Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Edward (Leopold Charles Edward George Albert; 19 July 1884 – 6 March 1954) was a British prince until 1919, the last sovereign duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a state of the German Empire, reigning from 30 July 1900 to 14 November 1918, and later a Nazi politician. He was given various positions in the Nazi regime, including leader of the German Red Cross, and acted as an unofficial diplomat for the German government.

Charles Edward's parents were Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, and Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont. His paternal grandparents were Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Charles Edward's father died before his son's birth. The boy was born in Surrey, in England, and brought up as a British prince. He was a sickly child who developed a close relationship with his grandmother and his only sibling, Alice. He was privately educated, lastly at Eton College. In 1899, he was selected to succeed to the throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha because he was deemed young enough to be re-educated as a German. He moved to Germany at the age of 15. Between 1899 and 1905, he was put through various forms of education, guided by his cousin, German Emperor Wilhelm II.

The duke ascended the ducal throne in 1900 but reigned through a regency until 1905. In 1905, he had an arranged marriage to Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. The couple had five children, including Sibylla, the mother of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. The duke was a conservative ruler with an interest in art and technology. He tried to emphasise his loyalty to his adopted country through various symbolic gestures. Still, his continued close association with the United Kingdom was off-putting to both his subjects and the German elite. During the First World War, he chose to support the German Empire and participated in the Imperial German Army in non-combatant positions due to a disability. The German Revolution deposed him like the other German princes. He also lost his British titles due to his decision to side against the British Empire.

During the 1920s, the former duke became a moral and financial supporter of violent far-right paramilitary groups in Germany. By the early 1930s, he was supporting the Nazi party and joined it in 1933. Charles Edward helped to promote eugenicist ideas which provided a basis for the murder of many disabled people. He was involved in attempting to shift opinion among the British upper class in a more pro-German direction. His attitudes became more pro-Nazi during the Second World War, though it is unclear how much of a political role he played. After the war, he was interned for a period and was given a minor conviction by a denazification court. He died of cancer in 1954.