due to the royal connections among the royal houses of europe, coburg was the site of many royal ducal weddings and visits. britain's queen victoria made 6 visits to coburg during her 64-year reign. in 1896 one ceremony brought together queen victoria, her son edward (future edward vii), her second son alfred (duke of saxe-coburg-gotha), her daughter the german dowager empress friedrich (victoria), and many of her grandchildren, such as tsar nicholas and alexandra of russia, kaiser wilhelm ii of germany, and the future king george v of great britain.