| Alfred | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of Edinburgh | |||||
 Prince Alfred in 1881 | |||||
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||||
| Reign | 22 August 1893 – 30 July 1900 | ||||
| Predecessor | Ernest II | ||||
| Successor | Charles Edward | ||||
| Born | (1844-08-06)6 August 1844 Windsor Castle,Windsor, Berkshire, England | ||||
| Died | 30 July 1900(1900-07-30) (aged 55) Schloss Rosenau, Coburg,Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,German Empire | ||||
| Burial | 4 August 1900 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Father | Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
| Mother | Queen Victoria | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
| Military career | |||||
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom | ||||
| Branch |  Royal Navy | ||||
| Rank | Admiral of the Fleet | ||||
| Commands |
| ||||
Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 6 August 1844 – 30 July 1900) was sovereign Duke ofSaxe-Coburg and Gotha from 22 August 1893 until his death in 1900. He was the second son and fourth child ofQueen Victoria andPrince Albert. He was known as theDuke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncleErnest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in theGerman Empire.
Alfred was born on 6 August 1844 atWindsor Castle to the reigning British monarch,Queen Victoria, and her husband,Prince Albert, the second son ofErnest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Nicknamed Affie, he was second in theline of succession to the British throne behind his elder brother,Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
Alfred was baptised on 6 September 1844 byWilliam Howley,Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle. His godparents were his mother's first cousin,Prince George of Cambridge (represented by his father, theDuke of Cambridge); his paternal aunt, theDuchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (represented by Alfred's maternal grandmother, theDuchess of Kent); and his maternal uncle, thePrince of Leiningen (represented by theDuke of Wellington,Conservative Leader in the Lords).[1]
Alfred remained second in line to the British throne from his birth until January 1864, when his older brother Albert Edward and sister-in-lawAlexandra had their first child,Prince Albert Victor. Alfred became third in line to the throne and, as Albert Edward and Alexandra continued to have children, Alfred was further demoted in theorder of succession.
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In 1856, when he reached age 12, it was decided that Alfred, in accordance with his own wishes, should enter theRoyal Navy. A separate establishment was assigned to him, withLieutenant J.C. Cowell, RE, as governor. He passed a special entrance examination in July 1858, and was appointed as a naval cadet inHMS Euryalus at the age of 14.[2][3]
In July 1860, while on this ship, Alfred paid an official visit to theCape Colony, and made a very favourable impression both on the colonials and on the native chiefs.[4] He took part in a hunt at Hartebeeste-Hoek, resulting in the slaughter of large numbers of game animals.[5]
Following theexpulsion of King Otto of Greece in 1862, Alfred waschosen to succeed him, but the British government blocked plans for him to ascend the Greek throne, largely because of the Queen's opposition to the idea. She and her late husband had made plans for him to succeed to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg.
Alfred remained in the navy, and was promoted tolieutenant on 24 February 1863, serving under his half-cousinCount Gleichen on thecorvetteHMS Racoon.[6] Gleichen's son recalled his father as saying that "the Prince, although shaping well as a sailor, was of a somewhat wayward disposition at that period, and his high spirits more than once led him into minor troubles with the authorities."[7] He was promoted tocaptain on 23 February 1866 and was appointed to the command of the frigateHMS Galatea in January 1867.[6]Lord Charles Beresford described him as having "a great natural ability for handling a fleet" and noted that he "would have made a first-class fighting admiral."[8]
In the Queen's Birthday Honours on 24 May 1866, Alfred was createdDuke of Edinburgh,Earl of Ulster, andEarl of Kent[9] with an annuity of £15,000 granted by Parliament.[4] He took his seat in theHouse of Lords on 8 June.
While still in command of theGalatea, the Duke of Edinburgh started from Plymouth on 24 January 1867 for his voyage around the world. On 7 June 1867, he leftGibraltar, reached theCape of Good Hope on 24 July, on 5 August 1867 the island of Tristan da Cunha, and paid a royal visit toCape Town on 24 August 1867 after landing atSimon's Town a while earlier. He landed atGlenelg, South Australia, on 31 October 1867.[4]
Being the first member of the royal family to visit Australia, Alfred was received with great enthusiasm. During his stay of nearly five months he visitedAdelaide,Melbourne,Sydney,Brisbane andTasmania.[4] Several institutions, includingPrince Alfred College,The Alfred Hospital, andRoyal Prince Alfred Hospital were named in his honour.
On 12 March 1868, on his second visit to Sydney, Alfred was invited bySir William Manning, President of the Sydney Sailors' Home, to picnic at the beachfront suburb ofClontarf to raise funds for the home. At the function, he was wounded in the back by a revolver fired byHenry James O'Farrell. The shot, fired atpoint-blank range, ricocheted off one of the metal clips on Alfred'strouser braces, narrowly missing his spine.[10] He was tended to for the next two weeks by six nurses, trained byFlorence Nightingale and led by Matron Lucy Osburn, who had just arrived in Australia in February 1868.[11]
In the violent struggle during which Alfred was shot, William Vial had managed to wrest the gun away from O'Farrell until bystanders assisted. Vial, a master of a Masonic Lodge, had helped to organise the picnic in honour of the Duke's visit and was presented with a gold watch[12] for securing Alfred's life. Another bystander, George Thorne, was wounded in the foot by O'Farrell's second shot.[11] O'Farrell was arrested at the scene, quickly tried, convicted and hanged on 21 April 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 subscription which paid for the construction ofRoyal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Alfred soon recovered from his injury and was able to resume command of his ship and return home in early April 1868. He reachedSpithead on 26 June 1868, after an absence of seventeen months.
Alfred visited Hawaii in 1869 and spent time with the royal family there, where he was presented with leis upon his arrival. He was also the first member of the royal family to visit New Zealand, arriving in 1869 onHMS Galatea, where he spent a month living inPakuranga.[13] He also became the first European prince to visit Japan and on 4 September 1869, he was received at an audience by the teenagedEmperor Meiji in Tokyo.[14]
The Duke's next voyage was to India, where he arrived in December 1869, and Ceylon (nowSri Lanka), which he visited the following year. In both countries and atHong 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 stay of three months.[4] In Ceylon a reception was given for him, by the request of the British, byCharles Henry de Soysa, the richest man in Ceylon, at his private residence which was consequently renamed, by permission, Alfred House. Alfred reportedly ate off gold plates with gold cutlery inlaid with jewels.[15][16][17]
In 1862, Queen Victoria wrote toVictoria, Princess Royal, that she wanted Alfred to marryPrincess Dagmar of Denmark. She wrote: "I hear that theEmperor of Russia has not given up his intention of asking forAlix or Dagmar forhis son. I should be very sorry if any thing were decided for Dagmar before you had seen her, as it would be one chance less for Affie."[18] However, she decided against the match because of Germany's anger towards Denmark over the disputed territories of Schleswig-Holstein, especially since Alfred was the heir to Coburg. She wrote to Princess Victoria: "Respecting Dagmar, I do not wish her to be kept for Affie. Let the Emperor have her."
Dagmar was initially engaged toTsarevich Nicholas; however, he died on 22 April 1865 in the presence of his parents, brothers, and Dagmar. His last wish was that Dagmar would marry his younger brother, the futureAlexander III. Alexander and Dagmar did marry; therefore, she became Empress of Russia.
The Queen consideredGrand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia as a potential wife for Alfred. She wrote to Princess Victoria, "It is a great pity thatSanny's charming daughter is a Greek [Orthodox]– she would do so well".[8] In 1867, Queen Victoria toldVictoria, Princess Royal that "I had thought and hoped at one time for dear little Olga, who is now to marryKing George".[19]
During a visit to his sisterAlice in August 1868, Alfred metGrand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, then fourteen years old.[20][21][22][23] Princess Alice was married to Maria Alexandrovna's first cousin.[22] The Grand Duchess was visiting her maternal relatives, thePrinces of Battenberg, atJugenheim.
On 23 January 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh married Maria Alexandrovna, the second (and only surviving) daughter of EmperorAlexander II of Russia and his first wifePrincess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter ofLouis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine andPrincess Wilhelmine of Baden, at theWinter Palace,St Petersburg. To commemorate the occasion, the English bakeryPeek Freans made the now internationally popularMarie biscuit, with the Duchess' name imprinted on its top.[24]
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.[25] She was surprised to discover that she had to yield precedence to the Princess of Wales and all of Queen Victoria's daughters and demanded that she take precedence before the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) because she considered the Princess of Wales's family (the Danish royal family) to be inferior to her own. Queen Victoria refused this demand, yet granted her precedence immediately after the Princess of Wales.
Affie had been granted an annuity of £15,000 from the BritishCivil list in 1866, which was increased by £10,000 to £25,000 when he married.[26] Under the terms of the marriage treaty signed between the United Kingdom and Russian Empire, Maria would receive an annuity of £6,000 from the British Civil List if she outlived Alfred. Maria's father, Emperor Alexander IIof Russia, also provided his daughter with a generous financial settlement, which included:
Consequently the couple's income at the time of their marriage was approximately £51,500 annually, exclusive of Maria's private 600,000-rouble fortune. By the early 20th century fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Russian Rouble and British Pound had reduced Maria's 170,000-rouble Russian annuity to the equivalent of approximately £17,500.[28]
The marriage treaty also specified that Maria was at liberty to make any contribution to the couple’s household expenses as she pleased, but that the debts and obligations of their household would not be common to them both.[27] If Maria predeceased Alfred leaving children, her marriage portion and private fortune would be appropriated for their benefit. If she predeceased him without children, Alfred would receive a lump sum of 250,000 roubles (£75,000) from the 'ordinary' marriage settlement, and would enjoy from the remaining portion of the ordinary settlement during his lifetime, after which it would revert to the Emperor of Russia. The “special” marriage portion would revert to the Emperor immediately if there were no children.[27]
Alfred was stationed inMalta for several years and his third child,Victoria Melita, was born there in 1876. Alfred's last command prior to promotion to flag rank would be as captain ofHMS Black Prince in 1878, when he representedthe Crown during the installation ofJohn Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, asGovernor General of Canada. Alfred was subsequently promotedrear-admiral upon his return to London and relief on 30 December 1878, becoming admiral superintendent of naval reserves, raising his flag aboard thecorvetteHMS Penelope in November 1879.[29] Promoted tovice-admiral on 10 November 1882, he was given command of theChannel Squadron, with his flag aboard the armoured shipHMS Minotaur, in December 1883.[29] He became Commander-in-Chief,Mediterranean Fleet, with his flag aboard the armoured shipHMS Alexandra, in March 1886, and having been promoted toadmiral on 18 October 1887,[30] he went on to beCommander-in-Chief, Plymouth in August 1890.[29] He was promoted toAdmiral of the Fleet on 3 June 1893.[29]
Percy Scott wrote in his memoirs that "as a Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Edinburgh had, in my humble opinion, no equal. He handled a fleet magnificently, and introduced many improvement in signals and manoeuvring." He "took a great interest in gunnery."[31] "The prettiest ship I have ever seen was the [Duke of Edinburgh's flagship] HMSAlexandra. I was informed that £2,000 had been spent by the officers on her decoration."[32]
Alfred was very fond of music and took a prominent part in establishing theRoyal College of Music, created in 1882.[4] He was a keen violinist, but had little skill. At a dinner party given by one of his brothers, he was persuaded to play. SirHenry Ponsonby wrote: 'Fiddle out of tune and noise abominable.'[33]
On the death of his uncle,Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on 22 August 1893, the duchy fell to the Duke of Edinburgh since his elder brother, the Prince of Wales, had renounced his right to the succession before he married. As the heir-presumptive of his childless Uncle Duke Ernest II, Alfred and his wife had moved their family to Coburg in 1889,[34] where they had previously purchased a large town mansion, thePalais Edinburgh. The Palais Edinburgh was situated in Coburg's town square, across from the Palace of the Dukes of Coburg,Schloss Ehrenburg.
Alfred thereupon surrendered his British allowance of £15,000 a year and his seats in theHouse of Lords and thePrivy Council, but he retained the £10,000 granted on his marriage to maintainClarence House as his London residence;[35] he also came into receipt of the Coburg Crown Revenues, when then amounted to the equivalent of £46,000 a year.[36] At first regarded with some coldness in the Duchy as a "foreigner", he gradually gained popularity. By the time of his death in 1900, he had generally won the good opinion of his subjects.[4]
Alfred and Maria's only son,Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became involved in a scandal involving his mistress and apparently shot himself in January 1899, in the midst of his parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations at theSchloss Friedenstein in Gotha. He survived, and his embarrassed mother sent him off toMeran to recover. However, he died there two weeks later, on 6 February. His father was devastated.[37]: 11
Alfred died ofthroat cancer on 30 July 1900 in a lodge adjacent toSchloss Rosenau, the ducal summer residence just north of Coburg. He was buried at the ducal family's mausoleum in theFriedhof am Glockenberg [de] in Coburg.[38]: 47 As his younger brother,Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and nephewPrince Arthur, had renounced their succession rights to the ducal throne, Alfred was succeeded by his nephew,Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany (1884–1954), the posthumous son of his youngest brother,Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.[39]
He was survived by his mother, Victoria, who had already outlived two of her children,Alice andLeopold. She died six months later. Victoria dedicated a memorial in the form of a Celtic cross to Alfred in the grounds ofBalmoral Castle which was erected shortly before her death.[40]
Alfred was a keen collector of glass and ceramic ware, and after his death his widow gave his collection, valued at half a million marks, to theVeste Coburg, the enormous fortress on a hill top above Coburg.[4]
Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney,The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne,Prince Alfred College in Adelaide,Prince Alfred Park in Sydney,Prince Alfred Square inParramatta, and theRoyal Prince Alfred Yacht Club, now in the Sydney suburb ofNewport, are named in his honour.
The Alfred Hall inBallarat was built in 1867 for his visit,[41] and one of the city's suburbs was renamedAlfredton. Many streets, avenues, roads, halls, parks and schools bear his name in other parts of Australia. He laid the corner stones of new town halls in the two biggest cities,Sydney andMelbourne, and those buildings continue in use today.[42]
Prince Alfred Street inBridgetown, the capital ofBarbados, was named in his honour. It begins at the junction with Chapel Street and proceeds southward until reaching a car park along the Constitution river in the vicinity of the former James Fort.[43]
Prince Alfred Bay,Nunavut, was named in his honour, as was Cape Prince Alfred in the North West Territories. Two islands in Ontario are named for Prince Alfred, one in theSt Lawrence River nearBrockville, and the other inLake Nipigon north ofThunder Bay. The Prince Alfred Arch, a monument[44] in Tangier, Nova Scotia, marks the spot Prince Alfred visited in 1861.
The name of the small township ofAlfredton (nearEketāhuna in the lowerNorth Island ofNew Zealand) honours the Prince.[45] Alfred Street in central Auckland was named in his honour. The Bay of Plenty settlement ofGalatea is named after his ship.Mt Alfred in Wellington - adjacent toMount Victoria named after his mother andMt Albert after his father - is named after him.
Prince Alfred sailed intoPort Elizabeth on 6 August 1860 as a midshipman on HMSEuryalus and celebrated his 16th birthday among its citizens.[46] Seven years later he sailed into Simon's Town as the Captain of HMSGalatea. In Port Elizabeth there is a Prince Alfred's Terrace. The Alfred Rowing Club was established in 1864 and was housed under the pier at Table Bay. It was named after Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who visited the Cape in 1860. It is the oldest organised sporting club in South Africa.[47] The opening ceremony of theSouth African Library was performed by Prince Alfred in 1860. An impressive portrait of the Prince hangs in the main reading room.[48]
Port Alfred, on the Kowie River in the Eastern Cape, was originally known as Port Frances after the daughter-in-law of the Governor ofCape Colony,Lord Charles Somerset. Of all the passes built in South Africa by the famousAndrew Geddes Bain and his son,Thomas, Prince Alfred's Pass remains, for many people, a favourite because of its lavish variety winding through some of the world's most unspoiled scenery.[49]
InSimon's Town, the Prince Alfred Hotel was built in 1802 and renamed after the prince visited Cape Province in 1868. For more than two centuries Simon's Town has been an important naval base and harbour (first for the Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The former hotel now houses the Backpackers' Hostel, opposite the harbour in the main street. In Cape Town during his visit in 1868, Prince Alfred ceremonially tipped the first load of rock to commence the building of the Breakwater. This was built by convict labour and formed the protective seawall for the new Cape Town Harbour, now redeveloped as theVictoria & Alfred Waterfront and a popular tourist and shopping destination.
A Prince Alfred Street can be found inPietermaritzburg,Queenstown,Grahamstown andCaledon. The Port Elizabeth Chapter of theMemorable Order of Tin Hats, aveterans association, is known as the Prince Alfred Shellhole.[50]Prince Alfred Hamlet, a small town in theWestern Cape province, is named after Alfred.
One of thestamp collectors in the British royal family, Prince Alfred won election as honorary president ofThe Philatelic Society, London in 1890. He may have inspired his nephewGeorge V, who benefited after the Prince of Wales (laterEdward VII) bought his brother Prince Alfred's collection. The merging of Alfred's and George's collections gave birth to theRoyal Philatelic Collection.[51]
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the settlement onTristan da Cunha, a British Overseas territory, was named after Alfred after he visited the remote islands in 1867 while Duke of Edinburgh.
Manta alfredi is commonly known as Prince Alfred'smanta ray.[52]
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha: Co-Sovereign Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Saxe-Ernstine,June 1863;[55] Joint Grand Master,22 August 1893
Kingdom of Portugal:[66]
Belgium: Grand Cordon of theOrder of Leopold (military),15 August 1863[67]
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,4 May 1864[68]
Kingdom of Prussia:[69]
Grand Duchy of Hesse:[70]
Russian Empire:[71]
Nassau:Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau,July 1865[72]
Kingdom of Hawaii: Grand Cross of theOrder of Kamehameha I,1865
Baden:
French Empire: Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour,June 1867[75]
Empire of Brazil:Grand Cross of the Southern Cross,15 July 1867
Kingdom of Saxony:Knight of the Rue Crown,15 July 1867[76]
Mecklenburg:Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore and Diamonds,28 June 1868
Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of theRoyal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen,1874[77]
Denmark:Knight of the Elephant,4 July 1875[78]
Principality of Serbia:Grand Cross of the Cross of Takovo[79]
Sweden-Norway:Knight of the Seraphim,24 May 1881[80]
Netherlands:Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion,1 May 1882
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,1883[81]
Ottoman Empire:Order of Osmanieh, Special Class in Diamonds,1886
Kingdom of Italy:[82]
Spain:Prince Alfred gained use of theroyal arms of the United Kingdom, charged with aninescutcheon of the shield of theDuchy of Saxony, representing his paternal arms, the whole differenced by a label argent of three points, the outer points bearing anchors azure, and the inner a cross gules. When he became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his Saxon arms were his British arms inverted, as follows: the ducal arms of Saxony charged with an inescutcheon of the royal arms of the United Kingdom differenced with a label argent of three points, the outer points bearing anchors azure, and the inner a cross gules.
 Prince Alfred'scoat of arms as a British prince |  Prince Alfred'sheraldic shield as a British prince |  Alfred's arms as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |  Heraldic shield as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Image | Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Prince Alfred | 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 | 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,Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia; had issue |
 | Princess Alexandra | 1 September 1878 | 16 April 1942 | married, 20 April 1896,Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg; had issue |
| Unnamed son | 13 October 1879 | 13 October 1879 | stillborn | |
 | Princess Beatrice | 20 April 1884 | 13 July 1966 | married, 15 July 1909,Infante Alfonso, Duke of Galliera; had issue |
Alfred's letters to his third daughter, Alexandra, (as well as her sisters) are preserved in the Hohenlohe Central Archive (Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein) in Neuenstein Castle in the town ofNeuenstein, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.[85][86]
| Ancestors of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
|---|
...he set his heart from an early age on the Royal Navy with 'a passion which we, as his parents, believe not to have a right to subdue'
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Barwick, George Frederick (1911). "Alfred Ernest Albert". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 584.After Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second son of Queen Victoria. The Duke visited New Zealand in 1869 as a post captain in HMSGalatea, and twice in 1870.
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Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Cadet branch of theHouse of Wettin Born: 6 August 1844 Died: 30 July 1900 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1893–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Honorary Colonel of the 1st London Artillery Volunteer Corps 1868–1875 | Office abolished |
| Preceded by | Senior Officer in Command of the Channel Squadron 1883–1884 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet 1886–1889 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth 1890–1893 | Succeeded by |