Place Name
Prince Alfred (August 6, 1844 – July 30, 1900) was patron of the Seamen’s Home, in Belvedere, which was established in 1865 to help “worn out and infirm seamen”. In 1868 the charity was renamed The Royal Alfred Aged Merchant Seaman’s Institution in his honour when he accepted the office of patron, it remained under this name for the next 82 years. Born Alfred Ernest Albert, he was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from August 22, 1893 until his death in 1900. The German duchy had been passed through the male succession since George I. Ordinarily it would have fallen to his older brother, the Prince of Wales, but he renounced his right to the succession before he married. As a boy Alfred had shown a great interest in the Royal Navy and by the time he was 14 was enrolled in the service as a cadet (he rose steady through the ranks and was eventually promoted to admiral of the fleet). When still a young officer, he learned first-hand the value of good nursing. On January 24, 1867 he had set off on a voyage around the world, becoming the first member of the royal family to visit Australia. He was enthusiastically received but on March 12, 1868 was shot in the back, in an assassination attempt. The shot, fired at point-blank range, would have likely killed him but the bullet ricocheted off one of the metal clips on his trouser braces, and narrowly missing his spine. The assailant, Henry O’Farrell, was tried and hanged six weeks later. After weeks of recuperating Alfred continued his world tour, becoming the first European prince to visit Japan. His trip also took in Ceylon and Hong Kong, making him the first British royal to visit these far-flung outposts of empire. He married Maria Alexandrovna, the second (and only surviving) daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Despite having six children (one was stillborn) the marriage was not a happy one. Alfred died of throat cancer and was buried at the ducal family’s mausoleum in the Friedhof am Glockenbergin Coburg. In Belvedere, the home was demolished in 1959 and a second Belvedere House was established for mariners at Erith in Kent. It moved to Banstead, Surrey in 1978.
;
