Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Edward (Leopold Charles Edward George Albert, German: Leopold Carl Eduard Georg Albert; 19 July 1884 – 6 March 1954) was the last reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 30 July 1900 until 1918. A male-line grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he was also until 1919 a Prince of the United Kingdom and from birth held the British titles of Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow.[1]

Not to be confused with Edward Charles.

Charles Edward
Duke of Albany
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Reign	30 July 1900 – 14 November 1918
Predecessor	Alfred
Born	(1884-07-19)19 July 1884 Claremont House, Surrey, England
Died	6 March 1954(1954-03-06) (aged 69) Coburg, West Germany
Burial	near Schloss Callenberg, Germany
Spouse	Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein ​ ( m. 1905)
Issue	Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Sibylla, Duchess of Västerbotten Prince Hubertus Princess Caroline Mathilde, Countess of Castell-Rüdenhausen Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Full name Leopold Charles Edward George Albert German: Leopold Carl Eduard Georg Albert
House	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father	Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Mother	Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Military career
Allegiance	German Empire (1904–18)  Nazi Germany (1933–45)
Service/branch	German Army SA
Years of service	1904–1918, 1933–1945
Rank	Obergruppenführer
Unit	1st Foot Guards Sturmabteilung National Socialist Flyers Corps
Battles/wars	World War I World War II

Charles Edward was a controversial figure in the United Kingdom due to his status as the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was part of the German Empire, during World War I. On 14 November 1918, however, after a revolution in Germany, he was forced to abdicate as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and lost his rights to the ducal throne.[2][3]

In 1919, Charles Edward was deprived of his British peerages, his title of Prince and Royal Highness and his British honours for having fought in the German Army (eventually as a General) during WWI;[4] he was labelled a "traitor peer".[5][6]

Charles Edward later joined the Nazi Party as well as the Sturmabteilung (SA, or Brownshirts), in which he reached the position of Obergruppenführer.[7] Charles Edward served in a number of positions in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, including President of the German Red Cross from 1933–45.[8] He was the maternal grandfather of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the younger brother of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.

After paying the fines imposed by the denazification court and losing properties to the Soviet army, he died in poverty in 1954.[6]

Early life in the United Kingdom

Prince Charles Edward was born at Claremont House near Esher, Surrey. His father was Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the fourth son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His mother was Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany (née Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont), the fourth daughter of George Victor of Waldeck and Pyrmont and of his first wife Princess Helena of Nassau.[9] As his father had died before his birth, Prince Charles Edward succeeded to his titles at birth and was styled His Royal Highness the Duke of Albany.

After falling ill, the young Duke was baptised privately at Claremont on 4 August 1884, two weeks after his birth, and publicly in Esher Parish Church on 4 December 1884 four months later. His godparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (his paternal grandmother), the Prince of Wales (his paternal uncle), Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (his paternal aunt), the Marchioness of Lorne (his paternal aunt), Princess Frederica of Hanover (his father's second cousin), Alexis, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt (his uncle; could not attend) and George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (his maternal grandfather; could not attend).[10]

Charles Edward was educated as a Prince of the United Kingdom for his first 15 years.[9] He attended Eton College. As a grandson of Queen Victoria, the Duke was a first cousin of King George V and of the following European royals: Queen Maud of Norway, Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse, Empress Alexandra of Russia, Queen Marie of Romania, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Queen Sophia of Greece, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (the last two through his mother). Such was the interest Wilhelm II showed in his young cousin's upbringing that Charles Edward was known amongst the Imperial Court as "the Emperor's seventh son".[11] His mother drummed into him endlessly the importance of "becoming a good man, so you bring no shame on Papa's name".[12]

His education began under the tutelage of "Miss Potts" at Claremont, then he went to prep school, firstly at Sandroyd School and then "at Lyndhurst under the care of Mr W. F. Rawnsley, which was a very happy period of Charlie's life."[13] According to his sister, after Lyndhurst he went to Eton, where he was in Arthur Benson's House.[13]

Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Edward on a 5 Mark coin from 1907

In 1899 the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, urged by Kaiser Wilhelm II, decided on how to deal with the succession of Duke Alfred, who was in ill health. His only son, Prince Alfred ("Young Affie"), had died in February 1899. The Duke of Connaught, the Queen's third son, served in the British military, causing Wilhelm II to oppose him as a ruling prince of Germany. His son, Prince Arthur of Connaught attended Eton with Charles Edward. Wilhelm II demanded a German education for the boy, but this was unacceptable to the Duke of Connaught. Thus young Arthur also renounced his claims to the Duchy. Next in line was sixteen-year-old Charles Edward, who thus inherited the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when his uncle Alfred died in July 1900.[9][14]

His sister Alice wrote: "It was a very great heartbreak for my mother that my brother had to succeed to Coburg. 'I have always tried to bring Charlie up as a good Englishman,' she once said, 'and now I have to turn him into a good German.'"[15] The Duchess of Albany "reluctantly"[15] decided that "Charlie should accept – and he was too young to resist."[15]

With his mother and sister Charles Edward moved to Germany. Following an education plan by Wilhelm II, he attended the Preußische Hauptkadettenanstalt (Prussian Central Cadet Institute) at Lichterfelde, studied at Bonn University and became a member of Corps Borussia Bonn. He also joined the 1st Garderegiment zu Fuß at Potsdam and spent some time at the German court in Berlin.[9][14] His uncle, Edward VII, made him a Knight of the Garter on 15 July 1902, just prior to his 18th birthday.[16] He was unable to speak German at the time. Kaiser Wilhelm sent him to the Bavarian equivalent of Sandhurst for training.[17]

From 1900 to 1905 Charles Edward reigned through the regency of Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the husband of Duke Alfred's third daughter Alexandra. The regent acted under the strict guidance of Emperor Wilhelm II.

Upon coming of age on 19 July 1905, he assumed full constitutional powers. He proved loyal to the Emperor and was deemed a constitutionally-minded prince. However, he soon deviated from his early liberal views and gave in to autocratic impulses, also becoming dependent on advisers at his two courts at Gotha and Coburg, between which political differences and rivalries had developed. He liberally supported the court theatres in both towns. Taking an interest in Zeppelin and aeroplane technology, Charles Edward supported the newly created aircraft industry at Gotha (see Gothaer Waggonfabrik). Like all Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he divided his time between the two towns. Among his residences Schloss Friedenstein, Ehrenburg Palace, and Schloss Callenberg, he favoured the last. He also took great interest in the renovation of Veste Coburg which had been abandoned as a ducal residence in the 17th century. This work, which strained the ducal finances, was ongoing from 1908 until 1924.[9]

On 14 November 1918, after the revolution, Charles Edward was forced to abdicate as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and lost his rights to the ducal throne.[2][3]

Marriage and family

The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 11 October 1905.

Wilhelm II chose Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein, the niece of his wife, Empress Augusta Victoria, as Charles Edward's bride, who was his second cousin. She was the eldest daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, and Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. They married on 11 October 1905, at Glücksburg Castle, Schleswig-Holstein, and had five children,[9] including Sibylla, the mother of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

His younger daughter, Princess Caroline Mathilde claimed that her father had sexually abused her. The allegation was backed by one of her brothers.[18]

World War I

World War I caused a conflict of loyalties for Charles Edward, but he finally decided to support the German Empire. He broke off relations with his family at the British and Belgian courts. This did not suffice to overcome doubts about his loyalties in Germany. Charles Edward served on the staff of an infantry division of the German army at the beginning of the war, fighting Russians in Prussia.[17] In 1915, he had to stop due to rheumatism. Although he never held a command, he visited both the western and eastern fronts numerous times. Soldiers from his duchies were awarded the Carl-Eduard-Kriegskreuz.[9][14] In 1915, King George V, his cousin, ordered his name removed from the register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.[19][16]

In March 1917, the Landtag of Coburg excluded members of the ducal family from the succession if their country was hostile to (i.e. at war with) Germany.[14] In July 1917, still unaware of the change in law at Coburg, in an effort to distance his dynasty from its German origins, George V changed the name of the British Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor as an anti-German gesture.[20] That year, the UK Parliament passed the Titles Deprivation Act which empowered the Privy Council to investigate "any persons enjoying any dignity or title as a peer or British prince who have, during the present war, borne arms against His Majesty or His Allies, or who have adhered to His Majesty's enemies."[21]

Under the terms of that act, an Order in Council on 28 March 1919 formally removed Charles Edward's British peerages.[16] He and his children also lost their entitlement to the titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom and the styles Royal Highness and Highness.[22] Nevertheless, they retained the style of Highness as members of a sovereign ducal house in Germany.

Private citizen and Nazi politician

Charles Edward in 1933, as SA-Gruppenführer

Charles Edward (left) meeting the British Ambassador to Germany, Sir Nevile Henderson, in 1939. He had been at Eton with Henderson and this photograph may have been taken at a meeting of the Anglo-German Fellowship that Henderson addressed in May 1937, shortly after his appointment as British Ambassador.[23]

The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused Charles much concern and he watched anxiously during the ensuing power struggles between the left- and right-wing parties in Germany. On the morning of 9 November 1918, during the German Revolution the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha declared him deposed. On 11 November, his abdication was demanded in Coburg. Only on 14 November, later than most other ruling princes, did he formally announce that he had "ceased to rule" in both Gotha and Coburg. He did not explicitly renounce his throne[9] but no longer had a right to rule.[2][3]

Effectively exiled from the United Kingdom and fearful of the communist threat, he started looking for a new political home. He also worked towards the restoration of the monarchy, thus supporting the nationalistic-conservative and völkisch right.[24][9]

His properties and collections in Coburg were transferred in 1919 to the Coburger Landesstiftung, a foundation that still exists today. A similar solution for Gotha took longer and only after legal struggles with the Free State of Thuringia was it set up in 1928/34. The Gotha foundation was expropriated by the Soviet authorities after 1945.[9] After 1919, the family retained Schloss Callenberg, some other properties (including those in Austria) and a right to live at Veste Coburg; they also received substantial financial compensation for lost possessions. Some additional real estate in Thuringia was restored to the ducal family in 1925.[14]

Now a private citizen,[25] he became associated with various right-wing paramilitary and political organisations. He supported Hermann Ehrhardt both morally and financially after the Freikorps' commander's participation in the failed Kapp Putsch. Until 1922, Charles Edward was the head of the Preußenbund.[9]

He met Adolf Hitler for the first time on 14 October 1922 (at the Nazis' second Deutscher Tag held at Coburg). In 1923, he joined the Bund Wiking as Oberbereichsleiter in Thuringia. When the Wiking joined Der Stahlhelm, Charles Edward became a member of the Stahlhelm's national board.[9][14]

In 1932, Charles Edward's daughter Sibylla married Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, the eldest son of the Crown Prince of Sweden and second-in-line to the Swedish throne. The marriage meant that Sibylla would, in the normal course, become Queen of Sweden. The engagement was announced on 16 June 1932 and the wedding was celebrated on 19 October 1932. That same year (1932), Charles Edward took part in the creation of the Harzburg Front, through which the German National People's Party became associated with the Nazi Party. He also publicly called on voters to support Hitler in the presidential election of 1932. Charles Edward formally joined the Nazi Party in March 1933 and that same year became a member of the SA (Brownshirts), rising to the rank of Obergruppenführer by 1936.[26] He also served as a member of the Reichstag representing the Nazi Party from 1936–45 and as president of the German Red Cross from December 1933–45. By the time he took over this position, the German Red Cross had already been under the Nazis' control.[9][14]

In 1934, he visited Japan where he attended a conference on the protection of civilians during war and delivered Hitler's birthday greeting to the Emperor.[14] By 1936, he had agreed to be a spy for Hitler, while attending the funeral of George V at Sandringham, for example[27] but he was unreliable, according to a historian, "telling them what they wanted to hear".[28] Hitler also used him to encourage pro-Nazi sentiment among the Duke of Windsor and his wife.[29] Records indicate that Charles Edward received a monthly payment of 4,000 Reichsmark (worth about £16,000 in 2015) from the Führer.[30] Hitler sent Charles Edward to Britain as president of the Anglo-German Friendship Society. His mission was to improve Anglo-German relations and to explore the possibility of a pact between the two countries. He attended the funeral of his first cousin George V as Hitler's representative[31] in the uniform of a Stormtrooper (SA) general[32] of the German army, complete with a metal helmet;[33] (his British uniforms had been taken away when he was stripped of his British titles).[34] The Prince sent Hitler encouraging reports about the strength of pro-German sentiment among the British aristocracy and about the possibility of a Britain-Germany pact.[6] After the Abdication Crisis, he played host to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the former King-Emperor and his wife, during their private tour of Germany in 1937.

In 1940, Charles Edward travelled via Moscow and Japan to the US, where he met President Roosevelt at the White House. In 1943, at Hitler's behest, Charles Edward asked the International Red Cross to investigate the Katyn massacre.[14]

World War II

Burial site near Schloss Callenberg

Although Charles Edward was too old for active service during World War II, his three sons served in the Wehrmacht.[2] His second son, Hubertus, was killed in action in 1943 in a plane crash near Mosty.

When World War II ended, the American Military Government in Bavaria, under the command of General George S. Patton, placed Charles Edward under house arrest at his home, the vast Veste Coburg, because of his Nazi sympathies, which had been made obvious when he joined the SS.[35] As well, "Carl Edward's British network was very useful for Hitler," according to the German historian Karina Urbach, a senior fellow of the Institute of Historical Research. In a discussion with a journalist, Urbach said that she found evidence of Carl Edward donating generously to the Nazi party for years, financing political murders and being aware of the death camps in Buchenwald.[36] In 1945, the Führer ordered that he not be allowed to be captured because of the great deal of inside information that he possessed.[30] According to The Guardian he was aware of the death camps' work[17] and the programme that killed 100,000 disabled people.[37]

He was later imprisoned with other Nazi officials. His sister, Princess Alice, learning of his incarceration, came to Germany with her husband, the Earl of Athlone (then Governor General of Canada), to plead for his release with his American captors. They dined with the American generals holding her brother, who declined to release him.

Charles Edward was imprisoned until 1946. He was originally charged with crimes against humanity and the trial was held. Although he was exonerated of complicity in actual war crimes, he was judged to have been "an important Nazi". Only his failing health saved him from remaining in prison. Another factor for leniency towards him was that in April 1946, his daughter Sibylla had given birth to a son, the future King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who became, upon birth, third-in-line to the Swedish throne. In January 1947, Sybilla's husband died in a plane crash, and in October 1950, King Gustaf V of Sweden died, at which point Charles Edward's grandson became the Crown Prince of Sweden. In that same year 1950 (or August 1949, according to his Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry), after several appeals, Charles Edward was sentenced by a denazification court as a Mitläufer and Minderbelasteter (roughly: follower and of lesser guilt),[14] fined (DM 5,000) and almost bankrupted. Had he been convicted for the greater charge of "crimes against humanity," he would have been liable for a death sentence, and even otherwise, to criminalize the future king's grandfather for "crimes against humanity" would lead to major embarrassment in the immediate term and could have ramifications in years to come. The lesser sentence was therefore handed out.

Apart from being fined DM 5,000, Charles Edward also lost significant property as a result of his participation in World War II. Gotha was part of Thuringia and was therefore situated in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet Army confiscated much of the family's property in Gotha. However, Coburg had become part of Bavaria in 1920 and was occupied by American forces. The family were able to retain the substantial property located there and in other parts of Germany and abroad.

Late life and death

He spent the last years of his life in seclusion, forced into poverty by the fines he had been required to pay by the denazification tribunal[38] and because much of his property had been seized by the Russians.[6][39] In 1953, he watched the coronation of his cousin's granddaughter, Elizabeth II, at a local cinema.[12]

Charles Edward died of cancer in Coburg in his flat in Elsässer Straße on 6 March 1954[39] as a "penniless criminal" according to one report.[17] He was the penultimate ruling prince of the German Reich to die; only Ernst II of Saxe-Altenburg outlived him – see {in German) List of Princes of the German Empire. He is buried at the Waldfriedhof Cemetery (Waldfriedhof Beiersdorf) near Schloss Callenberg, in Beiersdorf near Coburg.[40]

More than twenty years after his death in indigent circumstances, his grandson became King of Sweden as King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 19 July 1884 – 30 July 1900: His Royal Highness The Duke of Albany
• 30 July 1900 – 28 March 1919: His Royal Highness The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• 28 March 1919 – 6 March 1954: His Highness The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Honours

• Ernestine duchies:
  • Joint Grand Master of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, 30 July 1900
  • Founder of the Carl Eduard War Cross, 19 July 1916[41]
•  United Kingdom:
  • GCVO: Honorary Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, 27 January 1901 (Expelled in 1915)[42]
  • KG: Knight of the Garter, 15 July 1902 (Expelled in 1915)[43]
•  Baden: Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1904[44]
•  Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1905 – wedding gift of King Leopold II[45]
•  Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 16 June 1906[46]
•  Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1906[47]
•  Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert, 1907[48]
•  Kingdom of Bulgaria:
  • Knight of Saints Cyril and Methodius, with Collar[49]
  • Order of Bravery, Grade III Class I[50]
•  Kingdom of Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle[49]
  • Grand Cross of the Red Eagle
  • Pour le Mérite
  • Grand Cross of the Iron Cross
  • Knight of Honour of the Johanniter Order[49]
•  Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown[49]
•  Sweden: Knight of the Seraphim, 20 October 1932[51][52]
•  Nazi Germany: NSDAP Long Service Award, 1st Class (25 years)

Arms

Coat of arms of Charles Edward

Charles Edward was never granted arms in the United Kingdom. Also, he did not inherit the arms of his father since royal arms, as a differenced version of Arms of Dominion, are granted individually and not inherited. On his accession as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he used the arms of that duchy, both the greater and lesser versions.

One variant that he used was a shield of the arms of Saxony, with a differenced version of the arms of the United Kingdom, charged with the label borne by his father on his father's arms (essentially, the arms of his father in reverse).[53] This was similar to the arms borne by his uncle, Alfred, as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which can be seen on his stall plate as a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Seraphim.[54]

In the media

In December 2007, Britain's Channel 4 aired an hour-length documentary about Charles Edward called Hitler's Favourite Royal,[17] including re-coloured original footage and photos from all stages of his private and public life, his troubled conversion to the National-Socialist regime and other aspects.[55] Various international historians commented on the events and issues revolving around his life, reminding the public of his existence and reviving public debate.[56]

Issue

Name	Birth	Death	Marriages
Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	2 August 1906	4 May 1972	(1) unequally, renouncing his rights to the headship of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), 9 March 1932, Baroness Feodora von der Horst; divorced 1962; had issue (2), 5 May 1963, Maria Theresia Reindl; no issue
Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	18 January 1908	28 November 1972	20 October 1932, Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, and had issue, including Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	24 August 1909	26 November 1943	killed near Mosty, no children
Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	22 June 1912	5 September 1983	married Friedrich Wolfgang Otto, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen (27 June 1906 – 11 June 1940) on 14 December 1931, divorced on 2 May 1938, and had issue. She married Flight Captain Max Schnirring (20 May 1895 – 7 July 1944) on 22 June 1938, and had issue. She married Karl Otto Andree (10 February 1912 – 1984) on 23 December 1946 and divorced on 10 October 1949.
Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha	29 November 1918	23 January 1998	(1), 25 January 1942, Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth; divorced 19 September 1947; had issue (2), 14 February 1948, Denyse Henrietta de Muralt; divorced 17 September 1964; had issue (3), 30 October 1964, Katrin Bremme; no issue

Ancestry

Ancestors of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

8. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 4. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 9. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg 2. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany 10. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn 5. Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom 11. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 1. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 12. Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont 6. Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont 13. Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym 3. Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont 14. Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau 7. Princess Helena of Nassau 15. Princess Pauline of Württemberg

Notes and references

1. "Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage". Burke's Peerage Limited. 31 December 1885. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
2. Winterbottom, Derek (31 July 2016). "The Grand Old Duke of York : A Life of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany 1763–1827". Pen and Sword. p. 181. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
3. Bouton, S. Miles (31 December 2017). "And the Kaiser Abdicates: the German Revolution November 1918-August 1919". Library of Alexandria. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
4. Titchmarsh, Alan (9 October 2014). "The Queen's Houses". Random House. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
5. "No. 31255". The London Gazette. 28 March 1919. p. 4000.
6. Callan, Paul (24 November 2007). "Hitler's puppet prince". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
7. Gossman, Lionel (31 December 2017). "Brownshirt Princess: A Study of the "Nazi Conscience"". Open Book Publishers. p. 67. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
8. Delaforce, Patrick (22 April 2017). "The Fourth Reich and Operation Eclipse". Fonthill Media. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
9. "Biografie Karl Eduard (German)". Bayerische Nationalbibliothek. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
10. Yvonne's Royalty Home Page—Royal Christenings Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, uniserve.com; accessed 16 May 2016.
11. Sandner, Harald (2004). "II.8.0 Herzog Carl Eduard". Das Haus von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha 1826 bis 2001 (in German). Andreas, Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (preface). 96450 Coburg: Neue Presse GmbH. p. 195. ISBN 3-00-008525-4. Der deutsche Emperor Wilhelm II. kümmert sich persönlich um ihn, Carl Eduard ist wiederholt Gast am Emperorlichen Hof in Berlin und wird der "siebte Sohn des Emperors" genannt.CS1 maint: location (link)
12. Hitler's Favourite Royal (Channel 4 documentary) 6 December 2007.
13. Countess of Athlone, Princess Alice (1966). For My Grandchildren: Some Reminiscences of Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, VA, GCVO, GBE, DLitt, LLD. London: Evans Brothers. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
14. Oltmann, Joachim (18 January 2001). "Seine Königliche Hoheit der Obergruppenführer (German)". Zeit Online. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
15. Countess of Athlone, Princess Alice (1966). For My Grandchildren. London: Evans Brothers. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
16. "Person Page". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
17. Mangan, Lucy (7 December 2007). "Last night's TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
18. Urbach, Karina (2015). Go-Betweens for Hitler. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 0191008672.
19. Weir, Alison (18 April 2011). "Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy". Random House. p. 314. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
20. Roberts, Andrew (31 December 2017). "The House of Windsor". University of California Press. p. 6. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
21. Lyon, Ann (10 June 2016). "Constitutional History of the UK". Routledge. p. 421. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
22. As a male-line grandson of the British Sovereign, Prince Charles Edward was a Prince of the United Kingdom with the qualification of Royal Highness, in accordance with Queen Victoria's Letters Patent of 30 January 1864 and of 27 May 1898. The suspension of his peerages under the Title Deprivation Act did not affect his place in the line of succession to the British throne. Under settled practice dating to 1714, his children, as legitimate male-line great-grandchildren of the British Sovereign, were Princes and Princesses of the United Kingdom with the qualification of Highness. However, their right to use these British titles and styles ceased with George V's Letters Patent of 30 November 1917.
23. See Henderson, Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937–1939, London 1940, p. 19.
24. Hitler's Favourite Royal (Channel 4 documentary), 6 December 2007.
25. The hereditary and legal privileges of the various German Royal, Princely, Ducal, and Noble families ended in August 1919 when the constitution of the Weimar Republic came into effect. The Weimar Republic did not ban the use of titles and the designations of nobility, unlike Austria: the Reichstag passed legislation that made the former royal and noble titles part of these families' surname. Legally, he became Carl Eduard, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha.
26. "Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918-1945, from the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry". U.S. Government Printing Office. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
27. Cadbury, Deborah (10 March 2015). "Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII". PublicAffairs. p. 53. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
28. Blakeway, Denys (13 May 2010). "The Last Dance: 1936: The Year Our Lives Changed". John Murray. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
29. Morton, Andrew (10 March 2015). "17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History". Grand Central Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
30. Editor, Nicholas Hellen, Social Affairs (26 July 2015). "Royal family's Nazi prince was on the Führer's payroll". Thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2017.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
31. Wilson, Jim (30 September 2011). "Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe". The History Press. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
32. Graddon, Nigel (1 June 2011). "The Mystery of U-33: Hitler's Secret Envoy". SCB Distributors. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
33. Moorhouse, Roger (18 July 2015). "Go Betweens for Hitler by Karina Urbach". Thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
34. Morton, Andrew (10 March 2015). "17 Carnations: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History". Grand Central Publishing. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
35. King, Greg (1 May 2011). "The Duchess Of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson". Kensington Publishing Corp. Retrieved 31 December 2017 – via Google Books.
36. O'Malley, J P (19 July 2015). "British archives hiding royal family's links to anti-Semitism in 1930s, says historian". Times of Israel. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
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Sources

• Büschel, Hubertus (2016). Hitlers adliger Diplomat. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt. ISBN 978-3100022615.
• Sandner, Harald (2010). Hitlers Herzog: Carl Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha: die Biographie. Aachen.

External links

Media related to Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at Wikimedia Commons

• Newspaper clippings about Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Cadet branch of the House of Wettin Born: 19 July 1884 Died: 6 March 1954
German nobility
Preceded by Alfred	Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 30 July 1900 – 14 November 1918	Abolished
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Vacant Title last held by Prince Leopold	Duke of Albany (creation of 1881) 1884–1919	Deprived
Titles in pretence
Loss of titles	— TITULAR — Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 14 November 1918 – 6 March 1954 Reason for succession failure: German Revolution of 1918–19	Succeeded by Prince Friedrich Josias
	— TITULAR — Duke of Albany 28 March 1919 – 6 March 1954 Reason for succession failure: Titles Deprivation Act 1917	Succeeded by Prince Johann Leopold