Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1900 to 1918, British prince and royal duke, Nazi politician (1884-1954) · United Kingdom · On the map · Politicians · Died at 69
Born a British prince, grandson of Queen Victoria, he moved to Germany at 15 to rule a duchy he'd never seen. When the empire fell, he didn't retreat - he became a Nazi Party member, promoted eugenics, and ran the German Red Cross under the Third Reich.
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Claremont house: Charles Edward's birthplace
Charles Edward (front centre) with his sister, mother and maternal family (1895)
Outline of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (in red) in the German Empire
Charles Edward with his staff at a military exercise (1904)![Satirical cartoon, depicting Charles Edward as a small boy with Edward VII.[note 4] Originally appeared in Der Wahre Jacob in 1903, reprinted in L'oncle de l'Europe, a collection of illustrations edited by John Grand-Carteret (1906).](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/%22L%27oncle_de_l%27Europe%22_devant_l%27objectif_caricatural_-_images_anglaises%2C_fran%C3%A7aises%2C_italiennes%2C_allemandes%2C_autrichiennes%2C_hollandaises%2C_belges%2C_suisses%2C_espagnoles%2C_portugaises%2C_am%C3%A9ricaines%2C_etc._%2814776736585%29.jpg/1280px-thumbnail.jpg)
Satirical cartoon, depicting Charles Edward as a small boy with Edward VII.[note 4] Originally appeared in Der Wahre Jacob in 1903, reprinted in L'oncle de l'Europe, a collection of illustrations edited by John Grand-Carteret (1906).
The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha with their two eldest children (1908)Awards
About this person
Charles Edward was born in Surrey in 1884, son of Prince Leopold and grandson of Queen Victoria. His father died before his birth. At 15, deemed young enough to be re-educated as German, he was sent to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to inherit a throne, guided by his cousin Wilhelm II. He ascended in 1900, married Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein in 1905, and had five children, including Sibylla, mother of Sweden's Carl XVI Gustaf. He sided with Germany in the First World War and lost both his duchy in the 1918 revolution and his British titles. Through the 1920s he backed violent far-right paramilitaries, joined the Nazi Party in 1933, promoted eugenicist ideas that justified mass murder of the disabled, and worked to sway British opinion toward Germany. After the Second World War he was interned, received a minor denazification conviction, and died of cancer in 1954.
