German nobility, the second sovereign duke of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, reigning from 1844 to his death. Ernst was the eldest child of Ernst I/III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his duchess, Princess Luise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His brother, Prince Albert, later became the consort of Queen Victoria. Ernst’s father became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826 through an exchange of territories.
In 1842, Ernst married Princess Alexandrine of Baden in what was to be a childless marriage. Soon after, he succeeded as duke upon the death of his father on 29 January 1844. As reigning Duke Ernst II, he supported the German Confederation in the Schleswig-Holstein Wars against Denmark, sending thousands of troops and becoming the commander of a German corps; as such, he was instrumental in the 1849 victory at the battle of Eckernförde against Danish forces.
Ernst’s political position was often linked to his brother Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. The two boys were raised as though twins, and became closer upon the separation and divorce of their parents, as well as the eventual death of their mother. The princes’ relationship experienced phases of closeness as well as minor arguments as they grew older; after Albert’s death in 1861, Ernst became gradually more antagonistic to Victoria and her children, as well as increasingly bitter toward the United Kingdom, publishing anonymous pamphlets against various members of the British royal family. Despite their increasingly differing political views and opinions however, Ernest accepted his second eldest nephew Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh as his heir-presumptive, who upon Ernst’s death on 22 August 1893 at Reinhardsbrunn, succeeded to the ducal throne.
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