Ernest Frederick II

He was the third but eldest surviving son of Ernst Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen and Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach. At the age of 16, he succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen in 1724. As a result, his mother, the Dowager Duchess Sophia Albertine, acted as a regent on his behalf until he reached adulthood five years later.

In 1743 he received an Infantry Regiment from Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria as a Lieutenant-General. Later, Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor appointed him Quartermaster-General.

Always ailing in body and mind, he was helpless in the face of the problems of the duchy. In the meantime, the indebtedness of the duchy had become so high that total public revenues did not even cover the interest.

In Fürstenau on 19 June 1726 Ernst Frederick married Caroline of Erbach-Fürstenau (d. July 1745). They had four children:

1. Ernst Frederick III Karl, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (b. Königsberg, 10 June 1727 – d. Seidingstadt, 23 September 1780).
2. Frederick August Albrecht (b. Hildburghausen, 8 August 1728 – d. Hildburghausen, 14 June 1735) Died in childhood.
3. Frederick Wilhelm Eugen (b. Hildburghausen, 8 October 1730 – d. Öhringen, 4 December 1795), married on 13 March 1778 to his niece Caroline of Saxe-Hildburghausen (daughter of Ernst Frederick III). Their marriage was childless.
4. Sophie Amalie Caroline (b. Hildburghausen, 21 July 1732 – d. Öhringen, 19 June 1799), married in 1749 to Ludwig of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein-Öhringen.

{{ahnentafel

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| 1= 1. Ernest Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen

| 2= 2. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen

| 3= 3. Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach

| 4= 4. Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen

| 5= 5. Countess Sophie Henriette of Waldeck

| 6= 6. George Louis I, Count of Erbach-Erbach

| 7= 7. Countess Amalia Katharina of Waldeck-Eisenberg

| 8= 8. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha

| 9= 9. Princess Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg

| 10= 10. Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck

| 11= 11. Countess Elisabeth Charlotte of Nassau-Siegen

| 12= 12. George Albert I, Count of Erbach-Schönberg

| 13= 13. Countess Elisabeth Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst

| 14= 14. Philip Dietrich, Count of Waldeck

| 15= 15. Countess Maria Magdalena of Nassau-Siegen

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• Johann Samuel Ersch (Hrsg.): Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste, 1. Sektion, 37. Teil, Leipzig, 1842, S. 300 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=XErM_nrQtMAC&pg=PA300 Digitalisat])
• Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl: Die Herzoge von Sachsen-Altenburg. Bozen 1917, Neudruck Altenburg 1992
• Georg Hassel: Allg. Europäisches Staats u. Address: Handbuch, 1816, etc, Band 1-2, Weimar, 1816, S. 324 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=V-QRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA324 Digitalisat])

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{{S-hou|House of Wettin|17 December|1707|13 August|1745}}

{{Succession box|title=Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen|before=Ernst Frederick I|after=Ernst Frederick III|years=1724–1745}}

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Category:1707 births

Category:1745 deaths

Category:People from Hildburghausen

Category:House of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Category:Dukes of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Category:People from Saxe-Hildburghausen

Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria

Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)