Founded by Ernest Anton, the sixth Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld following the Treaty of Hildburghausen on 12th November 1826 and the extensive rearrangements of the Duchies under the arbitration of the King of Saxony, it became the royal house of a number of European monarchies. Branches currently reign in Belgium through the descendants of Leopold I and in the United Kingdom through the descendants of Prince Albert. Due to anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I, King George V changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917. The same happened in 1920 in Belgium, where the name was changed to de Belgique (French) or van België (Dutch) or von Belgien (German) meaning "of Belgium".
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Ernest Anton's eldest son, also Ernest, succeeded to Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as Ernest II in 1844 but died childless in 1893. As his nearest heirs were the sons of his younger brother, Prince Albert, but who were heirs to the British Throne, a house law was introduced whereby the Duchy became a secundogeniture, i.e. hereditary among the younger princes. This devolved through Victoria and Albert's second son, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, who also died childless. Arthur, Duke of Connaught, renounced his rights for himself and his family and so the Duchy devolved to the son of the next brother, Leopold. |
The present head of the ducal branch is Andreas, the grandson of Charles Edward, the last reigning Duke who, as Grandson of Queen Victoria, was covered in a previous Blog. Since the Duchy was abolished in 1918, the heads use the title Prince rather than Duke. Prince Andreas was born at Schloss Casel in Lower Lusatia to Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the former Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth, who divorced in 1946. In 1949 he moved to the USA, where he spent most of his childhood with his mother, her second husband, Richard Whitten, and his half-sister. The Ducal Coat of Arms remain the typical complicated arrangement as shown above and as confirmed on Prince Andreas's website (www.prinzandreas.com). Strangely, it is the Coburg city website (www.stadtgeschichte-coburg.de) which maintains that the family Coat of Arms is the simpler version which Charles Edward used of Saxony with Leopold Duke of Albany's Shield as an Inescutcheon on top. |
Alfred's nephew and successor Charles Edward did the same but with his father, Prince Leopold's Arms on the Inescutcheon, as shown above. Even though Charles Edward's British titles were taken off him with the troubles of the First World war, Charles Edward's personal Coat of Arms remains the family Arms of the now Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Portugal
Members of the Royal House held the Portuguese title of Infante/Infanta of Portugal, as well as the German titles of Prince/ss of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke/Duchess of Saxony. On 15th November 1853, Queen Maria II died and Fernando's 'reign' came to an end. Their eldest son succeeded to the throne as Pedro V, the first king of the Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Dynasty, and Fernando served as regent until 1855.
The dynasty remained on the Throne until the outbreak in Portugal of the 5th October 1910 revolution when King Manuel II of Portugal, Fernando's Great-Grandson, was deposed and the Portuguese First Republic was established.
Fernando/Ferdinand's Coat of Arms are shown as Saxony (simple) marshalled with Portugal for his wife. Although he was nominally King, the Arms are personal as Maria reigned by right of birth. However, unlike Prince Albert in the UK, Ferdinand did not give his name to the Dynasty officially. The name Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Dynasty was not widely used in Portugal and the Saxony Arms were not incorporated with the Royal Arms of Portugal.
Bulgaria
This Ferdinand was the Great-Nephew of Ernest Anton and Nephew of the Ferdinand who married Queen Maria of Portugal. Alexander of Battenberg had abdicated in 1886 after a pro-Russian coup, only seven years after he had been elected. Ferdinand, who was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army, was elected Prince of autonomous Bulgaria by its Grand National Assembly on 7th July 1887 in the Gregorian calendar. In desperate attempts to prevent Russian occupation of Bulgaria, the throne had been previously offered, before Ferdinand's acceptance, to princes from Denmark to the Caucasus and even to the King of Romania. The Russian Tsar's candidate was rejected by the Bulgarians. Ferdinand's accession was greeted with disbelief in many of the royal houses of Europe; Queen Victoria, his father's first cousin, stated to her Prime Minister, "He is totally unfit ... delicate, eccentric and effeminate ... Should be stopped at once." To the amazement of his initial detractors, Ferdinand generally made a success during the first two decades of his reign but the remainder would be overshadowed by the First World War. He abdicated in 1918.
The Royal Coat of Arms of Bulgaria are shown at the top of this section with the golden Lion, the most widespread symbol of the country, shown on a red background. Alexander of Battenberg incorporated his personal Arms with a quartered Shield whilst Prince, whereas Ferdinand placed the Shield of Saxony (simple) as an Inescutcheon over the Bulgarian Lion. The Princely Motto - ВЂРНОСТЬ И ПОСТОЯНСTВО - means Faithful and Firm. The Inescutcheon was dropped when Bulgaria was declared a Kingdom. Surprisingly, after the fall of the Communist regime, the Royal Arms were re-adopted even though the Monarchy was not restored. The Royal Mottto - СЪЕДИНЕНИЕТО ПРАВИ СИЛАТА - means Unity makes Strength. The Dynasty remains Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Simeon II carries Сакскобургготски (pronounced Sakskoburggotski in Bulgarian) as a surname. |
Ferdinand's Grandson, Tsar Simeon II, reigned as a child during World War II and later served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2001 to 2005 as one of only two former monarchs in history to have become the head of government through democratic elections. Simeon II has never formally renounced his claim to the Bulgarian throne and used the title "Tsar of the Bulgarians" in his political statements during his exile. Since his return to Bulgaria, however, Simeon has consistently declined to reveal his views on the restoration of the Bulgarian monarchy, notwithstanding the name of his party. His triumph in the 2001 elections raised the question of a possible restoration, but upon taking office as prime minister, he took an oath to protect the country's republican constitution |
This is Simeon II's alledged Personal Coat of Arms. It is reproduced here by Glasshouse on Wikipedia (with elements from Sodacan), the source being given as the website www.heraldika-bg.org/vladetelski_gerb.htm They are basically the Quarters of the Arms of his Grandparents - Saxony (Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Savoy (Victor Emmanuel III of Italy), Bourbon-Parma (Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma) and Petrović-Njegoš (Princess Elena of Montenegro) - even though neither of Simeon's Grandmothers were heraldic heiresses. There is an Inescutcheon for Bulgaria and the Shield is topped with the Bulgarian Royal Crown and the fringed Bulgarian colours. The Chains around the Shield represent the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius and the Royal Order of Saint Alexander. |
Belgium
Leopold was Ernest Anton's brother and both were brothers to Victoria, Queen Victoria's mother. Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon's defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom where he continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain even after Charlotte Augusta's death.
After the Greek War of Independence (1821–32), Leopold was offered the crown of Greece but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious. Instead, Leopold accepted the kingship of the newly established Kingdom of Belgium in 1831. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his diplomatic connections with royal houses across Europe, and because, as the British-backed candidate, he was not affiliated with other powers, such as France, which were believed to have territorial ambitions in Belgium which might threaten the European balance of power created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
Leopold took his oath as King of the Belgians on 21st July 1831, an event commemorated annually as Belgian National Day. His reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between liberals and Catholics. As a Protestant, Leopold was considered liberal and encouraged economic modernisation. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to slightly expand the monarch's powers during his reign. He also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium.
Leopold's personal Arms as King show the Saxony Inescutcheon on top of the Belgian Lion. As shown in the previous Blog, there are various versions with the Inescutcheon of Belgium on top of Leopold's personal Arms as granted to him by the Prince Regent - a five-pointed Label with a red Rose on the central Point to mirror his first wife Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, as shown here from Wikipedia/JMvanDijk with contributors Sodacan (lion) and Jimmy44 (Saxony Arms). However, the full Coat of Arms as shown above seems to have settled as the norm. The family Arms remained as such until the First World War and, as happened in the United Kingdom in 1917, the German surname/Dynasty name (as mentioned above) and Saxony shield were dropped in 1920 due to strong resentment towards Germany. |
United Kingdom
However, the two needed little outside encouragement. Whilst not a love-match from the very beginning, Victoria and Albert soon fell in love as their meetings progressed. In 1836, even before she became Queen, Victoria wrote:
Albert, who is just as tall as Ernest [his elder Brother], but stouter, is extremely handsome; his hair is about the same colour as mine; his eyes are large & blue, & he has a beautiful nose, & a very sweet mouth with fine teeth; but the charm of his countenance is his expression, which is most delightful; c’est a la fois, full of goodness & sweetness, & very clever & intelligent.
Even in my dreams, I never imagined that I would find so much love on Earth.
Quarterly, 1st and 4th, the Royal Arms, with overall a label of three points Argent charged on the centre with cross Gules; 2nd and 3rd, Barry of ten Or and Sable, a crown of rue in bend Vert.
1. "A bull's head caboshed Gules armed and ringed Argent, crowned Or, the rim chequy Gules and Argent" for Mark. 2. "Out of a coronet Or, two buffalo's horns Argent, attached to the outer edge of each five branches fesswise each with three linden leaves Vert" for Thuringia. 3. "Out of a coronet Or, a pyramidal chapeau charged with the arms of Saxony ensigned by a plume of peacock's feathers Proper out of a coronet also Or" for Saxony. 4. "A bearded man in profile couped below the shoulders clothed paly Argent and Gules, the pointed coronet similarly paly terminating in a plume of three peacock's feathers" for Meissen. 5. "A demi griffin displayed Or, winged Sable, collared and langued Gules" for Jülich. 6. "Out of a coronet Or, a panache of peacock's feathers Proper" for Berg.
Heraldically, Albert's biggest legacy was that his Saxony Shield was carried as a dynastic Inescutcheon on the Arms of all his descendants until the change of name of the Dynasty to Windsor during World War I. Also until 1917, all of Victoria and Albert's descendants in the male line were Duke or Duchess of Saxony. The Achievement shown here is the pre-marital/personal Coat of Arms for his first-born child, also Victoria, who would become Princess Royal and Empress of German/Queen of Prussia, showing her own Label. He also gave his name to the next House which technically only lasted from 1901 till 1917. |
Curved or straight...?
The English Blason is simply:
Barry of ten sable and or, a Crancelin vert
Legend has it that the then emperor, Frederick I Barbarossa, took the chaplet of rue he was wearing at the investiture of Bernhard, Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, as Duke of Saxony and placed it over the corner of Bernhard's shield. To commemorate this act, the Crancelin vert was added to the Ballenstedt black and yellow striped Arms.
To me, the English description of what is essentially a German heraldic element, is rather inadequate as a 'band of a stylised trefoil leaves, representing a branch of common rue' would seem to imply a chaplet or wreath, like laurels at the Olympics, whereas the usual depiction definitely looks like the section of a Coronet.
Germans call the Crancelin a Rautenkranz and it is described as thus:
A decorative strip which is covered with green leaves and similar to the segment of a crown.