Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (German: Viktoria Adelheid Helene Luise Marie Friederike; 31 December 1885 – 3 October 1970) 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.
Victoria Adelaide's marriage to Charles Edward was arranged by German emperor, Wilhelm II. She was chosen for her perceived political loyalty to the Imperial German government and her symbolic significance as a German wife for the British-born duke. She was seen as unpretentious and gained popularity among the people of the Duchy. After his forced abdication in 1918, Charles Edward became an enthusiastic supporter of Nazism. Sources differ on how enthusiastically Victoria Adelaide supported these beliefs.
Early life
Princess Victoria Adelaide's birthplace Grünholz Castle, photographed in 2010.
A report in the Alcester Chronicle, a British local newspaper, published in 1909, commented that Victoria Adelaide and her sisters had been allowed by their father to learn a women's occupation in case they ever needed to support themselves. According to the report, Victoria Adelaide had gained a qualification from the "Berlin Royal School of Cookery".[1]
Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
The Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 11 October 1905.
Victoria Adelaide was described, in her grandson's memoirs, as the leading part of the marriage and the Duke would initially come to her for advice.[citation needed] Victoria Adelaide was well-liked and seen as open to ordinary people. She often walked around her husband's territories talking to people and knew many members of the local population.[6][4] She and her husband had five children born between 1906 and 1918: Prince Johann Leopold (1906—1972), Princess Sibylla (1908—1972), Prince Hubertus (1909—1943), Princess Caroline Mathilde (1912—1983), and Prince Friedrich Josias (1918—1998).[7] As was the norm among families of their social class at the time, caring for the children was mainly delegated to domestic servants. The family often spoke English at home.[6]
Later life
The family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1918, the Duke was forced to abdicate his ducal throne, following the end of World War I, forcing the family to become private citizens.[8] Charles Edward was an early and fervent supporter of Adolf Hitler.[9] At a 1929 local election in Coburg, Victoria Adelaide attended Nazi party campaign events alongside her husband.[4] According to some accounts, she initially shared her husband's enthusiasm and patriotism but came to loathe the Nazi Party following the Nazi seizure of power. She defied her husband by supporting the German Evangelical Church Confederation against the antisemitic German Christians.[9] However, Urbach describes this version of events as a "family myth". She states that Victoria Adelaide's views aligned with her husband's and the former duchess maintained her support for Nazism into the postwar period.[4] In an interview shortly after the war ended she said her husband had been motivated by patriotism and "stumbled on his own idealism".[6] A report in the local newspaper, marking Victoria Adelaide's 80th birthday in 1965, described her warmly commenting that
It will never be forgotten that the Duchess — a niece of the German Empress Augusta Viktoria — was never afraid to go shopping for herself and others at the market with a handle basket, or after 1945 to go shopping by bicycle from Callenberg Castle... [to] Coburg. Because of this self-evident simplicity, the Coburgers count her among their own. They never forget what they owe to their former duchess.[10]
married (1; unequally, renouncing his rights to the headship of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), 9 March 1932, Feodora, Baroness von der Horst; divorced 1962; had issue (2), 5 May 1963, Maria Theresa Reindl; no issue[2]
Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
22 June 1912
5 September 1983
married (1), 14 December 1931, Friedrich Wolfgang Otto, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen; divorced 2 May 1938; had issue (2), 22 June 1938, Captain Max Schnirring; he died 1944; had issue (3), 23 December 1946, Karl Otto "Jim" Andrée; divorced 1949; no issue[2]
married (1), 25 January 1942, Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth; divorced 19 September 1947; had issue (2), 14 February 1948, Denyse Henriette de Muralt; divorced 17 September 1964; had issue (3), 30 October 1964, Katherine Bremme; no issue[2]
Ancestry
Ancestors of Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein
^Büschel, Hubertus (2016). Hitlers adliger Diplomat [Hitler's Royal Diplomat] (in German). S. Fischer Verlag. p. 56. ISBN9783100022615.
^ abcRushton, Alan R. (2018). Charles Edward of Saxe-Coburg: The German Red Cross and the Plan to Kill "Unfit" Citizens 1933-1945. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 17, 170. ISBN9781527513402.
^Facius, Friedrich (1977). "Karl Eduard". Neue Deutsche Biographie.
^ abPriesner, Rudolf (1977). Herzog Carl Eduard zwischen Deutschland und England: eine tragische Auseinandersetzung (in German). Hohenloher Druck- und Verlagshaus. pp. 90, 94. ISBN3873540630.
^""Erste Bürgerin" und Landesmutter. Herzogin Viktoria Adelheid 80 Jahre alt" [“First citizen” and mother of the country — Duchess Viktoria Adelheid 80 years old]. Coburger Tagesblatt (in German). 1 January 1966.
The generations include wives of princes descended from George I, who formalised the use of the titles prince and princess for members of the British royal family.
