A Birthday Wishes Telegram from The Duchess Victoria Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Genraldirektor Kemner

A 70th Birthday Wishes Telegram from Her Royal Highness The Duchess Victoria Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Genraldirektor Kemner: Masthead inscribed "Deutsche Reichsport" (German Reichspost), marked "Telegramm", numbered "078", dated in pencil "22.12.42" (December 22, 1942), stamped in red ink "18 XII 42 Nürnburg" (December 18, 1942 Nuremburg), postmarked in black ink "16.12.42 BERLIN" (December 16, 1942 Berlin), inscribed "Haupttelegraphenamt Berlin" (Main Telegraph Office Berlin), teletype addressed "LT = GENRALDIREKTOR KEMNER KURFUERSTENDAMN 214 BERLIN W50" with teletype message inscribed "IHRES 70 GEBURTSTAGES GEDENKE ICH MIT DEN WAERMSTEN WUENSCHEN FUER IHR PERSOENLICHES WOHLERGEHEN WIE FUER EINE WEITERE ERFOLGEREICHE KOLONIALARBEIT - VIKTORIA ADELHEID HERZOGIN VON SACHSEN COBURG GOTHA+", repeated Nuremburg stamps on the reverse, printed in black ink on a cream-coloured paper stock, two-hole punched in the left margin, 147 mm x 210 mm, extremely fine.

Footnote: Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (German: Viktoria Adelheid Helene Luise Marie Friederike) was the consort of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and maternal grandmother of Carl XVI of Sweden. Princess Victoria Adelaide was born on December 31, 1885 at Grünholz Manor, Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia as the eldest daughter of Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of Christian IX of Denmark. One month before the birth of Victoria Adelaide, he had succeeded to the headship of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and the title of duke upon the death of his father on November 27, 1885. On October 11, 1905, at Glücksburg Castle, Schleswig, she married Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Charles Edward was born HRH Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany and was the only son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany by his wife Princess Helena of Waldeck and a grandson of Queen Victoria. Five years before the marriage, he had succeeded to the duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha upon the death of his uncle Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1900. Upon her marriage, Victoria Adelheid assumed the title of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. She and Charles Edward had five children. In 1918, the Duke was forced to abdicate his ducal throne, following the end of the First World War, forcing the family to become private citizens. After the Second World War, the couple fled to Austria (where Schloss Greinburg an der Donau had been a Saxe-Coburg property since 1822, and remains such) following the seizure of their properties in East Germany by the Soviet Union. Prince Charles Edward died in Coburg on March 6, 1954; Victoria Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha died on October 3, 1970 and was buried beside her husband at Schloss Callenberg, Coburg, on October 8th.