"Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (28 July 1676 – 23 March 1732), was a duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
He was born in Gotha, the fifth child and first son of Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels.
After the death of his father, in 1691, Frederick II assumed the duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
Because he was still under age, a guardianship and co-regency was formed between his uncles, the dukes Bernhard I of Saxe-Meiningen and Heinrich of Saxe-Römhild. In 1693, after he returned from a journey to Holland and England, he wrote to the emperor for a license of adult age and took independent control of the government of his duchy. Frederick was a splendor-loving baroque ruler; maintaining his court and standing army, which he had taken over from his father and even expanded, devoured a considerable amount of his income. As a solution, Frederick hired out his soldiers to foreign princes, which caused him great difficulties in 1702, when the King Louis XIV of France hired his troops and used them in his war against the Emperor." - (en.wikipedia.org 14.06.2020)
