Carl Eduard takes control in Coburg

July 19, 1905

Carl Eduard, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha reached his majority today and "assumed the reins of government," reports the New York Times.    His "state entry into the capital was the occasion of much ceremonial."

The young duke, who celebrates his 21st birthday today, arrived at the Gotha railway station, where he was greeted with "military honors."    The state entry into the capital was "the occasion of much ceremonial."

The Duke proceeded to Schloss Friedenstein, where he was met by his mother, the Duchess of Albany.   The formal ceremony "of taking the oath installation" took place in the castle's throne room in the presence of representatives of Britain's King Edward VII, Kaiser Wilhelm II and other German rulers,  Cabinet officials and a "brilliant assemblage" of officials from the duchy were also present.

Carl Eduard, who was born Prince Charles Edward, the posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and his wife, Princess Helen of Waldeck und Pyrmont, became the heir to the Coburg duchy following the death of his first cousin, the Hereditary Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in early 1899, and the renouncement of their succession rights by his uncle, the Duke of Connaught, and his son, Prince Arthur of Connaught.     Prince Charles Edward was a student at Eton when he learned the news that he was now first in line to the Coburg throne.

Shortly before leaving Eton to move to Germany, the young prince told his friends at Eton: "I've got to go and become a beastly German Duke."

The process to turn the young English prince and royal duke into a German began immediately, and he was sent to school in Berlin.   The process has "apparently been productive of the desired results."   The Duke, according to the most recently released photographs, "is quote as German in appearance as another other Prince in the empire.

During Carl Eduard's minority, Saxe-Coburg had been ruled by the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg,  whose wife, Alexandra, was the third of four daughters of the late Duke Alfred.

Duke Carl Eduard will receive $75,000 a year out of the "income of the Gotha domains," and "one-half of the excess of revenue over expenditures from the Coburg domains."

The legislative power is vested in the sovereign in "conjunction with the two separate chambers," one for Coburg and the other for Gotha.

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