Prince Rainer Maria Joseph Florian Ignatius Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: ''Rainer Maria Joseph Florian Ignatius Michael Gabriel Raphael Gonzaga, Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha'' (4 May 1900, in

Pola Pola or POLA may refer to: People * House of Pola, an Italian noble family * Pola Alonso (1923–2004), Argentine actress * Pola Brändle (born 1980), German artist and photographer * Pola Gauguin (1883–1961), Danish painter * Pola Gojawiczyńsk ...

– after 7 January 1945).

Cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

of a

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism, N ...

ing German dynasty, Prince Rainer was the head of the

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry The House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry is the Roman Catholic, Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, founded after the marriage of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág, Princess ...

branch of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

, heir in the female line of one of the oldest and wealthiest families of the

Hungarian nobility The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the late 12th century only high- ...

. He is believed to have been killed in action at

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in 1945.

Family

He was the second son of

Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (6 December 1867 – 11 October 1922), known in Brazil as Dom Augusto Leopoldo, was a prince of the Empire of Brazil and of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry. He was the second of four son ...

and his wife

Archduchess Karoline Marie of Austria , image = 1869 Karoline.jpg , caption = , spouse = Prince August Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , issue = Prince AugustPrincess KlementinePrincess Maria Karoline Prince Rainer Prince Philipp Princess TheresiaPrincess ...

. At the time of his birth the House of Wettin ruled the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...

and the

Ernestine duchies The Ernestine duchies (), also known as the Saxon duchies (, although the Albertine appanage duchies of Weissenfels, Merseburg and Zeitz were also "Saxon duchies" and adjacent to several Ernestine ones), were a group of small states whose num ...

in Germany, as well as the kingdoms of Belgium, Portugal, Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. The deaths of his older brother August (1908) and his father (1922), made him the fourth in the Roman Catholic line of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha princes to inherit the legacy of the

House of Koháry The House of Koháry ( hu, Koháry-ház) was the name of an ancient and wealthy Hungarian noble family with seats at Csábrág and Szitnya (now Čabraď and Sitno Castle) and the palace of Szentantal (now Svätý Anton, Slovakia). History Or ...

. He had four sisters and two younger brothers, Prince Philipp (married with issue) and Prince Ernst (married without issue).

Significance

In addition to being in the line of succession to the Coburg throne, he possessed one of the largest fortunes in Hungary, one of the constituent realms within the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, whose reign, however, he saw come to an end, along with that of the Dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1918. Even after the fall of the German and Austro-Hungarian monarchies, he retained ownership of most of the vast Koháry domains, which continued to generate a princely income. He also owned the Csábrág and Szitnya castles, both in modern-day

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, among other lands in Central Europe.

Marriage and issue

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

on 15 December 1930 Prince Rainer married, firstly, Johanna Károlyi de Károly-Patty (17 September 1906 – 17 November 1992). They had one son: # Johann Heinrich Frederick Werner Konrad Rainer Maria, Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha Koháry (1931–2010). Rainer and Johanna were divorced in 1935. In

, on 13 February 1940, Rainer married, secondly, Edith de Kózol, by whom he had no children.

Ancestry

1900 births 1945 deaths People from Pula Hungarian nobility House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry Princes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Hungarian military personnel killed in World War II {{Germany-noble-stub