Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

[LouisFerdinand]

Ernest II (1818-1893) reigned as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1844 to 1893. 
He was the older brother of Prince Albert, the spouse of Queen Victoria of England.   
After King Otto of Greece was deposed in 1862, the British government suggested Ernest to become the monarch of Greece. Ernest did not wish to give up his ducal throne.

[LouisFerdinand]

Ernest's father, Ernest I, wanted him to consider a Russian Grand Duchess as a possible wife.     
Dowager Queen Maria Christina of Spain considered Ernest as a possible husband for her daughter, Queen Isabella II.

[Curryong]

Whoever Ernest II had for a wife he wouldn't have made her a good husband. Ernest Jnr took after Papa in his womanising ways. His wife was a good and compliant person who never had any children most probably because Ernst infected her with an STD. She blamed herself for their childlessness, and closed her eyes to Ernst's infidelity which sometimes took place under her nose. His brother Albert was by contrast extremely straitlaced and chaste for the times, and of course he was married at the age of twenty.

[amabel]

Is there any evidence that Ernest infected her with an STD wihc cuased her childlessness?  its possible that she was not vry fertile, or that he wasnt'.  Did he have any children iwht his mistresses?

[Curryong]

Ernst was suffering from a venereal disease before his marriage to Alexandrine of Baden in May 1842. For some time Albert had been urging matrimony on his brother. However, after learning of the venereal disease, he urged him to wait until he was 'cured'. We don't know whether Ernst was cured by the time he married. Alexandrine was absolutely devoted to Ernst in a way that astonished everyone, including Queen Victoria.

Of course there is no out and out evidence that Ernst's venereal disease was the cause of Alexandrine being barren. She was probably not even told about the disease. However, we know that in other cases, Rudolf and Stephanie of Austria for example, it did have that effect.

Ernst had several illegitimate children. However, in the early years of his marriage he may well have still been contagious. He lost interest in his wife after several years and probably wasn't sleeping with her at the time he had two mistresses at Court.

Alexandrine would trail after Ernst, calling out plaintively, 'Ernst, my treasure...' On one occasion Sergei of Russia and his wife Ella were visiting. Sergei began calling the phrase out in a high pitched voice. He didn't realise, but Ella suddenly did, that Ernst was approaching from another direction. They fled to another room where Ella burst into laughter but Sergei was worried they would be overheard. 

[amabel]

Mm sounds like it may have affected her then.  I didn't know he had illegitimate children.  Never liked albert either so I haven't taken much interest in the Coburg side of the family. And honestly Alexandrine does sound very foolish.  I don't think Ernest was an attractive guy from what I've heard, it wasn't like he was a charming handsome rake.. so if Alex was all soppy over him, she does sound idiotic.
She could have just treated him politely and got on wit her own life.  It was of course a limited one...and probably unlike Q ALexandra in Britian she wasn't permited the lilte "indulgence" of havinga  "platonic admirer" to console her...

[LouisFerdinand]

Are there any commentaries how Ernest II got along with his father-in-law, Leopold I of Baden?

[Curryong]

I've never read that Leopold I quarrelled with his son in law. Ernst was known as a womaniser from his teens but Monarchs in the earlier 19th century often took a more tolerant view of sexual shenanigans by young men.

After marriage Alexandrine seemed perfectly happy and so, even though people like Victoria and Albert and the Tsarina Alexandra would be particularly careful to not marry their daughters off to roues, I don't think it was such a matter of concern to an earlier generation.

Anyway, Leopold had other things to worry about. His eldest son and heir was unfit to rule and so regency arrangements had to be made, and, although Leopold was a liberal monarch in his politics he was briefly exiled from Baden in the Year of Revolutions, 1848.

[LouisFerdinand]

What exactly did Leopold I of Baden do to be exiled? Was Ernest II involved?

[Curryong]

Leopold was briefly exiled because in 1848, the Year of Revolutions, Baden was a centre of dissension and discontent. The Year began with the fleeing to England of King Louis Philippe of France after riots in Paris. He abdicated Insurrections then spread through many of the disparate little States of Germany at that time, Poland and also throughout the Hapsburg Austrian Empire, especially Italy. Little Saxe Coburg Gotha missed most of the discontent, and Ernst was not involved. There were Chartist demonstrations in England (in general economic conditions were poor all over Europe in the 1840s) but no revolutionary activity.

The rulers of some states in Germany gave concessions to the protestors, (including Leopold when he later returned with the help of Prussian troops), and there were some gains in Italy, but in general the Year ended with a damp squib, and the forces of conservatism and repression triumphed and reinstated the old ways. Leopold was generally a moderate leader and he didn't exact revenge after his return.   

[royalanthropologist]

Wow. Encyclopedic knowledge or what?? :goodpost: :thumbsup: I really want to send a special thanks to @Curryong for her contributions on this topic and many others. I for one have been greatly educated in so many things were I only had vague notions before.

[amabel]

Leopold was briefly exiled because in 1848, the Year of Revolutions, Baden was a centre of dissension and discontent. The Year began with the fleeing to England of King Louis Philippe of France after riots in Paris. He abdicated Insurrections then spread through many of the disparate little States of Germany at that time, Poland and .

The

Baden was generally a moderate state wasn't it with enlightened despotism...

[Curryong]

Baden was generally a moderate state wasn't it with enlightened despotism...

Yes, that's so. However that could describe several other petty little German states of the time with rulers who held somewhat liberal views by the mores of the mid 19th century. What distinguished Baden in 1848 though was the very  fierce fighting which ended the revolt, (even Engels got involved) and the determination of the leaders of the revolutionaries to have a republic of Baden with true representation. This pushing for a republic was unusual and contrary to  the manifestos of the leaders  of revolts in other parts of Germany, who generally wanted constitutional monarchies.

[LouisFerdinand]

Before the throne of Greece was offered to Ernest II, the throne was offered to his nephew, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. Alfred did not accept.

[LouisFerdinand]

Duke Ernest II smoked. Queen Victoria directed her brother-in-law Ernest not to encourage her son Prince Alfred to smoke.

[LouisFerdinand]

Princess Alexandrine of Baden (1820-1904) was the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the wife of Ernest II. Her middle names were Luise Amalie Friederike Elisabeth Sophie.