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| Ernest I | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byGeorge Dawe,c. 1819 | |
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (as Ernest III) | |
| Reign | 9 December 1806 – 12 November 1826 |
| Predecessor | Francis |
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (as Ernest I) | |
| Reign | 12 November 1826 – 29 January 1844 |
| Predecessor | Frederick IV |
| Successor | Ernest II |
| Born | Ernst Anton Karl Ludwig Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld (1784-01-02)2 January 1784 Coburg,Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 29 January 1844(1844-01-29) (aged 60) Gotha,Saxe-Coburg and Gotha,German Confederation |
| Burial | |
| Spouses | |
| Issue | |
| House |
|
| Father | Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Mother | Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf |
| Religion | Lutheranism |
Ernest I (German:Ernst Anton Karl Ludwig; 2 January 1784 – 29 January 1844) served as the lastsovereignduke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (asErnest III) from 1806 to 1826 and the first sovereignduke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1826 to 1844. He was the father ofPrince Albert, who was the husband ofQueen Victoria. Ernest fought againstNapoleon Bonaparte, and through construction projects and the establishment of a court theatre, he left a strong imprint on his residence town,Coburg.
Ernest was born on 2 January 1784. He was the eldest son ofFrancis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by his second wife,Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. His youngest brother,Leopold, was later elected the firstking of Belgium. One of his sisters,Victoria, was the mother ofQueen Victoria, with the result that from the time his second son, Albert, married Queen Victoria in 1840, he was both uncle and father-in-law to Queen Victoria.[1]
On 10 May 1803, aged 19, Ernest was proclaimed an adult, because his father had become gravely ill, and he was required to take part in the government of the duchy. When his father died in 1806, he succeeded in the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld as Ernest III. However, he could not immediately take over the formal government of his lands, because the duchy was occupied by Napoleonic troops and was under French administration. The following year, after thePeace of Tilsit (1807), the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was reunited (having previously been dissolved) and restored to Ernest.[2] This occurred through Russian pressure, since his sisterJuliane was married to the brother of the Russian Tsar.
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Ernest marriedPrincess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg inGotha on 31 July 1817. They had two children:
The marriage was unhappy because both husband and wife werepromiscuous. As the biographerLytton Strachey put it: "The ducal court was not noted for the strictness of its morals; the Duke was a man of gallantry, and it was rumoured that the Duchess followed her husband's example. There were scandals: one of the Court Chamberlains, a charming and cultivated man of Jewish extraction, was talked of; at last there was a separation, followed by a divorce. The Duchess retired to Paris, and died unhappily in 1831."[3] Ernest and Louise were separated in 1824 and were officially divorced on 31 March 1826. As heirs to Coburg, the children remained with their father.
InCoburg on 23 December 1832, Ernest married his nieceDuchess Marie of Württemberg, the daughter of his sisterAntoinette. They had no children. This marriage made Marie both Prince Albert's first cousin and his stepmother.
Ernest had three illegitimate children:
After 1813, Ernest was a Prussian general and participated in military actions againstNapoleon. He fought in the battles ofLützen andLeipzig (1813), and drew in 1814 into the French fortress of Mainz.[2] After the battle of Leipzig, he commanded the5. Armeekorps.[4]: 106
After the defeat of Napoleon in theBattle of Waterloo, theCongress of Vienna on 9 June 1815 gave Ernest an area of 450 square kilometres with 25,000 inhabitants around the town ofSt. Wendel. Its area was somewhat augmented by thesecond Treaty of Paris.[2] In 1816, this estate received the name ofPrincipality of Lichtenberg. Ernest sold it toPrussia in 1834.[4]: 106
In 1825,Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who was the uncle of Ernest's first wife Louise, died without an heir. This resulted in a rearrangement of theErnestine duchies. It was only as a member of the Ernestine dynasty (and not as Louise's husband) that Ernest had a claim on the late duke's estates. However, he was at that time in the process of divorcing Louise, and the other branches used this as a leverage to drive a better bargain for themselves by insisting that he should not inherit Gotha. They reached a compromise on 12 November 1826: Ernest received Gotha, but had to cedeSaalfeld toSaxe-Meiningen. He subsequently became "Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha". Although he had given a constitution to Coburg in 1821, he did not interfere in the system of government in Gotha.[2]
At Coburg, Ernest was responsible for various construction projects, including the establishment of theHoftheater in its new building. TheSchlossplatz as it appears today is largely due to work under his rule.[4]: 107 He is chiefly remembered for the economic, educational and constitutional development of his territories, and for the significant international position attained by the house of Coburg.[2]
Ernest died on 29 January 1844 and was initially buried in theMorizkirche but later reinterred in the newly built mausoleum inFriedhof am Glockenberg [de].[4]: 47
He received the following awards:[5]
Russian Empire:
Kingdom of Saxony:[8]
Austrian Empire:Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen,1820[9]
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,6 January 1828[10]
Ernestine duchies:
Belgium:Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold,15 July 1835[12]
Kingdom of Portugal:[13]
United Kingdom:Stranger Knight of the Garter,16 July 1838[14]
Kingdom of France:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour,May 1840[15]
Baden:[16]
Kingdom of Prussia: | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(November 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Born: 2 January 1784 Died: 29 January 1844 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 1806–26 | BecameDuke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| PreviouslyDuke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1826–44 | Succeeded by |
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