At this stage the relationship between the two couples was as unclouded as it would ever be. On 13 December the Queen invested Ernst with the Garter; they toured the Windsor farms and Alexandrine caught a cold, She was still unwell when they left on 17 December. 'She was very sweet at parting,' Lady Eleanor wrote, 'and kissed us all round; she looked very delicate, as white as a sheet, and more fit to be in her bed than undertaking a long journey. The parting of the Royalty was not so sorrowful as I expected; plenty of kissing, but no tears.' There was, she suggested, a reason for this unemotional departure; 'scandal even whispers that Ernest, in spite of all his love for his dear brother Albert, found his séjour at Windsor "un peu ennuyeux," and therefore did not break his heart at going.'8

Victoria loved Ernst loyally for Albert's sake and opened her heart to Alexandrine, whom she came to see as a sister. It would be hard to tell how much she knew of Ernst's distressing ways. It was Albert who maintained constant contact with his brother, discussing personal and national issues with absolute candour. When Ernst succeeded to the ducal throne Albert spent time with him, trying to offer guidance and extract promises of good behaviour. Politically they were close. Both wanted

to see Germany as a single, federated state, but while Albert argued from conviction, Ernst would dabble with any political system that promised success. He watched the growth of liberalism in Germany with interest and tried to build links with the movement's leaders, but grew tired of receiving well-meant and highly-principled advice from a younger brother who 'was by no means inclined to consent to an energetic rule such as I adopted immediately afterwards for the perfection of the constitutional system', as he later remembered. Ernst would have been less than human if an element of jealousy had not crept in here; emotionally, politically and in other ways Albert seemed to have so much. Financially too: Ernst's extravagance was a frequent source of trouble. In 1845, when Victoria and Albert were preparing to visit Coburg, the tension between the brothers was apparent. '… You might think we are coming to govern you or to do you some damage', Albert reasoned, trying to convince Ernst that his resentment sprang from nothing more than his own paranoia.9

But tensions never seemed to weaken their relationship, and as political unrest in Germany grew their discussions became more urgent. In January 1848 Ernst visited Albert, stopping en route in Berlin and Brussels to collect the views of other sovereigns. He returned home to find unrest in Coburg. Despite frequent debts his inheritance was large, and there were increasing calls to nationalise much of his property. Albert, meanwhile, was working on his own reform plan under which a single sovereign, chancellor and parliament would unite the troubled German states, each of which would retain its own ruling dynasty. A liberal constitution was at the heart of his scheme and he distributed copies to a number of sovereigns including his brother, urging Ernst to set the example by granting a constitution himself. Ernst made do with a few concessions and his position remained sound, though his debts were an increasing problem. In 1850 Albert had to step in to spare him the indignity of losing one of the Coburg properties.

The internal state of Coburg and political developments in Germany were interests the brothers shared, but there was one dominating issue which would unite, and at times divide them in the years to come. During the 1844 visit Lady Eleanor Stanley observed that Ernst and Alexandrine's 'dreadful distress at having no family; and should they have none, as Mdme. de Wagenheim expressed it, "c'est ce petit monstre que vous entendez crier à fendre la tête qui héritera," thereby designating Prince Alfred, who was certainly at that moment roaring lustily and proving at least that his lungs were sound.'10 While Albert fathered children with impressive regularity it had taken only two years for the suspicion to grow that his brother would remain childless. In this case one of Albert's sons must succeed. Normally this would have been a pleasure for the younger couple while Ernst, as head of the family, might have expected to arrange his heir's education unchallenged. Not here. Two legitimate and incompatible interests vied for control of the heir to Coburg, who was also very close to his mother's throne. Alfred would learn German but remain English. When the time came his parents chose a naval career - a fine training for a British prince, but incomprehensible to a German. Ernst's protests went unheeded. Ernst wanted to educated his heir in Coburg but Albert would not hear of it. He knew how the British would react - and he had no intention of putting his son's moral development at risk.

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