Charles Edward | |||||
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Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||||
Reign | 30 July 1900 – 14 November 1918 | ||||
Predecessor | Alfred | ||||
Born |
Claremont House, Surrey |
19 July 1884||||
Died | 6 March 1954 Coburg, West Germany |
(aged 69)||||
Burial | near Schloss Callenberg, Germany | ||||
Spouse | Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein | ||||
Issue | |||||
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House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | ||||
Father | Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany | ||||
Mother | Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont |
Full name | |
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Charles Edward George Albert Leopold German: Carl Eduard Georg Albert Leopold |
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (baptized 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 to 14 November 1918, and the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1900 until his death in 1954. A male-line grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he was also until 1919 a Prince of the United Kingdom and held the British titles of Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow.
The Duke 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. He was deprived of his British peerages, his title of Prince and Royal Highness and his British honours in 1919. In 1918, he was forced to abdicate his ducal throne. He later joined the Nazi Party, and served in a number of positions in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, including as President of the German Red Cross from 1933–45. He was the maternal grandfather of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and the younger brother of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.