For a while, Charles Edward tried to play both sides. He kept his British passport, visited London, and even stayed at Balmoral. But then World War I erupted, and loyalty became a luxury he couldn’t afford. Germany needed its dukes to fight against the Allies—including his own cousins. It’s like finding out your family reunion got cancelled because everyone’s at war. Awkward doesn’t even begin to cover it.
The British government was not impressed. They stripped him of his UK titles in 1915, calling him a traitor to the Crown. Now, Charles Edward faced a brutal choice: renounce his German dukedom and become a nobody, or embrace his new identity. He chose Germany, and his British relatives never forgave him. His own mother reportedly stopped speaking to him until her death. Yikes, imagine the silent treatment lasting decades.
The Monarchy’s Black Sheep
After the war, in 1918, Germany’s monarchy was abolished. Charles Edward lost his throne, his castles, and pretty much everything except his accent. That’s when he ended up in that British POW camp, scrubbing floors and wondering where it all went wrong. But here’s the ironic part: he later became a Nazi collaborator in the 1930s, helping Hitler gain legitimacy among European royals. Yes, a Queen Victoria grandson shaking hands with the Führer. History is weird, folks.
Charles Edward, Duke Of Saxe-Coburg And Gotha Biography - Facts
He didn’t do it out of evil, I think—more out of desperation. The Duke was a broken man looking for relevance, and the Nazis offered him a deal. He even hosted secret meetings for high-ranking Nazis at his estate. But let’s be clear: that doesn’t make it okay. It just makes his story painfully human, and deeply, deeply troubling.
