This Princess Was The Mother Of A Boy Called Albert...

Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Born in December 1800, Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was the only child of Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Following her mother's death shortly after her birth, Louise was raised in Gotha, growing into a charming, intelligent, and musically talented young noblewoman. In July 1817, at sixteen years of age, she entered a politically advantageous union by marrying Duke Ernest III of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a man sixteen years her senior.

The marriage began with widespread public celebration and initially appeared promising. Louise bore two sons in quick succession: Ernest in 1818, and Albert in 1819, the future Prince Consort of the United Kingdom. Louise was adored by the local populace for her warmth, humor, and approachability, qualities that stood in sharp contrast to the austere demeanor of the Coburg ducal family. However, the domestic sphere rapidly deteriorated. Duke Ernest was openly unfaithful, fathering several illegitimate children and leaving Louise increasingly isolated at court.

Miserable and alienated, Louise eventually turned elsewhere for emotional companionship. By 1823, she had entered a romantic relationship with a court chamberlain, Baron Alexander von Hanstein. When Duke Ernest discovered the affair in 1824, he used it as grounds to banish his wife from the duchy entirely. In August 1824, Louise was forced to leave the court at Coburg without being permitted to say goodbye to her sons, five-year-old Albert and six-year-old Ernest. She would never be allowed to see her children again.

Louise was exiled to St. Wendel, a remote Coburg territory in the Saarland. A formal legal separation was instituted, followed by a final divorce decree in March 1826. Through subsequent territorial reorganizations following the extinction of the direct male line in Gotha, Duke Ernest secured the title and lands of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through his former marriage to Louise. In October 1826, Louise secretly married Alexander von Hanstein, who was created Count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf by the Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

Her final years were marked by quiet domesticity overshadowed by severe illness. Louise developed uterine cancer and died in Paris in August 1831 at just thirty years of age. Prince Albert was devastated by news of her death and carried an idealized memory of her throughout his life, keeping her portrait in his private rooms and passing down her features and artistic inclinations to his own children.