on her
mother's side, and with which she was to be even more intimately
connected by her marriage, was one of the numerous branches into which
the ancient and celebrated House of Wettin had broken up. Since the
11th century they had ruled over Meissen and the adjoining districts.
To these had been added Upper Saxony and Thuringia. In the 15th
century the whole possessions of the House had been divided between
the two great branches which still exist. The Albertine branch
retained Meissen and the Saxon possessions. They held the title of
Elector, which in 1806 was exchanged for the title of King. Though
the Saxon House had been the chief protectors of the Reformation,
Frederick Augustus I. had, on being elected to the throne of Poland,
become a Roman Catholic; and thereby the connection between the two
branches of the House had to a great extent ceased. The second line,
that of the Ernestines, ruled over Thuringia, but, according to the
common German custom, had again broken up into numerous branches,
among which the Duchies of Thuringia were parcelled out. At the time
of the Queen's birth there were five of these, viz., Gotha-Altenburg,
Coburg-Saalfeld, Weimar-Eisenach, Meiningen, and Hildburghausen. On
the extinction of the Gotha line, in 1825, there was a rearrangement
of the family property, by which the Duke of Hildburghausen received
Altenburg, Gotha was given to the Duke of Coburg, and Saalfeld with
Hildburghausen added to Meiningen. These four lines still exist.

The Ernestine princes had, by this constant division and sub-division,
deprived themselves of the opportunity of exercising any predominant
influence, or pursuing any independent policy in German affairs; and
though they had the good fortune to emerge from the revolution with
their possessions unimpaired, their real power was not increased. Like
all the other princes, they had, however, at the Congress of Vienna,
received the recognition of their full status as sovereign princes of
the Germanic Confederation. Together they sent a single representative
to the Diet of Frankfort, the total population of the five
principalities being only about 300,000 inhabitants.

It was owing to this territorial sub-division and lack of cohesion
that these princes could not attach to their independence the
same political importance that fell to the share of the larger
principalities, such as Hanover and Bavaria, and they were
consequently more ready than the other Germ