In 1806 at the age of twenty-two, he succeeded his father in            
          Saalfeld. The Prussians had just been defeated by Napoleon at Jena and     
          it was only the Tsar's intervention which prevented Napoleon from          
          taking Saalfeld as well. To keep the peace, Ernst had to go to Paris       
          to pay homage to the French Emperor.                                       
             From Paris he brought a mistress, Pauline Panam, "La Belle              
          Grecque", to Saalfeld; however, she was greatly disliked and               
          distrusted by Ernst's mother. Some years later Ernst's mother was          
          proven to be right as, in 1823, Madame Panam published her life-story      
          which proved harmful to Ernst and Ernst's marriage. In 1817 Ernst had      
          married the 16-year-old Luise of Saxe-Gotha, heir to the Duchy of          
          Gotha. At first the marriage was happy and produced two sons, Ernst II     
          and Albert. However, after a period of unhappiness, whether due to         
          Ernst's habitual debaucheries or to Madame Panam's revelations, or         
          even to the influence of Colonel von Szymborski over her husband, they     
          separated and finally divorced. Luise left, never to see her children      
          again and, in the same year, her husband inherited the Duchy of Gotha.     
          A year after Luise died at only thirty, Ernst married the daughter of      
          his own sister.                                                            
             As a young man, Ernst was preferable over either of his younger         
          brothers, Ferdinand and Leopold. He was lighthearted, happy and always     
          honest, took great care with the education of his two sons and enjoyed     
          being with them. According to his eldest son, Ernst was farsighted and     
          a sharp-witted man of business, at home with many sciences, and "what      
          won all hearts was the earnest mildness with which he interested           
          himself in everything. I never heard a harsh or ugly word from his         
          lips, never saw an action which would not have satisfied every idea of     
          good breeding".                                                            
             Ernst's mother warned him not to let young Albert take too much         
          medicine or let him be present when his health was discussed as this       
          would only make him nervous. Both Ernst (II) and Albert had been in        
          their nursery with whooping-cough when their mother had left. Both         
          Ernst I and his son, Ernst II, terrified Albert because of their           
          immorality with women, to which Albert attributed his male relatives'      
          downfall.                                                                  
             Perhaps Ernst's eldest son was prejudiced towards his father as         
          other people saw Ernst in a different light---his licentiousness had       
          broken up his children's home; he had wanted an allowance from Queen       
          Victoria, his daughter-in-law; and he was angry when their eldest son      
          (Edward VII), his first grandson, was not called after him.  
 

Source: Leo van de Pas