Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Franz Friedrich Anton of Saxe- Coburg -Saalfeld ( born July 15, 1750 Ehrenburg Castle, Coburg, † December 9, 1806 in Coburg ) was 1800-1806 Duke of Saxe- Coburg -Saalfeld and the common grandfather of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.
Life
Franz was the eldest son of Duke Ernst Friedrich of Saxe- Coburg -Saalfeld (1724-1800) from his marriage to Sophie Antonia (1724-1802), daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albrecht II of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel.
Franz was privately educated and received a careful and comprehensive training. Up to his reign he lived since 1786 with his family at the so-called Prince Palais Coburg in the stone alley. In 1800 he succeeded his father in the government of the still indebted country in which seemed a rescheduling Commission. Government, and Consistory Chamber College were merged in 1802 to a state government. Through the work of the Chamber Director Theodor Konrad von Kretschmann forced administration of debit Commission could be resolved. As a result, now heading Minister Kretschmann was left at the government almost completely free hand. In the population Kretschmann, by organizing the management firm was hated. When the inhabitants against his arrangement to number the houses of the city, in rebellion, he left Saxon dragoons march into the city.
Franz Friedrich Anton was a great connoisseur and lover and is considered the largest collector of books and prints under the Coburg dukes. In 1775 he laid the foundation for a print collection of 300,000 prints, which can be visited on the Veste Coburg today, and equipped the castle library with an extensive collection of books from. Likewise, his collection formed the basis for the Natural History Museum Coburg. He bought in 1805, just months before his death, the chamber goods and Schwickhof Rosenau Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg with as a summer residence for his family.
Under Duke Franz, the expansion of Coburg began to representative residence of the 19th century by walls, ditches and towers were demolished and replaced by green areas.
Franz Friedrich Anton found his final resting place in 1806 in a mausoleum in Coburg courtyard garden, where in 1831 his second wife was buried. The poet Johann Friedrich lions dedicated to the Prince the ode: "To the Prince Franz Friedrich Anton"
Progeny
On March 6, 1776 Franz married in Hildburghausen Princess Sophie ( 1760-1776 ), daughter of Duke Ernst Friedrich III. Carl von Sachsen- Hildburghausen, who still died the same year.
The following year he married in Ebersdorf Auguste (1757-1831), daughter of Count Heinrich XXIV Reuss to Ebersdorf. From this marriage ten children, four sons and five daughters and a stillbirth emerged. Due to the advantageous marriages of the children of dynastic rise of the house began:
- Sophie (1778-1835)
- Antoinette (1779-1824)
- Juliane (1781-1860), " Anna Feodorovna "
- Ernst I (1784-1844)
- Ferdinand (1785-1851)
- Victoria (1786-1861)
- Marianne Charlotte (1788-1794)
- Leopold I (1790-1865), King of the Belgians since 1831
- Maximilian (1792-1793)