Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Edward
Duke of Albany
Charles Edward in 1933 as SA-Gruppenführer
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Reign	30 July 1900 – 14 November 1918
Predecessor	Alfred
Successor	Monarchy abolished
Regent	Ernst (30 July 1900 – 19 July 1905)
Born	Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany (1884-07-19)19 July 1884 Surrey, England
Died	6 March 1954(1954-03-06) (aged 69) Coburg, West Germany
Spouse	Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein ​ ​ (m. 1905)​
Issue	Prince Johann Leopold Princess Sibylla Prince Hubertus Princess Caroline Mathilde [fr] Prince Friedrich Josias
Names Leopold Charles Edward George Albert
House	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father	Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany
Mother	Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Military career
Allegiance	German Empire (1900–1918) Nazi Germany (1933–1945)
Service/branch	German Army Wehrmacht Sturmabteilung (SA)
President of the German Red Cross
In office 1 December 1933 – 1945
Preceded by	Joachim von Winterfeldt-Menkin [de]
Succeeded by	Otto Gessler

Charles Edward (Leopold Charles Edward George Albert;^{[note 1]} 19 July 1884 – 6 March 1954) was at various points in his life a British prince, a German duke and a Nazi politician. He was the last ruling duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a state of the German Empire, from 30 July 1900 to 14 November 1918. He was later given multiple positions in the Nazi regime, including leader of the German Red Cross, and acted as an unofficial diplomat for the German government.

Charles Edward's parents were Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont. His paternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Prince Leopold died before his son's birth. Charles Edward was born in Surrey, England, and brought up as a British prince. The boy was a sickly child who developed a close relationship with his grandmother and his only sibling, Alice. He was privately educated, including at Eton College. In 1899, the Prince was selected to succeed to the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha because he was deemed young enough to be re-educated as a German. He moved to Germany at the age of 15. Between 1899 and 1905, Charles Edward was put through various forms of education, guided by his cousin, German emperor Wilhelm II.

The Prince ascended the ducal throne in 1900 but reigned through a regency until 1905. In 1905, he married Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. The couple had five children, including Sibylla, the mother of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. The Duke was a conservative ruler with an interest in art and technology. He tried to emphasise his loyalty to his adopted country through various symbolic gestures. Still, his continued close association with the United Kingdom was off-putting both to his subjects and to the German elite. He chose to support the German Empire during the First World War. The Duke had a disability and assisted the Imperial German Army without participating in combat. He was deposed during the German Revolution like the other German princes. He also lost his British titles due to his decision to side against the British Empire.

During the 1920s, the former Duke became a moral and financial supporter of violent far-right paramilitary groups in Germany. By the early 1930s, he was supporting the Nazi Party and joined it in 1933. Charles Edward helped to promote eugenicist ideas which provided a basis for the murder of many disabled people. He was involved in attempting to shift opinion among the British upper class in a more pro-German direction. His attitudes became more pro-Nazi during the Second World War, though it is unclear how much of a political role he played. After the war, he was interned for a period and was given a minor conviction by a denazification court. He died of cancer in 1954.

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