While he initially was a great and outspoken proponent of German liberalism, he surprised many by switching sides and supporting the more conservative (and eventually victorious) Prussians during the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars and subsequent unification of Germany.

Ernest and his only full sibling, his younger brother Prince Albert (consort to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom), were born 14 months apart and raised as though twins.

"[4] Biographer Richard Hough writes that "even from their infancy, it was plainly evident that the elder son took after his father, in character and appearance, while Albert strongly resembled his mother in most respects.

The duke and his new duchess were not close, and would produce no children; while the boys formed a happy relationship with their stepmother, Marie had little to no input in her stepsons' lives.

[12] In 1836, Ernest and Albert visited their matrimonially eligible cousin Princess Victoria of Kent, spending a few weeks at Windsor Castle.

[14] Their father at first thought that Ernest would make a better husband to Victoria than Albert, possibly because his sporting interests would be better received by the British public.

Temperamentally, Victoria was much more like Ernest, for both were lively and sociable with a love for dancing, gossip, and late nights; conversely, this fast pace made Albert physically ill.[16] Victoria believed Ernest had a "most kind, honest, and intelligent expression in his countenance", while Albert "seemed full of goodness and sweetness, and very clever and intelligent.

[26] Ernest had suffered from a venereal disease in his late teens and early twenties, most likely as the consequence of living a wild, promiscuous lifestyle.

[16] He had come to behave in such a fashion by the tutelage of his father, who took his sons to "sample the pleasures" of Paris and Berlin, to Albert's "horror and shame".

[24] Ernest had been so visibly deteriorating in appearance as a result that Sarah Lyttelton, a lady-in-waiting of Queen Victoria, observed at Windsor Castle in 1839 that he was "very thin and hollow-cheeked and pale, and no likeness to his brother, nor much beauty.

[2] During the political turmoil, timely concessions and Ernest's popular habit of mingling with "the people in their pleasures" were instrumental in keeping him from losing his throne.

[32] As commander of a German corps, Ernest was instrumental in winning the 5 April 1849 battle of Eckernförde against Danish forces, capturing two frigates.

[33] Also at this time, Ernest took an interest in the Frankfurt Parliament and may have hoped to be chosen German Emperor, but instead he urged King Frederick of Prussia to take that position, albeit unsuccessfully.

The two brothers had always been close, whatever their disagreements, and Albert's death left Ernest "wretched", noted Victoria in a letter to her eldest daughter.

The Greeks were eager to have someone close to Britain and Queen Victoria replace Otto; some desired to allow Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (her second son) to succeed as King of Greece.

To solve this problem, Ernest suggested to Palmerston that he simply take the title Regent of Greece and hold the kingdom in trust for his chosen heir.

In 1863, the Greek throne was accepted by another member of a royal family: the Princess of Wales' younger brother Prince William of Denmark.

[43] Though his attendance made him no friends in Prussia, he developed such strong contacts in Austria that many looked to him as a potential leader in the mounting conflict between the northern and southern powers.

Despite this change in his private political views, he still had strong publicly known ties to Austria, where his cousin Alexander, Count Mensdorff, was Foreign Minister,[21] and no one foresaw that Ernest would immediately side with the better-equipped Prussians upon breakout of the war.

[51] Victoria's husband Crown Prince Frederick William was also pleased with Ernest's decision, writing in his journal 28 September 1871, that the duke's "society always affords me peculiar pleasure, especially...when his heart beats so warmly for Germany".

[53] Ernest funneled his political thoughts into the private sphere, preferring to write covertly sponsored articles in the Coburg press that became increasingly embittered against England.

[56] His great-niece Marie of Edinburgh would later describe Ernest as "an old beau, squeezed into a frock-coat too tight for his bulk and uncomfortably pinched in at the waist, sporting a top hat, lemon coloured gloves, and a rosebud in his lapel".

[62] In addition, Ernest was an enthusiastic patron of everything connected with natural history,[62] for instance traveling to Abyssinia with the German zoologist Alfred Brehm in 1862.

“When the news of the duke's death reached the secluded Hinter - Riss, the deepest consternation took possession of the people, amongst whom the prince and the duchess had passed, as they often used to say, the happiest days of their long, eventful lives.

The dead sportsman's hunting - knife, which I saw so often in his strong hand, is now lying before me, a cherished memento, kindly sent me by the stricken dowager-duchess a few weeks after the funeral.

As fitting as these final words was the act that closed this long and distinguished sporting career, for less than an hour before that fatal attack of apoplexy, his master hand had brought down two royals !

[2] When it became increasingly clear that Ernest would be childless, the possibility of a personal union between his duchies and the United Kingdom became real, a reality that was deemed undesirable.

[2] Special arrangements were made by a combination of constitutional clauses and renunciations to pass Ernest's throne to a son of Albert while preventing a personal union.

This was partly because Alfred was second-in-line to the United Kingdom until the birth of his nephew Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, in 1864.

By March of the following year, it was decided that Alfred would attend Bonn University but be left to consider his future, as he was having reservations over permanently residing outside England.