Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Carl Eduard arrested by Yanks

June 8, 1945

Radio Luxembourg, acccording to Reuters, reported tonight that  SS Obergruppenführer Carl Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a grandson of Queen Victoria, has been arrested by United States forces.

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg, 61, was born in England, several months after the death of his father, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.  His mother was Princess Helen of Waldeck und Pyrmont, sister of Queen Emma of the Netherlands.   He was educated at Eton, but was sent to Germany for further education after the death of the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the only son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was Victoria's second son, and also known as the Duke of Edinburgh.  The next in line to the Coburg throne was the Duke of Connaught, but he and his son, Prince Arthur, renounced their rights to the Coburg throne, thus allowing for the young Duke of Albany to become the heir to the throne.   He succeeded his uncle in 1900, and reigned until 1918.

In 1917, he was stripped of his British peerages. For many years,  the Duke represented the German Red Cross.  He was also the head of the Anglo-German Friendship Society, and made several visits to London before the war.   

The Duke's older sister is Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.   He is married to Princess Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein, a niece of the late Empress Auguste Vikoria, consort of Wilhelm II.  One daughter, Sibylla, is married to Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden.

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