heir-presumptive of Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was the Sovereign of the small German state of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As he had no children of his own, prior to his death in 1893 it had been agreed that Duke Ernst II would be succeeded by his nephew Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. In 1899 Alfred's only son Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha