Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Gotha, 14 April 1699 – Gotha, 10 March 1772), was a duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Biography

He was the eldest son of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst.

After the death of his father, in 1732, Frederick III assumed the duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

In 1734 he began a flourishing soldier trade with the Emperor, to the Prince of Waldeck and to the King of Prussia, which put him into the position to create a tax in his own duchy. The duchy had to suffer for Frederick with difficulty in the Seven Years' War and he forced the duchy into a war with his neighbour, duke Anton Ulrich of Saxe-Meiningen (The "Wasunger War").

Issue

In Gotha on 17 September 1729, Frederick married Luise Dorothea of Saxe-Meiningen, his first cousin. They had nine children:

1. Frederick Louis, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (b. Gotha, 20 January 1735 – d. Gotha, 9 June 1756).
2. Louis (b. Gotha, 25 October 1735 – d. Gotha, 26 October 1735).
3. stillborn son (Gotha, 25 October 1735), twin of Louis.
4. stillborn twin sons (1739).
5. Fredericka Louise (b. Gotha, 30 January 1741 – d. Gotha, 5 February 1776).
6. Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (b. Gotha, 30 January 1745 – d. Gotha, 20 April 1804).
7. Sophie (b. Gotha, 9 March 1746 – d. Gotha, 30 March 1746).
8. August (b. Gotha, 14 August 1747 – d. Gotha, 28 September 1806).

From 1748 to 1755 he was regent of the duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach on behalf of Ernst August II Konstantin. From 1750, he acted as regent alongside his kinsmen Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Ancestors