| Francis | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Johann Heinrich Schröder, 1800 | |
| Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | |
| Reign | 8 September 1800 – 9 December 1806 |
| Predecessor | Ernest Frederick |
| Successor | Ernest III |
| Born | Franz Friedrich Anton (1750-07-15)15 July 1750 Coburg,Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 9 December 1806(1806-12-09) (aged 56) Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Father | Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld |
| Mother | Duchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel |
| Religion | Lutheran |
Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (German:Franz Friedrich Anton, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld, 15 July 1750 – 9 December 1806), was a reigning Duke ofSaxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, one of the rulingThuringiandukes of theHouse of Wettin. Asprogenitor of a line of Coburg princes who, in the 19th and 20th centuries, ascended the thrones of several European realms, he is a patrilineal ancestor of the royal houses of Belgium and Bulgaria (and also of Portugal until the death of KingManuel II in 1932 and the United Kingdom until the death of QueenElizabeth II in 2022), as well as of several queens consort andthe empress consort of Mexico in the 1860s.
Francis was born on 15 July 1750. He was the eldest son ofErnest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld andDuchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.[1]
Francis received a private, careful and comprehensive education and became an artconnoisseur. Francis initiated a major collection of books and illustrations for the duchy in 1775, which eventually expanded to a 300,000-picture collection of copperplate engravings currently housed in theVeste Coburg.
Francis was commissioned into the allied army in 1793 when his country was invaded by the Revolutionary armies of France. The allied forces included Hanoverians, Hessians, and the British. He fought in several actions against the French.
Francis succeeded his father asreigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1800.[1] In the discharge of his father's debts theSchloss Rosenau had passed out of the family but in 1805 he bought back the property as a summer residence for the ducal family.
Emperor Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, after its defeat byNapoleon at theBattle of Austerlitz. Duke Francis died 9 December 1806. On 15 December 1806, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, along with the otherErnestine duchies, entered theConfederation of the Rhine as the Duke and his ministers planned.
InHildburghausen on 6 March 1776, Francis marriedPrincess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a daughter of hisErnestine kinsman,Duke Ernst Friedrich III andPrincess Ernestine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She died on 28 October 1776, only seven months after her wedding. There were no children born from this marriage.
InEbersdorf on 13 June 1777, Francis marriedCountess Augusta Reuss of Lobenstein-Ebersdorf, daughter ofHeinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and his wifeCountess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. They had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood:[1]
| Name | Date of birth | Date of death | Age at death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sophie Fredericka Caroline Luise | 19 August 1778, in Coburg | 8 July 1835, in Tušimice, Bohemia | 56 years | Married on 23 February 1804 toEmmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly (later Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly). |
| Antoinette Ernestine Amalie | 28 August 1779, in Coburg | 14 March 1824, in St. Petersburg | 44 years | Married on 17 November 1798 toAlexander of Württemberg. |
| Juliane Henriette Ulrike (upon her marriage, she took the name Anna Feodorovna in aRussian Orthodox baptism) | 23 September 1781, in Coburg | 15 August 1860, in Elfenau, near Berne, Switzerland | 78 years | Married on 26 February 1796 toGrand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, the younger brother of CzarAlexander I of Russia (they divorced in 1820). |
| Stillborn son | 1782 | 1782 | – | |
| Ernst I Anton Karl Ludwig, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | 2 January 1784, in Coburg | 29 January 1844, in Gotha | 60 years | Married on 31 July 1817 toPrincess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1800–1831); father ofPrince Albert, the husband ofQueen Victoria. After their divorce in 1826 and the death of Louise in 1831, he married his nieceMarie of Württemberg, daughter of his sister Antoinette. |
| Ferdinand Georg August | 28 March 1785, in Coburg | 27 August 1851, in Vienna | 66 years | Married on 30 November 1815 toPrincess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya; father ofFerdinand II of Portugal andVictoria, Duchess of Nemours, and the grandfather ofFerdinand I of Bulgaria. By his marriage he became the founder of the CatholicKoháry branch of the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha line. |
| Marie Luise Victoria | 17 August 1786, in Coburg | 16 March 1861, in Frogmore House | 74 years | Married on 21 December 1803Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich, Prince of Leiningen, had issue. After his death, she married on 11 July 1818Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of KingGeorge III ofGreat Britain, the mother ofQueen Victoria. |
| Marianne Charlotte | 7 August 1788, in Coburg | 23 August 1794, in Coburg | 6 years | |
| Leopold Georg Christian Frederick | 16 December 1790, in Coburg | 10 December 1865, in Laeken | 74 years | Married, firstly, on 2 May 1816Charlotte of Wales, daughter ofGeorge IV of the United Kingdom, who died from complications of childbirth on 6 November 1817. Married, secondly, on 9 August 1830 toLouise of Orléans and his children includedLeopold II of Belgium and EmpressCarlota of Mexico. First king of theBelgians under the name of Leopold I. |
| Franz Maximilian Ludwig | 12 December 1792, in Coburg | 3 January 1793, in Coburg | 22 days |
Hismale-line descendants established ruling houses inBelgium,United Kingdom,Portugal andBulgaria, while retaining the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1918.[1] His son Leopold ruled asLeopold I of the Belgians. A grandson reignedjure uxoris as KingFerdinand II of Portugal while a great-grandson namedFerdinand became the first modern king of Bulgaria. One of his granddaughters was EmpressCarlota of Mexico, while another wasQueen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The latter's son,Edward VII, a patrilineal as well as matrilineal great-grandson of Francis, inaugurated upon his accession to the British throne in 1901 theHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the name of the ruling dynasty of the United Kingdom until the house name was changed toWindsor by KingGeorge V in 1917.[1]
Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Born: 15 July 1750 Died: 9 December 1806 | ||
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| Preceded by | Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 1800–1806 | Succeeded by |
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