Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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Alfred
Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Photograph, 1890s
BornPrince Alfred of Edinburgh
(1874-10-15)15 October 1874
Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom
Died6 February 1899(1899-02-06) (aged 24)
Sanatorium Martinsbrunn, Meran, Austria-Hungary
Burial
Friedhof am Glockenberg, Coburg, Germany
Names
Alfred Alexander William Ernest Albert
HouseSaxe-Coburg and Gotha
FatherAlfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
MotherGrand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia

Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
.

Early life

Prince Alfred of Edinburgh was born on 15 October 1874 at

Prince Albert. His mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, was a daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
.

Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein stood proxy), the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his paternal grand-uncle, for whom Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein stood proxy), and the Prince of Wales (his paternal uncle).[1]

Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In 1893, his granduncle,

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha house law to succeed to the duchy due to his status as the heir apparent to an existing throne,[2] the Prince of Wales had previously renounced his claim to the ducal throne. Thus, the succession devolved to Alfred's father, who was at that time the Duke of Edinburgh
. Alfred thus became the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Prince Alfred had lived in Clarence House in the early years of his life with his parents and sisters; after his father's accession to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he moved to Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg.

Death

A group photograph of the family of Hereditary Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha celebrating his majority, Coburg, 1892

On 23 January 1899 Maria Alexandrovna and her husband celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at Schloss Friedenstein, the Duke's official residence in Gotha.[3][4] Absent from the festivities was their only son, who was gravely ill.[3]

The exact circumstances of Alfred's death are not known, and varying accounts have been published. His sister Marie's memoirs simply say his health "broke down", and other writers have said that he had "consumption".

Complete Peerage gives the generally accepted account that he "shot himself".[6]

Various authors have speculated on reasons why he might have killed himself. One author, Frank Bush, claimed to have been a descendant of a secret marriage between Alfred and Mabel Fitzgerald, granddaughter of

John van der Kiste and Bee Jordaan in Dearest Affie, and the assertion is repeated as fact in the official family history (Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha).[2]

According to rumours, Alfred shot himself with a

Meran in the County of Tyrol (Austria-Hungary, now Italy). Alfred died there at 4:15 pm on 6 February 1899, aged 24 years.[2] He was buried in the ducal mausoleum of the Friedhof am Glockenberg, Coburg, Bavaria (southern Germany).[7]
: 47 

After his death, Alfred's uncle the

Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany, became heir presumptive.[8]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:[11]

Arms

As a male-line grandson of the British Sovereign, young Alfred bore the royal arms, with an inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony, all differenced by a label argent of five points, the odd bearing crosses gules and even anchors azure.[17]

Coat of arms of Prince Alfred of Edinburgh

Ancestors

Notes

  1. fn.
    2 

References

  1. ^ Demoskoff, Yvonne (27 December 2005). "Christenings of the Royal Family". Yvonne's Royalty Home Page. users.uniserve.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  2. ^
    ISBN 3-00-008525-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link
    )
  3. ^ a b Mandache, Dearest Missy, p. 373
  4. ^ Beéche, The Coburgs of Europe, p. 83.
  5. ^
    ISBN 91-630-5964-9
    .
  6. ISBN 0-904387-82-8
    .
  7. ^ Klüglein, Norbert (1991). Coburg Stadt und Land (German). Verkehrsverein Coburg.
  8. ^ "SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA". The Inquirer & Commercial News. 7 July 1899. p. 10 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "The London Gazette, Issue 26184, Page 3860". 20 July 1891.
  10. ^ "The London Gazette, Issue 26947, Page 1609". 14 March 1898.
  11. ^ "Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1874–1899)". Archived from the original on 3 January 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2018.
  12. ^ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 69
  13. ^ "Ludewigs-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1898, p. 9 – via hathitrust.org
  14. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch für das Herzogtum S.-Meiningen (1896), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 20
  15. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1896), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 16
  16. ^ "Liste des Membres de l'Ordre de Léopold", Almanach Royale Belgique (in French), Bruxelles, 1899, p. 72 – via hathitrust.org{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ Velde, François R. (5 August 2013). "Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family: Houses of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha/Windsor/Windsor-Mountbatten (since 1837)". www.heraldica.org. Chicago: self-published. Retrieved 11 September 2017.

External links

Media related to Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at Wikimedia Commons

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