Coburg has been home to many famous personalities. Did you know that Prince Albert and the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland had nine children together? Or that the Waltz King, Johann Strauss, was a resident of the town?
HISTORY & PERSONALITIES
Coburg has been home to many famous personalities. Did you know that Prince Albert and the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland had nine children together? Or that the Waltz King, Johann Strauss, was a resident of the town?
A duchy makes world history
Royal heritage
The dukes of Coburg came from the House of Wettin, one of the oldest and most powerful German noble families. Wettin rule over the Coburg region began in 1353 and lasted until 1918. The independent Duchy of Saxe-Coburg under Duke Johann Casimir was created through partible inheritance in 1572 from the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin. The actual Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld with Coburg as a Residenzstadt, or a city in which the sovereign ruler resided, was formed in 1735. The Duchy was of relatively little historical significance during its first two centuries of existence. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 19th century that this changed. Other dynasties used their power and influence to expand or strengthen their position through military force. In contrast, the small Duchy of Coburg succeeded through peaceful means and in a relatively short amount of time in becoming a “European dynasty”. Like the Habsburgs, Coburg lived by the motto: “Others may wage war. You, fortunate Coburg, marry!” This is how sons, daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Coburg ducal family ascended to the thrones of European royal dynasties and reigned over the course of the 19th century - some still to this day.
Victoria & Albert
Dream couple of the 19th century
Their marriage was a happy one - a love match that was rare among the European royal courts in the second half of the 19th century. Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland and her Prince Consort Albert, who was also her first cousin, married on February 10, 1840. The marriage of Victoria and Albert was in fact arranged - contrived by their uncle, King Leopold I of Belgium. But the desired success did come after some “initial difficulties”. Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the second son of Duke Ernest I, was born at Rosenau Palace near Coburg in August 1819. On his second visit to London in October 1839, he has the opportunity to charm the spirited, fun-loving and rather fastidious (when it came to men) Victoria. She later writes in her diary that Albert was beautiful. Shortly thereafter Victoria makes a marriage proposal to her three month younger cousin, which he readily accepts. This alliance would make Prince Albert one of the most important men of the 19th century. Like no other person, he represented German-British cultural exchange and a politics that strived for peace.
Good to know
Martin Luther
From April to October 1530, Coburg Fortress (Veste Coburg) was home to Martin Luther. As the reformer approached the fortress on foot, he summarised his first impressions as follows:
"It is a perfectly charming place and suitable for studying."
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