Meeting a Prince and Princess

Meeting a Prince and a Princess

For a number of years, Gary and Ruth Ann have actively studied the Reformation and Martin Luther, especially during our trips to Germany. We are very familiar with how Elector Prince Frederick the Wise, his brother Johann and Johann's son Johann Friedrich, provided political and government protection for the Reformation during Martin Luther’s time in the German area known as Saxony.

Saxony or parts of Saxony have been ruled by members of this family, the Wettins, for roughly one thousand years from the 10th century until the end of World War I. After the Reformation time when the Wettins ensured that the Reformation would survive, our personal interest in this family reemerges in the mid-19th century with the brothers Ernst and Albert, who were descendants of those Saxon rulers.

Albert, known as Duke Albert of Saxon-Coburg-Gotha, was chosen to become the husband of Queen Victoria (the great, great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth). They were married in 1840, and he became Queen Victoria’s “Prince Consort.”

The older brother of Price Albert and heir to the Saxon-Coburg-Gotha Duchy was Ernst. Known as Duke Ernst II, he founded the German Shooting Federation (Deutscher Schuetzenbund) on July 11, 1861. Duke Ernst was an idealistic supporter of full German unification at a time when Germany was totally disunited. He saw the unification of all German shooting, gymnastic and singing clubs as a way to promote German unification. 

The brothers Albert (l) and Ernst (r)
photo credit:   Gary Anderson at Callenburg Castle

The German Shooting Federation celebrated the 150th anniversary of their founding in 2011. A descendant of Duke Ernst, today’s Prince Andreas of Saxon-Coburg-Gotha, was an important part of the celebration. Prince Andreas also provided space in his family castle (Callenberg Castle) near Coburg, Germany for the German Shooting Museum.  

Gary Anderson (l), Prince Andreas (c) and Franz Schreiber, ISSF  Secretary General
at the German Shooting Museum, Callenburg Castle, Coburg

Prince Andreas and his noble predecessors have been “Protectors” of the German Shooting Federation since its founding. In today's usage, a Protector means a prominent member of the nobility who allows his name and status to be used to endorse an organization.    www.http://www.schloss-callenberg.com

Prince Hubertus, who is the son of Prince Andreas, is the great great, grandson of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Prince Leopold was the 8th child (of nine children) and 4th son of Queen Victoria and Prince Consort Albert. During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Ruth Ann and Gary met Prince Hubertus and his wife, Princess Kelly, who is the daughter of a U. S. Naval Officer, at the German House, where International Sport Shooting Federation officers attended a reception hosted by the German Shooting Federation.

In February of this year, the ISSF loaned its World Championship challenge trophies to the German Shooting Museum so they could become part of a special exhibition at the CALLENBURG  Castle. Gary was present for the dedication ceremony and again met Prince Hubertus and Princess Kelly. They invited Gary and Ruth Ann to meet them in Coburg on their next visit to Germany.

Gary and Ruth Ann enjoyed a private dinner with the Prince and Princess in Coburg on June 10, 2013. On the next day, June 11, the Prince and Princess gave them a private tour of their CALLENBURG castle. 

The Prince Hubertus and Princess Kelly with Gary and Ruth Ann

The castle includes a chapel, today used for weddings and other ceremonies. It was consecrated in 1618 as the first Protestant sanctuary in the Coburg Duchy. The pulpit is centered directly behind the altar. Interestingly, there is a door into the upper floor of the chapel from the outside for town people to use. 

The Castle in the Callenburg Castle
Photo credit:    Gary Anderson at the Callenburg Castle

The public rooms of the castle are well organized with artwork, porcelain, instruments, furniture and family portraits. Every portrait in the castle tells another important story about the members of this influential and important noble family. The top floor of the castle has large, airy rooms that were previously used as an apartment for the family until 1945, but today are used for gatherings and receptions. Prince Hubertus’ and Princess Kelly's civil marriage ceremony was in one of these rooms.

The Prince and Princess thrilled us with an opportunity to see one room in the castle that is currently used to store family treasures that are yet to be documented, organized, and publicly displayed. There is a dazzling collection of unusual, ornate and fascinating clocks. Hanging on the wall are two paintings by Cranach (verified by an art historian as being authentic) and another "possible" Cranach. These pieces of art are unknown to the art world. At this time, the Prince and Princess do not know how these valuable works of art came to be owned by their family.

The Cranach paintings are especially meaningful to us because Cranach was a personal friend and supporter of Martin Luther and the Reformation.  Cranach was also an esteemed portrait artist and court painter for the Wettin rulers of Saxony who were ancestors of Prince Andreas and his son Hubertus who now own the Callenberg Castle. And for Gary and Ruth Ann, Cranach is also important because he and his wife Barbara were witnesses at the marriage of Martin Luther and Katarina von Bora that took place on June 13, 1525, 440 years before Ruth Ann and Gary were married on June 13, 1965.