THE EARLY YEARS

OF

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS

THE PRINCE CONSORT.

1819-1841.

CHAPTER I.

1819-1823.

THE SAXE-COBURG FAMILY-BIRTH AND EARLY INFANCY OF

THE PRINCES-BIRTH OF PRINCESS VICTORIA—LETTERS

FROM THE DUCHESS OF COBURG-AND

FROM THE

DOWAGER DUCHESSES OF COBURG AND OF GOTHA.

PRINCE ALBERT was descended from the Ernestine, or elder, branch of the great Saxon family. That branch had, however, lost its birthright in the course of the 16th century. Frederic the Wise, Elector of Saxony, had been the protector of Martin Luther, and was one of the first to embrace the doctrines of the

Reformed Church, of which he was the most

powerful supporter. His immediate successors adhered to the same religious opinions, and after the defeat of John Frederic the Magnanimous, by Charles V., at Mühlberg, in 1547, they paid the penalty of their devotion to the Protestant faith, in the forced surrender of their inheritance to the younger, or Albertine, branch of the family, by the descendants of which the Saxon throne is still occupied.

It is not easy to trace the arrangement by which, on losing the Electorate, now the Kingdom of Saxony, the Ernestine branch acquired the several Duchies still possessed by its descendants. It would be still more difficult to follow out the laws of succession-the intermarriages, &c., leading to the redistribution or interchange of territory -in consequence of which these different Duchies came into the possession now of this, now of that member of the family. The custom of dividing and subdividing their inheritance amongst their sons seems long to have prevailed with these Saxon Dukes. Thus the Dukedoms of Saxe-GothaAltenburg, of Saxe-Meiningen, of Saxe-Hildburghausen, and of Saxe-Coburg - Saalfeld were, on the death, in 1679, of Ernest the

Pious, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Coburg and greatgrandson of the last Elector of the Ernestine branch, John Frederic the Magnanimous, divided severally amongst his sons. Of these, the eldest, Frederic, inherited the Duchies of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, while that of SaxeCoburg-Saalfeld fell to the share of the youngest, John Ernest, the immediate ancestor of our Prince.

Francis Joseph, son and successor of John Ernest, had four sons, of whom the eldest, Ernest Frederic, succeeded him as reigning Duke in 1764; while the third, Frederic, having greatly distinguished himself in the Austrian service, was made a Field-Marshal, and commanded the allied armies in the Netherlands for some time in the beginning of the French revolutionary war.1

Ernest Frederic was succeeded, in 1800, by Francis Frederic, his eldest son, who died in 1806, leaving three sons and four daughters.

1. Ernest, the father of our Prince, who succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg

1 An interesting notice of this generation of the family, and particularly of the Field-Marshal, will be found in Appendix A. pp. 369 et seqq., containing the Reminiscences of the King of the Belgians.

Saalfeld, under the title of Ernest I. To this inheritance, by a family arrangement made in 1825, on the death of Frederic IV., the last male descendant of Frederic Duke of SaxeGotha-Altenburg eldest son of Ernest the Pious above mentioned, and confirmed in November 1826, he added the Duchy of Gotha. But in accordance with the same arrangement, he had to surrender the Duchy of Saalfeld to the Duke of Meiningen-SaxeAltenburg being, at the same time, separated from the Duchy of Gotha, and given to the Duke of Hildburghausen, who assumed the former title, Hildburghausen itself being also added to the territory of the Duke of Meiningen.

2. Ferdinand George, who married the heiress of the Prince of Kohary in Hungary, and whose son became King Consort of Portugal by his marriage with Queen Donna Maria II. of that kingdom.

3. Leopold, the late King of the Belgians. Duke Francis also left four daughters.

1. Sophia, who, after refusing many eligible proposals of marriage of her own rank, married, in 1804, Count Mensdorff-Pouilly, who, emigrating from France at the Revolution, attained high rank and distinction in the