The life of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Out of Queen Victoria’s four sons, Prince Alfred is perhaps the least known. From a young age, Alfred was – in his mother’s eyes – the perfect son. Unlike his brother, the Prince of Wales, Alfred was intelligent like his oldest sister, Victoria, and regularly made his parents proud. However, to the dismay of his parents, the young prince was heavily influenced by the Prince of Wales, with whom he shared a passion for smoking and – you guessed it – women! Join me, Shannon McInulty, in today’s article as I explore the little-known life of Prince Alfred.

At 8:10 on 6th of July 1844, Queen Victoria gave birth to “an immense, healthy boy” in her bedroom at Windsor Castle, with Albert by her side.

As the second son, Prince Alfred was automatically second in line to the throne after his older brother, Prince Albert Edward. A month later, on the 6th of September, he was baptised in the Royal Family’s Private Chapel at Windsor Castle. He was given the names: Alfred Ernest Albert, although known as ‘Affie’ by his family. The prince’s godparents included: the Queen’s cousin, Prince George of Cambridge; Princess Alexandrine of Baden, sister-in-law of Prince Albert; and Queen Victoria‘s half brother, Karl, Prince of Leinigen.

As with all the Royal children, Prince Alfred grew up under Prince Albert’s strict education plan and spent much of his time learning every day skills such as: cooking, cleaning, gardening, woodwork and Shop keeping. From a young age, it was clear that Alfred had a passion for the British Navy. In 1856, when he was just 12, the Prince moved into White Lodge in Windsor with Lieutenant John Cowell of the Royal Engineers, who taught him mathematics, geometry, navigation and seamanship.

In August 1858, he passed his naval entrance examination and officially became a naval cadet and working as a midshipman on HMS, Euryaglus. During his sixteen month travels, he visited numerous countries – including South Africa, where he became the first British Royal to ever visit.

In 1862, King Otto of Greece abdicated and the young prince was selected as his successor. While would have been a big opportunity of the Prince, Queen Victoria greatly disapproved the suggestion as her and Prince Albert had always planned for Alfred to one-day succeed as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As a result, the British government blocked all plans to make him King. A year later on 24th of February 1863, Alfred was promoted to lieutenant before becoming captain in 1866.

On the 8th of January 1864, Prince Alfred was dropped down to third in line to the throne upon the birth of his nephew, Prince Albert Victor. Just two years later, on the 24th of May 1866, he was created Duke of Edinburgh, Uster and Kent as part of the Queen’s birthday honours. Through his time in Britain and on family holidays, many historians believe the Prince developed an unhealthy fascination with his sister-in-law, Alexandra, Princess of Wales. As a result, it is thought that the Prince was sent on more naval exhibitions in order to prevent scandal. In 1867, Alfred was appointed to command the Frigate HMS Galatea during its worldwide tour. During his tour, the Prince became the first royal to visit South Australia, where he spent for five months between October and March. The trip itself had been a success until a man named James O’Farrell attempted to assassinate the Prince.

The failed assassination attempt took place on 12th of March 1868, during a prince’s second visit to Sydney. William Manning, President of Sydneys sailors home had invited Alfred to attend a fundraising picnic at Clontarf beachfront. Using a revolver O’Farrell shot Alfred in the shoulder, just missing his spine. In the bustle of trying to catch the man, a bystander was shot in the foot from a second bullet. O’Farrell was arrested at the scene and was quickly tried. Found guilty, he was hanged a month later, on the 21st of April. Following the event the Prince spent two weeks being tended to by six nurses trained by Florence Nightingale. After making a full recovery, he soon set off on further travels; visiting countries such as: Hawaii, New Zealand, Hong Kong and also Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka.

Heading back to 1862, Queen Victoria felt it was time for her second favourite son to marry. The Queen‘s first choice was Princess Dagmar of Denmark, sister of Princess Alexandra. In a letter to her eldest child, Victoria, the Queen wrote: “I hear that the Emperor of Russia has not given up his intention of asking for Alix or Dagmar for his son. I should be very sorry if anything were decided before you had seen her as it would be one chance less for Affie”. Of course, Alix (Alexandra) ended up marrying the Prince of Wales in 1863 but the Queens feelings towards Denmark change following Prussia’s claim of Schleswig-Holstein. In a letter to Victoria, the Queen wrote, “Respecting Dagmar, I do not wish her to be kept for Affie. Let the Emperor have her”.

With Princess Dagmar no longer an option, Queen Victoria began looking at other potential suitors. The first on the list was Grand Duchess Olga Constantivona of Russia. However, she was soon dismissed on account of her Greek Orthodox faith. In 1868, Prince Alfred met Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of Tsar Alexander II, while visiting his sister, Princess Alice. The two got along but aged just 14, Maria certainly wasn’t an option. In 1871, Prince Alfred happened to be visiting Denmark at the same time as Maria, who was now aged 17. His sister-in-law Alexandra and her sister Maria, wife Tsar Alexander III, decided to formally introduce the two. Despite the nine year age gap, the two were married in 23rd of January 1874, at the Winter Palace in Russia. While day itself was a magnificent event, their marriage was anything, but!

As a couple return to Britain, Queen Victoria gave Alfred and Maria Claremont House as their London residence. However, Maria struggled to settle into British life. She was considered “haughty and proud” by most and often complained about the weather. On top of this, Maria believed that as daughter of the Russian Emperor, she should take precedence over Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who was now Princess of Wales. Queen Victoria took note of Maria’s demands but refused to make any changes. Along with Maria’s negative attitude, the couple also battled with Alfred’s countless affairs, particularly when he was abroad. Despite their marital troubles Maria, often accompanied her husband on his travels and together they had a total of six children, including an unnamed stillborn son.

Throughout his marriage, Alfred continue to follow his career in the Navy and worked his way further up the ranks. On 3rd June 1893 he was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet but unfortunately for the Prince, his priorities were forced to change on 22nd of August the same year, when is Uncle Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha passed away. As Alfred’s older brother had already renounce his rights to the Duchy, Alfred was the next in line. With his new role came a new life in Germany. At first, he was seen to be a foreigner, but his popularity soon began to grow. However, his “natural ability for handling of fleet” was now out of use and the Duke turned to alcohol and excessive spending, which soon got him into financial difficulty.

Tragedy struck Alfred and his family in January 1899 when his only son, Prince Alfred, shot himself following an argument with his parents over an inappropriate relationship he had been involved in. Aged just 24, the Prince survived his injuries but was sent to Meran to recover on the order of his mother. As the Doctors had warned, the Prince’s health soon declined and he sadly died just two weeks later on the 6th February. Prince Alfred was devastated by his sons passing and never truly recovered. Just over a year later, the 55 year old Duke deccumed to his battle with throat cancer and died on 30th of July 1900, Prince in a lodge adjacent to his summer residence, Schloss Rosenau in Coburg. He was buried a few days later on the 4th of August 1900 in the family mausoleum at Friedhof am Glockenberg in Coburg. With no heirs of his own, Alfred was succeeded by his nephew, Prince Charles Edward of Albany, son of Prince Leopold. Today his legacy continues to live on through the Royal College of music, which he helped establish in 1882.

I hope you have enjoyed todays blog. Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments section below or message me on Instagram and I will do my best to help. You can also support my research by visiting and subscribing to my Ko-fi page. Don’t forget, you can also subscribe to by blog for email updates about new blogs! Thank you again, Shannon x

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