Andreas | |
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Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |
Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |
Tenure | 23 January 1998 – present |
Predecessor | Friedrich Josias |
Heir apparent | Hubertus |
Born | Schloss Casel, Lower Lusatia, Nazi Germany | 21 March 1943
Spouse | Carin Dabelstein (m. 1971;died 2023) |
Issue | Princess Stephanie Hereditary Prince Hubertus Prince Alexander |
House | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
Father | Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
Mother | Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth |
Signature |
Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony (Andreas Michael Friedrich Hans Armin Siegfried Hubertus Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha Herzog von Sachsen; born 21 March 1943) is a German landowner and nobleman who has been the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha since 1998.
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. Friedrich Josias was a son of Charles Edward, the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Also, via Charles Edward, Andreas is a first cousin of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (and is the godfather of Carl Gustaf's younger daughter, Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland).
Andreas's parents divorced in 1946. In 1949, he moved to New Orleans in the United States, where he spent his childhood with his mother and her second husband, Richard Whitten. [1]
Prince Andreas became heir apparent to the headship of the ducal house on 6 March 1954, when his father became the head. From the age of 16, Andreas made regular visits to Germany in preparation for his future role as head of the ducal house, permanently returning in 1965. He completed his military service between 1966 and 1968 in the Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion 6 based in Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein. [2] After leaving the army, Andreas trained as a timber merchant in Hamburg from 1969 to 1971.
Prince Andreas succeeded to the headship of the ducal house upon his father's death on 23 January 1998. [3]
In 2006, Prince Andreas created the Ducal Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Order, which is based on the extinct Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order.
Prince Andreas is the owner of Callenberg Castle in Coburg and Greinburg Castle in Grein, Austria. He manages the family estates including farms, forests and real estate. [4]
In Hamburg civilly on 18 June and religiously on 31 July 1971, Prince Andreas married Carin Dabelstein (b. Hamburg, 16 July 1946, d. Coburg, 11 November 2023), [5] daughter of Adolf Wilhelm Martin Dabelstein, manufacturer and merchant, and wife Irma Maria Margarete Callsen. [6] The marriage, although unequal, is not morganatic, as it was authorized by Andreas's father.
They have three children, who inherit the ducal styles and titles:
Ancestors of Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was an Ernestine duchy in Thuringia ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present-day states of Thuringia and Bavaria in Germany. It lasted from 1826 to 1918. In November 1918, Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, was forced to abdicate. In 1920, the northern part of the duchy was merged with six other Thuringian free states to form the Free State of Thuringia: Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Meiningen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, as well as the People's State of Reuss. The southern part of the duchy, as southernmost of the Thuringian states, was the only one which, after a referendum, became part of the Free State of Bavaria.
The House of Wettin was a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its origins can be traced back to the town of Wettin, Saxony-Anhalt. The Wettins gradually rose to power within the Holy Roman Empire. Members of the family became the rulers of several medieval states, starting with the Saxon Eastern March in 1030. Other states they gained were Meissen in 1089, Thuringia in 1263, and Saxony in 1423. These areas cover large parts of Central Germany as a cultural area of Germany.
Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a member of the Swedish royal family and the mother of the current king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf.
The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is a European royal house. It takes its name from its oldest domain, the Ernestine duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and its members later sat on the thrones of Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal, and the United Kingdom and its dominions.
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in 1699, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of the Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha line in 1825, in which the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld line received Gotha, but lost Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen.
Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the head of the Ducal Family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and titular Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1954 until his death. He was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria.
Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the consort of Duke Charles Edward from their marriage on 11 October 1905 until his abdication on 14 November 1918.
Alexander Prinz von Sachsen, is the nephew, adopted son and heir of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, and a businessman. Following the death of Maria Emanuel in July 2012 he assumed the headship of the Royal House of Saxony, based on a 1997 agreement that named him heir, but which was repudiated a few years later by a number of signatories. His claim is disputed by his cousin Prince Daniel of Saxony.
Ernst Leopold Eduard Wilhelm Josias Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha was the second child and eldest son of Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Feodora Freiin von der Horst.
Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was a German courier pilot and a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, which reigned over the eponymous duchy in the German Empire. Born a prince of Great Britain and Ireland as a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, Hubertus lost this title during the First World War. He became heir apparent to the headship of his house in 1932, and he never married. Hubertus joined the Nazi Party upon the outbreak of the Second World War despite his opposition to Adolf Hitler and Nazism. He served in the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front until he was killed in action.
Hubertus Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha is the eldest son of Ernst-Leopold Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha and his first wife, Ingeborg Henig.
Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg by birth and a member of the House of Solms Baruth and Countess of Solms Baruth through her marriage to Count Hans of Solms-Baruth.
Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth was a German noblewoman.
Schloss Rosenau, called in English The Rosenau or Rosenau Palace, is a former castle, converted into a ducal country house, near the town of Rödental, formerly in Saxe-Coburg, now lying in Bavaria, Germany.
The Saxe-Ernestine House Order was an order of merit instituted by Duke Friedrich of Saxe-Altenburg, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Duke Bernhard II of Saxe-Meiningen on 25 December 1833 as a joint award of the Saxon duchies.
St. Augustine's Church is a parish church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bamberg located in the Bavarian town of Coburg, Germany. It was built between 1856 and 1860. Originally designed in the Gothic Revival style, the church was remodelled in 1960 due to a liturgical reform. There is a crypt under the church that contains the remains of fifteen members of the Koháry branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a Roman Catholic branch of the originally Protestant ducal house.
Callenberg Castle is a schloss on a wooded hill in Beiersdorf, an Ortsteil of Coburg, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the town centre. It was a hunting lodge and summer residence and has long been the principal residence of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. It is currently owned by Andreas, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who created the Ducal Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Order. A large and architecturally important family chapel is contained within.
Morizkirche is a Protestant church dedicated to Saint Maurice in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany, and is the town's oldest church. Its earliest remaining structures date back to the 14th century, which superseded a church from the 12th century. Martin Luther is known to have given several sermons there in 1530 A.D. This church currently houses the family tomb of the Dukes of Coburg. In modern times, Morizkirche serves as the main church for the congregation of St. Moriz. Due to the height of its towers, the church is one of the landmarks of Coburg. It is also one of the most important Luther memorial sites in southern Germany.
Kelly Jeanne Prinzessin von Saxe-Coburg und Gotha, born Kelly Jeanne Rondestvedt, is an American investment banker. She is married to Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the heir apparent to the defunct House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Hereditary Duke of Saxony, is a German nobleman who is the heir apparent to the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha since 1998.