Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) and Family


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Considering Wilhelmina's character I doubt that any other marriage would have been less unhappy. Heinrich had the advantage that -while being a dullard- he at least never meddled in politics. I am not sure if a Hohenzollern prince would could have resisted to do so, esp. considering the emperor's expectations. Negociating with the Prussiian court about the prince's appanage, nationality, succession rights and name of the dynasty would have been more difficult than with the relatively unimportant court in Schwerin as well.

Note that the Prussian court did not give up easily.On June 20th 1900 the German consul still said to have hopes. Grovestins told him that Emma actually preferred the Hohenzollern candidate (which was not true). The Emperor then wrote a personal letter to Queen Emma where he spoke warmly about his cousin. More letters followed. In the end Emma appealed to the emperor's 'high views on a christian family' and said that she was sure that he shared the view that Wilhelmina -who was madly in love- should be free in the most important choice of her life. She added that she regretted that the choice was not the same as the one of the emperor. Wilhelm II was a good sport -perhaps he thought that a German duke was better than no German at all. But in a congratulations telegram after the engagement he predicted to Emma and WIlhelmina that Heinrich's job next to Wilhelmina would be a difficult one.

Both for the inauguration as for the wedding Queen Emma tried succesfully to keep the emperor away without giving offence. In this case Queen Emma let it be known that the wedding was purely a family event. The emperor protested that prince Albrecht jr (father of the unsuccesfull Hohenzollern candidate) was close family, while he was not invited. Queen Emma did not want the prince at the wedding either, but consulted various people. The German consul referred to the 'great personal affection and friendship' that the emperor felt for the last member of the house of Orange and referred to the emperor's 'Orange-blood that flows through his veins'. Queen Emma duly invited Prince Albrecht jr.

The whole episode shows that the 'warm feelings' between Wilhelmina (& Emma) and Wilhelm certainly had its limits. Mutual warm feelings may have been personal but were certainly also an expression of various reasons of state: the emperor tried to increase German influence while Queen Emma knew that a close association with the Hohenzollerns would be perceived as something that was in conflict with the country's neutrality.

BTW it always surprised me that Prince Harald of Denmark was never considered. it seemed a perfect candidate on paper: a younger son in a small neutral country with great family connections to boot and a descendant of king Willem I but not too closely related.
 
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Governess

Do you happen to know the names of the last Kaisers children’s governess/nanny? It was rumored that my great grandmother worked in the palace before leaving for Costa Rica.
 
The Kaiser's children did have English nannies. The only governess that I know of joined the family when the Royal couple's sole daughter, Viktoria Louise, was nine and she stayed until the Princess didn't need her any more. She was British, an Anne Topham, who later wrote her memoirs of the Kaiser's court.
 
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Interesting. My great grandmother left Germany after WW1. I can’t find anything on her while she was in Germany. Her name was Johanna May Wunsch. She lived with her fatherless child, Manuel May. I’m not sure if he was born in Germany.
 
Huge numbers of staff and servants worked for the Kaiser and his family. Didn't your great grandmother ever discuss where she was born, baptised, schooled etc. with her child(ren) grandchildren or others? What about immigration records for the US? If you could get baptismal records that would be a start, though of course quite a lot of documentation was destroyed in Germany through two world wars.
 
Question about a book

I am currently reading "Young Wilhelm" by John C.G. Rohl. I plan to read the other two books in the series. In my search for books about Kaiser Wilhelm II, I came across a book titled "The Innocence of Kaiser Wilhelm II: and the First World War" by Christina Croft. Given what I have been reading, I almost choked when I read the title. It has good reviews on Amazon, but I am wondering if anyone on these forums has read it, and if so, did you find it to be accurate?
 
ZDF aired a drama/documentary about the fall of the German emperor. The 3-part documentary is on YouTube since last month and is subtitled in English. Empress Auguste Viktoria is played by Sunnyi Melles, wife of Prince Peter of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, the younger brother of the present Fürst;

 
:previous: I like how actual black and white film is also used in the footage. This adds to the realism of the situation.
 
Marengo said:
ZDF aired a drama/documentary about the fall of the German emperor. The 3-part documentary is on YouTube since last month and is subtitled in English. Empress Auguste Viktoria is played by Sunnyi Melles, wife of Prince Peter of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, the younger brother of the present Fürst;

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Thank you so much for this link!! I am currently reading John Rohl's 3 volume set on Kaiser Wilhelm II. I will definitely watch this.
 
Marengo said:
ZDF aired a drama/documentary about the fall of the German emperor. The 3-part documentary is on YouTube since last month and is subtitled in English. Empress Auguste Viktoria is played by Sunnyi Melles, wife of Prince Peter of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, the younger brother of the present Fürst;

Click to expand...

Thank you for posting this. I have just finished watching & found it very interesting. I did not know that Max of Baden had a chance to preserve the German monarchy. How very different history might have been. I also did not know that Hahn was Max's advisor.

Was the Empress really such an important player in these events? Did the Kaiser really make such an intemperate speech at Krupps?

I enjoyed the scenes filmed at the Neues Palais in Potsdam & the palace at Stuttgart. Is there much to see inside these palaces?

In this country the Kaiser is seen an unpredictable & arrogant man who plunged Europe into the abyss. Very one dimensional I know but the film doesn't do anything to dispel these sorts of notions about his character.
 
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:previous: There is also a production like "Kaisersturz" by the same tv-outlet called "Zarensturz", about the fall of the Romanovs.

I have seen all of this, and my opinion was confirmed: Modern German history books, film and docus are terrible!

One can watch them for amusement, but must keep in mind, that anybody, who would have anything positive to say about the Realm of the Emperor, would not have made a career in German Television. Because it is against the poltical correctness...
 
With great pain I watched these 3 episodes, produced and aired by ZDF.
To put it in a nutshell, this is bullshit and pure propaganda.
If you have read books and followed other documentaries about this time and its characters you have to come to no other conclusion.
Especially the presentation of HM the Kaiser and HM the Empress according to their characters do not correspond to their real biographies.
I would REALLY like to know sources for the presentation. HM the Empress as a dominant influencing figure? It is ridiculous. All description of her is the contrary. I want sources.
Concerning Prinz Max von Baden, who really was no hero in these days, shall have to be gay and was extorted by their Majesties??? FIRST time ever I heard of that, and would like to have sources of proof too. This is bullshit. Especially nowadays, if true, there would been reports of how "ill minded Hohenzollern blackmailed a poor gay".
To shut the lid, the moderator in the off says in the end something like, "and the first democracy in Germany was installed". Bullshit too, because the German Empire compared to its European neighbors was already a democracy, by constitution, not as far as we are today, but in fact it was. It was the first republic that was installed in Germany, then it would have been correct. But that was not the wording. AND, completely left out in this "documentary" was the fact that the constitution of the German Empire in 1918 was changed into a parliamentary monarchy. Oh, why wasn't that mentioned?
It did not fit in the picture.
But what I am mostly astonished is, that this kind of rubbish is recommended in a royal forum like this. Very sad...
 
I am about to finish John Rohl's three volume series on Kaiser Wilhelm II. It is outstanding. I have read about WWI in other books I have read, but this third book in the series has really gotten me interesting in reading just about WWI. I know there are tons of book on WWI, but I want to read one that is "readable" and not just a list of facts. I found this one and just wonder if anyone knows anything about it? I would also appreciate any suggestions of other books that anyone has. I am particularly interested in knowing what was going on in the minds of the leaders of the countries in the war as it progressed.
 
I haven't read it, unfortunately, and my TBR book pile is toppling over at the moment! However, the reviews of this book by readers at Amazon appear to be overwhelmingly favourable which is very hopeful.

One suggestion, if you have a Kindle perhaps you could press the button on the Kindle option shown there and then request that an excerpt of the book be sent to your Kindle. It doesn't place you under any obligation and the excerpt would show whether you like the author's writing style or not. I have a Kindle that I received from Amazon and frequently use that option with more expensive books if I'm unsure about purchasing.
 
Curryong said:
I haven't read it, unfortunately, and my TBR book pile is toppling over at the moment! However, the reviews of this book by readers at Amazon appear to be overwhelmingly favourable which is very hopeful.

One suggestion, if you have a Kindle perhaps you could press the button on the Kindle option shown there and then request that an excerpt of the book be sent to your Kindle. It doesn't place you under any obligation and the excerpt would show whether you like the author's writing style or not. I have a Kindle that I received from Amazon and frequently use that option with more expensive books if I'm unsure about purchasing.
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I did not realize I could request an excerpt. Thank you so much. I will do that. I know what you mean about the TBR pile. I will have to live to be 200 to get everything read I have planned.
 
duchessrachel said:
I am about to finish John Rohl's three volume series on Kaiser Wilhelm II. It is outstanding. I have read about WWI in other books I have read, but this third book in the series has really gotten me interesting in reading just about WWI. I know there are tons of book on WWI, but I want to read one that is "readable" and not just a list of facts. I found this one and just wonder if anyone knows anything about it? I would also appreciate any suggestions of other books that anyone has. I am particularly interested in knowing what was going on in the minds of the leaders of the countries in the war as it progressed.
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Margaret MacMillan goes around it, but she has two good books about the lead up and aftermath of the war: The War That Ended Peace and Paris 1919.
 
Kaiser In Exile:


Kaiser's Secret Wedding (1922):
 
Obviously, he needed assistance with chopping all that wood.
 
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz - 1922

On November 5, 1922 Emperor Wilhelm II of Gemany married Princess Hermine Reuss of Griez in Doorn. Hermine was the daughter of Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Griez.
Wilhelm's eldest son Crown Prince Wilhelm, his sons Prince Eitel Friedrich and Prince August Wilhelm, Wilhelm II's sisters Viktoria and Margaret and their brother Prince Heinrich attended from Wilhelm II's side of the family.
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-wi...ror-1561888-9111918-exile-house-24110342.html
 
Would it have been better for Emperor Wilhelm II if he had kept Otto Von Bismarck?
 
CyrilVladisla said:
Would it have been better for Emperor Wilhelm II if he had kept Otto Von Bismarck?
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Yep, it would definitely been better! But Bismarck was already really old (75!!!), when he had to leave office,so...
 
Wilhelm's cousin Victoria Milford Haven in an interesting paragraph of her memoir:
How badly William treated his mother after his father's death is no secret to the world any longer. I can recollect how William had been her favourite son in his youth and how well they understood each other until he, the future heir to the throne, came under Prince Bismarck's influence.
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Either Victoria is wildly divergent from the current prevailing view or she has a point and the relationship between her aunt and Wilhelm was not always so painfully and pathologically bad. (In either case, Bismarck didn't help.)

...Of course a few sentences later she does note Aunt Vicky saying several decades later "William has no heart."
 
Scientists in exile from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society
 
Kaiser Wilhelm II reviews his troops at various parades:

 
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