingdom of Portugal

In Portugal the former royal house is usually not distinguished from the House of Braganza

Pedro V (1853–1861)
Luís I (1861–1889)
Carlos I (1889–1908)
Manuel II (r. 1908–1910, d.1932)

Manuel II died childless in 1932. He recognised as his successor his distant cousin Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, who is not a descendant of Ferdinand II, or the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Duarte Nuno and his successors, as claimants to the Portuguese throne, are therefore members of the House of Braganza, rather than the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Kingdom of Bulgaria

Ferdinand I (1887–1918)
Boris III (1918–1943)
Simeon II (1943–1946) In 2001, elected^[1] Prime Minister of Bulgaria as Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha—also known as Simeon "Sakskoburggotski" (Сакскобургготски).^[2]^[3]^[4]

United Kingdom

Edward VII (1901–1910)
George V (1910–1936, until 1917 when the name was changed and the royal house and family were to be known as Windsor).
Edward VIII (1936)
George VI (1936–1952)
Elizabeth II (1952–)

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 the name of Windsor during the First World War. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha survived in other European realms, including the former monarchies of Portugal and Bulgaria and in the Belgian royal family until 1920."^[5]

If Elizabeth II is succeeded by her child (or a child of one of her sons), the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha will be supplanted patrilineally by the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg. However, by a 1960 Order in Council, her children also bear the name of Windsor and therefore the reigning dynasty will continue under that name unless changed.

Names of the British royal house

Ernest I's younger son, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, Ernest's niece through his sister Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. As a consequence of their marriage, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha became the dynasty of the British Royal Family from the accession of Edward VII in 1901 until changed to Windsor by King George V in 1917, during the United Kingdom's war with the German Empire.

Contrary to common belief, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was not the personal surname of either Prince Albert, his wife or their descendants. Queen Victoria launched an inquiry to identify her surname. After an exhaustive search her advisors concluded that Prince Albert (and thus the Queen—by virtue of her marriage) had the surname Wettin.^{[citation needed]}

George V changed both Wettin and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor by proclamation in 1917.

In 1947 Princess Elizabeth (now Elizabeth II) married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who also had German heritage, being descended from the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and whose surname since shortly before his marriage has been Mountbatten—anglicized during WWI from "Battenberg" of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The Queen's marriage to Prince Philip raised the issue of the surname and dynastic name to be carried by the Queen's descendants, including future monarchs. An Order in Council in 1960 decreed that the name and dynasty of Elizabeth II would remain "Windsor", as would that of her children by the Duke of Edinburgh (save that of any of their daughters who married). The order stipulated, however, that those of their male-line descendants who do not bear the title of prince or princess and the style of Royal Highness would have the surname of Mountbatten-Windsor. In fact, some of Elizabeth II's children have also chosen, on occasion, to use that designation on legal documents.

Genealogy

Patrilineality, descent as reckoned from father to son, has historically been the principle determining membership in reigning families, thus the dynasty to which the monarchs of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha belonged genealogically through the 20th century is the House of Wettin, despite the official use of varying names by different branches of the patriline.

Descent before Conrad the Great may not be entirely accurate.^[6]