Francois Friedrich Anton

July 17, 1750 (age 56)

Coburg, Upper Franconia, Germany

As progenitor of a line of Coburg princes who, in the 19th and 20th centuries, mounted the thrones of several European realms, he is a patrilineal ancestor of, among others, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, King Philippe of Belgium and Simeon B. Sakskoburggotski, former tsar (Simeon II) and prime minister of Bulgaria. He received a private, careful and comprehensive education and became an art connoisseur. Francis initiated a major collection of books and illustrations for the duchy in 1775, which eventually expanded to a 300,000 picture collection of copperplate engravings currently housed in the Veste Coburg. He was commissioned into the allied army in 1793 when his country was invaded by the Revolutionary armies of France. The allied forces included Hanoverians, Hessians, and the British. He fought in several actions against the French. Francis succeeded his father as reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1800. In the discharge of his father"s debts the Schloss Rosenau had passed out of the family but in 1805 he bought back the property as a summer residence for the ducal family. Emperor Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, after its defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. Duke Francis died 6 December 1806. On 15 December 1806, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, along with the other Ernestine duchies, entered the Confederation of the Rhine as the Duke and his ministers planned. In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777, Francis married Countess Augusta Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf. They had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood: His male-line descendants established ruling houses in Belgium, United Kingdom, Portugal and Bulgaria, while retaining the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1918. A grandson reigned jure uxoris as King Ferdinand II of Portugal while a great-grandson named Ferdinand became the first modern king of Bulgaria. The latter"s son, Edward VII, a patrilineal as well as matrilineal great-grandson of Francis, inaugurated the male line which wore the British crown into the 21st century.

Francois Friedrich Anton

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Duke of Saxe Thuringian dukes

Background

He was the eldest son of Ernst Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Career

As progenitor of a line of Coburg princes who, in the 19th and 20th centuries, mounted the thrones of several European realms, he is a patrilineal ancestor of, among others, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, King Philippe of Belgium and Simeon B. Sakskoburggotski, former tsar (Simeon II) and prime minister of Bulgaria. He received a private, careful and comprehensive education and became an art connoisseur. Francis initiated a major collection of books and illustrations for the duchy in 1775, which eventually expanded to a 300,000 picture collection of copperplate engravings currently housed in the Veste Coburg.

He was commissioned into the allied army in 1793 when his country was invaded by the Revolutionary armies of France.

The allied forces included Hanoverians, Hessians, and the British. He fought in several actions against the French.

Francis succeeded his father as reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1800. In the discharge of his father"s debts the Schloss Rosenau had passed out of the family but in 1805 he bought back the property as a summer residence for the ducal family.

Emperor Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire on 6 August 1806, after its defeat by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz.

Duke Francis died 6 December 1806. On 15 December 1806, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, along with the other Ernestine duchies, entered the Confederation of the Rhine as the Duke and his ministers planned. In Ebersdorf on 13 June 1777, Francis married Countess Augusta Reuss-Lobenstein-Ebersdorf.

They had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood: His male-line descendants established ruling houses in Belgium, United Kingdom, Portugal and Bulgaria, while retaining the duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha until 1918.

A grandson reigned jure uxoris as King Ferdinand II of Portugal while a great-grandson named Ferdinand became the first modern king of Bulgaria. The latter"s son, Edward VII, a patrilineal as well as matrilineal great-grandson of Francis, inaugurated the male line which wore the British crown into the 21st century.

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