Ernst Ludwig II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Who was Ernst Ludwig II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen?

Ernst Ludwig II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, was a duke of Saxe-Meiningen.

He was the third but second surviving son of Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his first wife, Dorothea Marie of Saxe-Gotha.

The death of his older brother Josef Bernhard made him the heir to the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. When his father died seven months later, Ernst Ludwig - fifteen years old- inherited the duchy along with his younger brother Karl Frederick.

Because the two princes were under age when their father died, their uncles Frederik Wilhelm and Anton Ulrich served as their guardians until 1733.

Ernst Ludwig died after reigning five years, only twenty years old and unmarried. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Karl Frederick.