On this date in History: January 20th, 1936. Death of HM King George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India.

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Czar Nicholas II of Russia, Delhi Durbar, George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George V of Great Britain, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain

 

On this date in History: January 20th, 1936. Death of HM King George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India. The king had reigned for 25 years.

He was the second son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), and the grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, until the unexpected death of his elder brother in early 1892 put him directly in line for the throne. On the death of his grandmother in 1901, George’s father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910. He was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar.

His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, and the Indian independence movement, all of which radically changed the political landscape. The Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. As a result of the First World War (1914–18) the empires of his first cousins Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany fell while the British Empire expanded to its greatest effective extent. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, which he renamed from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a result of anti-German public sentiment. In 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his later reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII.

Royal Grief: Part IV

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Edward VII, grief, Kaiser Friedrich III of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Duke of Clarence

Within seven months of the death of his mother, King Edward VII suffered the death of his sister, Victoria, Princess Royal, The Empress Frederick of Germany, eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Princess Victoria was born on 21 November 1840. She married Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia in 1858, a love match but also a dynastic alliance in the hope of helping liberalize Prussia. However, her father-in-law (Kaiser Wilhelm I) lived to be 90 and her husband was already terminally ill with throat cancer when he finally became Kaiser Friedrich III in March of 1888. Kaiser Friedrich III reigned for just 3 months and was succeeded by his eldest son Wilhelm II, a militaristic ruler in the mold of his grandfather. Victoria, who now styled her self The Empress Frederick,  and her son did not get along, and she was marginalized for the rest of her life, finally dying in 1901, a few months after Queen Victoria.
In the summer of 1900 Edward VII, then still Prince of Wales, spent much of the summer in Berlin with his sister, the Empress Frederick, as her health began to deteriorate. Edward VII had regular visits at the spa at Bad Homburg. He would not see his sister once again until February of 1901, a month after his succession to the throne. When he came to see his sister, it was not known how much longer she had to live. Edward brought with him his private secretary, Sir Frederick Ponsonby, and a couple of English doctors to help treat his sister.
Vicky did not have a great relationship with German doctors. She felt that they were partly responsible for the difficult delivery of her son, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, and they mismanaged and treated her husbands (Kaiser Friedrich III) throat cancer. Indeed the Empress Frederick was kept in such pain because the German doctors gave her so little morphine for her pain. The English doctors were able to giver more pain relief much to the resentments of the German physicians in attendance.
When Kaiser Friedrich III died in 1888 his son, the new Kaiser Wilhelm II, surrounded the palace with his troops in order to secure any of his father’s documents and other writings and letters. It seemed history would repeat itself when the Empresses Frederick died. This was the main reason Sir Frederick Ponsonby was there. The letters and documents of the Empress Frederick were smuggled out of Germany in Ponsonby’s luggage and kept in his own private estates instead of the archives at Windsor in an attempt to out manouver the Kaiser.
The Empress Frederick died in Friedrichshof on 5 August 1901 ending a long illness that began in late 1898 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer that would eventually metastasize to her spine. She was buried next to her husband in the royal mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam on 13 August 1901.
Edward VII and Vicky had been close all their lives. Altogether their parents had differing views of each child, Vicky was Prince Albert’s favorite child, while Bertie (Albert-Edward) was a great disappointment to his mother, this did not seem to affect their relationship.
This concludes the King’s year of grief…the loss of a nephew in 1899 then between July 30, 1900 to August 5, 1901 the King lost his brother, mother and sister. If we expand the time back ten years or so, the King lost his eldest son (Prince Albert-Victor, Duke of Clarence) in 1892 and another nephew, Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein in October of 1900. That is a lot of grief and loss for one person in that span of time.

Survival of Monarchies: Part X, Conclusions.

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Charles of Austria, Constitutional Monarchy, Emperor Carl of Austria, France, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Louis XVI of France, Royal Marriages Act of 1772, The Succession to the Crown Act of 2013, United Kingdom

This has been a very long series. Here is the conclusion. As stated in the beginning my premise for the survival of the monarchies that are extant is due to a more Liberal political view that allowed these systems to adapt and change with the times. These are also the reasons why these systems are continuing to survive. For example, the United Kingdom followed the direction the Scandinavian and Benelux monarchies have gone in regards to gender neutrality for the succession to the crown. In the future the eldest child will inherit the throne regardless of gender. For a further example, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s new baby is a girl, she will follow Prince George and become fourth in line to the throne as she would have under the old laws. However, she will not be moved down in the succession by any future younger brothers. The Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 has finally gone into affect once Australia finally approved it. Other more Liberal provisions of the Act was to repeal the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 so now only the first 6th in line to the throne have to ask permission of the sovereign to marry. The Act also restored to the order of succession those who had married Catholics. So as long as a Prince or Princess married a Catholic they will no longer lose their place in the succession. However, if a British Prince or Prince converts to the Catholic faith or is baptized into the faith they will lose their place in the succession.

We have seen that in Britain they went from an almost absolute monarchy under the Tudors to the Constitutional Monarchy they have today. Although it was a very rough road to get to where we are today the monarchy did survive because it was able to adapt to the changing political philosophies of the day. We saw the same thing in Denmark although with much less bloodshed. In Denmark the king took over the power and when the people desired a Constitution with a monarch that had lesser power it was granted easily. When King Christian IX (1863-1906) tried to wield more power than he had he was very unpopular for it and almost lost his crown. His ability to adapt to how things were helped save that crown.

Russia, Austria-Hungary and the German Empire (and France) all fell during times of war but the staunch Conservatism and the inability to change lead to the downfall of each. Both Czar Nicholas II of Russia and King Louis XVI lost their thrones and lives during revolutions. Brief periods of Constitutional Monarchy were attempted but each monarch were used to centuries of personal autocracy and the sharing of power was seen as being beneath them. Plus, these bodies (Parliaments) were not very trusting of their sovereigns either. Kaiser’s Wilhelm II and Carl I-IV lost their thrones because the people no longer wanted them. I think this point cannot be over stressed. Both Germany and Austria-Hungry clung to a type of autocracy that had fallen out of favor over a century.

I think it brings up a good point to close with. It is important that monarchies bend to the changing times for the most important lesson learned with the collapse of these more Conservative regimes is that the monarchs govern by the will of the people and if and when the people no longer desire them they will be gone. I think today’s monarchs realize this very important fact. In that context I think these monarchies do provide their countries with something the people do need. I have gone over this briefly and I will restate it here: Symbolism and Patriotism are important to any country and having a head of state that is above the partisan game playing and bickering and who is a symbol and unifying factor can be of great value to the people. As long as they can find ways to remain meaningful in the lives of their country and adapt to the changing needs of the country and remaining an anchor for stability then the people will desire to keep them around.

Aftermath of the Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

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Austria, Austria-Hungary, Austrian Empire, Franz-Ferdinand, Franz-Josef, Gavrilo Princip, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany

Aftermath of the Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

One of the sad things for me is that even in death the insults and snubs to the Archduke’s wife Sofie continued. Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo, Emperor Franz Joseph’s Chamberlain, hated Franz Ferdinand and Sophie passionately and decided to turn the funeral into a massive and vicious snub. Foreign royalty had been invited to the funeral and planned to attend. Generally when an heir to the throne had passed away there were would be a large funeral attended by many royal heads of state. However, on this occasion they were pointedly dis-invited and a much smaller funeral planned with just the immediate imperial family, with the dead couple’s three children excluded from the few public ceremonies. The officer corps was forbidden to salute the funeral train, and this led to a minor revolt led by Archduke Karl, the new heir to the throne. The public viewing of the coffins was curtailed severely and even more scandalously, Montenuovo tried unsuccessfully to make the children foot the bill. Also during the viewing the Archduke’s coffin was set higher than Sofie’s to remind all that she was not an equal to her husband. The Archduke and Duchess were interred at Artstetten Castle because his wife could not be buried at the Imperial Crypt.

Of course the largest aftermath was War. However, I wanted to share what happened to the assassin, Gavrilo Princip. Like his fellow assassin Čabrinović who tried to swallow the cyanide pill but vomited instead, Princip had the same experience with his cyanide pill. It seems they had purchased stale cyanide that was out of date. Princeip was arrested and in October of 1914 was convicted of his part in the murder of the Archduke and his wife. Princip was too young to receive the death penalty, being only twenty-seven days short of the 20-year age limit required by Habsburg law for the death sentence. Instead, he received the maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. He was held in harsh conditions and squalor which were worsened by the war as supplies went to the war effort. While in prison he contracted tuberculosis. He died on April 28, 1918 at Terezín 3 years and 10 months after he assassinated the Archduke and Duchess. At the time of his death, Princip, weakened by malnutrition and disease, weighed around 40 kilograms (88 lb; 6 st 4 lb). His body had become racked by skeletal tuberculosis that ate away his bones so badly that his right arm had to be amputated. Now I am not happy that this man assassinated the Archduke and Duchess, but his treatment in prison was inhumane.

As the saying goes “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”? He’s their freedom fighter. Well in Serbia Princip is still regarded as a national hero and on the 100th anniversary of the assassination of the Archduke and Duchess Bosnian Serbs erected a statue of Gavrilo Princip.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/gavrilo-princip-statue_n_5538356.html

War broke out on July 28th, 1914 when Austria fired the first shots in its invasion of Serbia. Russia mobilized against Germany, while Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, causing Britain to declare war on Germany. Closer to July 28th I will focus on what the three emperors, Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany, did to either prevent or encourage the war.

Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland

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Austria, Christian IX of Denmark, Duke of Cumberland, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, German Empire, Gmunden, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VII of Great Britain, King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King George I of Greece, Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Prussia, Queen Victoria, Titles Deprivation Act, World War I

I wanted to revive an old feature, where I would focus on one monarch or prince/princess. The problem with that in the past was that it was difficult for me to keep it brief. I ended up writing way too much for a blog post. So, I will revive this feature and see if I can keep it brief!!

HRH Prince Ernst-August II of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland. He was born in 21 September 1845 the eldest son of King Georg V of Hanover and Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. He was the grandson of Queen Victoria’s uncle, King Ernst-August I of Hanover. Prince Ernst-August’s father, Georg V of Hanover, lost the throne when it was annexed to Prussia in the 1866 war against Austria. As a descendant of King George III of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover, Prince Enrst-August II was heir to the vacant throne of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick as well as a British Prince and as Duke of Cumberland he was a British Peer.

Because of Hanover’s annexation to Prussia Ernst-August had long deep-seated prejudice and hatred toward all things Prussian and the House of Hohenzollern. For that reason he took Princess Thyra of Denmark as his wife. Thyra was the youngest daughter of  Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. The Danish Royal Family lost a war against Prussia in 1864 so they all shared a common hatred of Prussia. This marriage also made him the brother-in-law to King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King Edward VII of Great Britain, Emperor Alexander III of Russia and King George I of Greece.

Queen Victoria appointed the Duke of Cumberland a colonel in the British Army in 1876 and promoted him to major-general in 1886, lieutenant-general in 1892 and general in 1898. After his time in the British Army he lived in Gmunden, Upper Austria. Although he never renounced the succession to the thrones of Hanover and Brunswick Ernst-August II was eventually reconciled to Prussia when his eldest surviving son, Ernst-August III, married Princess Victoria-Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1913. That same year his son was created the reigning Duke of Brunswick by Wilhelm II.

As a British and German Prince, Ernst-August II lost his British peerage in 1917 when all German relatives of the British Royal Family lost their British titles during World War I when King George V issued the Titles Deprivation Act. Prince Ernst August, the former Crown Prince of Hanover and former Duke of Cumberland, died of a stroke on his estate at Gmunden in November 1923. He was 78 years old.

Abdication, a royal tradition?

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1936 Abdication Crisis, Abdication, Charles V, Czar Nicholas II, Elizabeth II, Grand Duchess Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King Felipe II of Spain, Kingdom of the Netherlnads, Marie-Adélaïde, Philip II of Spain, Queen Elizabeth II

With the abdication announcement from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands earlier this week I began to look at the history and tradition of abdication within all monarchies, not just the Netherlands. I grabbed a note-book and began listing the Emperors, Empresses, Kings and Queens etc, that have abdicated through the centuries. Wow, there were many more than I realized. Too many to mention in this blog post. One thing I have noticed is that there were many forced abdication in the past centuries and few voluntary abdication. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King of Spain is an example of a voluntary abdication. In the past, abdication were overwhelmingly done for political and not personal reasons.

For a few years Queen Christina of Sweden (1632-1654) desired to abdicate citing she wanted to rest and she was tired of being pressured into marriage. At first her councilors objected but in 1654 she abdicated in favor of her cousin who became King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden. Health problems, in the form of gout, moved Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to abdicate his thrones. He gave spain to his son who became Felipe II of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire went to his brother Ferdinand.

These are a couple of examples of voluntary abdication. Often monarchs have abdicated because they had little choice. Emperor Nicholas II of Russia is a prime example. His country was in shambles because of World War I and he was not popular and with the rise of the provisional government his abdication was essential for a smooth transition. His cousin, German Emperor Wilhelm II (1888-1918) refused to abdicate the throne as his empire was crumbling at his feet. His Imperial Chancellor, Prince Maximilian of Baden, announced the Emperor’s abdication for him, which outraged the Emperor. Wilhelm II eventually signed abdication papers weeks later after he was in exile.

I see the abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a semi-voluntary choice. Yes, he had a choice and as we all know he chose to abdicate to be with the woman he loved. He lived in a time were marrying an American who was twice divorced was socially unacceptable. He did have a choice but one that really wasn’t fair in my opinion.

It was in the 20th century where monarchies began to see abdication by voluntary means. Luxembourg has a tradition of abdication that began with the abdication of Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in 1919. Marie-Adélaïde’s abdication to her younger sister Charlotte was not voluntary. It was due to political pressure resulting from her cordial relationship with the Germans that occupied Luxembourg during World War I. In 1964 her sister, Grand Duchess Charlotte voluntarily abdicated to her son Jean. In 2000 Grand Duke Jean abdicated the throne in favor of Henri, Luxembourg’s reigning Grand Duke.

In Britain Elizabeth II will never abdicate. The abdication crisis left a sour taste in her mouth and her coronation oath and her dedication to duty will not leave abdication as an option. This is the case for most of the remaining monarchies of Europe. Next week I want to look more in-depth at the Kingdom of the Netherlands where a tradition of abdication has developed. I also want to look at the pros and cons of abdication itself.

Tuesday I will continue my examination of the Legal Succession to the throne and on Thursday of next week I will continue to look at the concept of Abdication.

The End of the Great War

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14 points, Austria-Hungary, Crown Prince Wilhelm, German Chancellor, German Emperor, German Empire, Imperiial Chancellor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Kingdom of Prussia, Max of Baden, The Great War, United States, Woodrow Wilson, World War I, World War ii

Today as I type this it is Veterans Day in the United States. We honor all those that serve in the military. The chosen date for this remembrance and gratitude to our brave men and women who sacrificed their lives was the ending of World War I. The end of the War brought not only a temporary peace to Europe, war would once again engulf Europe and the globe 21 years later, it also brought down ancient monarchies and a way of life that had existed for over one thousand years. In my interest in European royalty and history I often contemplate when was the point of no return for the down fall of monarchs? Could the down fall of Louis XVI of France and Navarre been avoided? I ask the same question today in regards to the collapse of the German Empire and the Empire of Austria-Hungary.

The war dragged on for 4 years. During the War the bombastic German Emperor, Wilhelm II, was a mere figurehead with his role being delegated to traveling throughout the empire by train giving speeches to encourage and boost the moral of the troops. Any military or political decisions had been taken out of his hands at this point and were under the control of the General Staff. Even though Wilhelm’s rule was nominal he was the symbolic head of the empire and the focal point of the propaganda against Germany. Death to the Kaiser or calls to hang the Kaiser were familiar rallying cries within the Allied forces.

By November of 1918 the war was winding down and all hope for a German victory was lost. President Wilson, not a monarchist by any stretch of the imagination, would not deal with these monarchical governments as a means of restoring peace. One of his famous 14 points for peace was that he would reduce German territory and practically dismantle the Austro-Hungarian empire. This placed great pressure on those in control in both Germany and Austria to rid themselves of the crown heads which stood at the pinnacle of symbolic power. It seems that the countries themselves were also tired of their hereditary leaders.

A year prior to the end of the War Austro-Hungarian emperor Karl tried to sue for peace using his brother-in-law, Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma as a intermediary, but to no avail. In November of 1918 as the German General staff, along with Wilhelm II, gathered at headquarters at Spa in the Netherlands revolt was growing in the military and Germany itself. I think Wilhelm’s actions and attitudes at this time show the depth of his denial that things were truly over. He thought he would be able to lead the army back into Germany to crush any of the rising revolts. It came as a shock to him to learn that the army, so tied to Prussian authority for centuries, refused the emperors leadership.

Even the German Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, tried to persuade the emperor to abdicate the throne to one of his grandsons (the German Crown Prince was even more unpopular than his father) in an effort to try and save the monarchy, but the emperor refused. It was the night of November 9-10 that the emperor finally saw the writing on the wall and fled into the Netherlands seeking asylum. This came on the day when Chancellor Max of Baden announced the abdication of the emperor to the German people even though at this point the emperor still had not agreed to abdicate. It wouldn’t be until December when the emperor officially signed documents agreeing to his abdication, releasing all military and government official of their oath of allegiance to him. The monarchy may have been salvageable in 1917 but at that point the war was not lost so there was no reason for the emperor to abdicate. Sadly the reason for the emperor to abdicate came only when it was realized that any hope to win the war had been lost and by then it was too late to save the monarchy.

In 1918 the aim of the allied forces was to punish Germany and the 1919 Treaty of Versailles is an example of that. The harshness of the treaty is said to be a factor in the rise of Germany and the cause of World War II. States have learned a lesson from World War I. That lesson is to not punish a warring nation but to try and stabilize that country as soon as possible. If the monarchy could have been a stabilizing force for Germany at the end of the war, and if the allied powers would have been willing to work with these monarchies would it have been possible to avert the coming evil that proved to be much worse? One of histories unanswerable questions.

Favorite Royals

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Henry II of England, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Charles II of England and Scotland, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George III of Great Britain, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

Many things came up yesterday and I was unable to write today’s featured monarch section. So what I thought I would do was list some of my favorite monarchs that I enjoy reading about. In the comments section below list your favorite royals and monarchs.

These are in no particular order.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

King Charles II of England and Scotland

King Henry VIII of England

King Henry II of England

King George III of Great Britain

King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V

King Christian IX of Denmark

Emperor Charlemagne

William I of England

Henry II of England

Although I enjoy many diverse time periods in history I guess my favorite in European history would be from 1837 to 1918. 

 

 

HRH The Prince of Prussia

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Crown Prince Wilhelm, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, Georg-Friedrich, German Empire, HRH The Prince of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Kingdo, of Prussia, Price Louis Ferdinand, Princess Sophie of Isenberg

Today’s featured Royal is HRH Georg-Friedrich, Prince of Prussia. He is heir to the vacant German Imperial throne and the royal throne of Prussia, last held by his great-great grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Prussia. Currently the prince works for a company specializing in helping universities bring their innovations to market. Georg-Friedrich also administers the Princess Kira of Prussia-Foundation, founded by his grandmother in 1952.

On August 27, Georg-Friedrich married HSH Princess Sophie of Isenberg. Sophie studied Business administration in Freiburg and Berlin and works at a firm that offers consulting services for nonprofit business. They were married at the Church of Peace in Potsdam and this date also coincided with the 950th anniversary of the founding of the House of Hohenzollern. By marrying a princess of equal rank he upheld the qualifications of the will of the last Kaiser which stipulated that the Head of the House of Prussia must marry a woman of equal rank.

This issue, of equal marriage, was a bone of contention between Georg-Friedrich and his uncles, Friedrich-Wilhelm and Michael. This issues actually surrounded the inheritance of the estate and the court could not rule on who was head of the house. Eventually the court did side on Georg-Friedrich’s behalf but he was ordered to partition the estate to his uncles.

Georg-Friedrich is one of those heads of former reigning families that makes me yearn and long for a restoration of the German Monarchy. I know that likelihood of that happening is near zero but my wish demonstrates my support for the heir to the German thrones. Although he is happy in his position as head of the royal house and does not wish to change the current system in Germany, I think he would have made an excellent constitutional monarch. He is intelligent and very personable, qualities that are exemplary in a constitutional monarch.

His claim to the throne is as follows: In 1941 deposed Emperor Wilhelm II died leaving the claim to the throne to his eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm. Crown prince Wilhelm died ten years later in 1951. His eldest son, Prince Wilhelm, who had renounced the throne to marry a commoner in 1933, died in battle during World War II. This placed his brother, Prince Louis-Ferdinand, as head of the royal house, a position he held until his death in 1994. His two eldest son, Friedrich-Wilhelm and Michael, having married unequally forfeited their claim to the headship of the house. Next in line was Louis-Ferdinand’s third son and namesake, Louis-Ferdinand jr, who did marry equally. Sadly, he passed away from injuries suffered during military exercises in 1977. This left his son, Georg-Friedrich, as the heir to his grandfather. Georg-Friedrich succeeded his grandfather as head of the House of Prussia in 1994.

Yesterday it was announced that Georg-Friedrich and Sophie will be expecting their first child in February. I wish them both well and I am happy that although the German monarchy no longer exists they have a great representative to the long and noble tradition in Prince Georg-Friedrich.

HIM German Emperor Wilhelm II: Part 3

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Crown Prince Wilhelm, Field Marshall, Friedrich Ebert, General Erich Ludendorff, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of Prussia, Morocco, Otto von Bismark, Paul von Hindenburg, Philipp Scheidemann, Prince Maximilian of Baden, Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Social Democrats, Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco, Tangier, The First Moroccan Crisis, Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, Wilhelm Groener, Woodrow Wilson, World War I

This is the final part of my feature on Germany’s Kaiser. Today I will look at his abdication and then look more on the personal side of the Kaiser along with his life in exile and his legacy.

As World War I raged on the Kaiser lost most of his political power and influence. By 1916 Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff were the virtual military dictators of the German Empire. Toward the end of the war it was evident how much power the Kaiser had lost and how much power Hindenburg and Ludendorff wielded. Throughout the spring and summer of 1918 the German staff could no longer deny that the war was lost and that peace should be sought after.

Georg von Hertling was the Chancellor of the German Empire and seen as a puppet of Hindenburg and Ludendorff and when it was realized he could no longer control the splintering empire on the verge of collapse he was forced to resign. The Kaiser, whose responsibility it was to appoint the Chancellor had no say in selecting von Hertling’s replacement. Prince Maximilian of Baden, heir to the Grand Duchy of Baden. Prince Max was seen as a liberal and by amending the constitution to where it would favor a Parliamentary system instead of the authoritarian system constructed by Bismark. Prince Max also included the Social Democrats, Friedrich Ebert and Philipp Scheidemann in the formation of the government. These were steps that were thought would make it easier for the allies to sue for peace. It was well known that US President Wilson would not deal with a Germany with the Kaiser at its head.

By November the German Empire was on the verge of collapse. There were socialist uprisings as well as rumblings in the military of mutiny. There were calls for the Kaiser to abdicate but that he refused to do so. In 1918 the German Staff had moved its headquarters to Spa, Belgium and it was there that Wilhelm spent his last days as emperor. All attempts to save the monarchy were lost but Wilhelm was not convinced. On November 9, 1918 Prince Max was in Berlin and the only thing he could do to stave off complete collapse and revolution was to announce the abdication of the Kaiser himself. When word reached Wilhelm that his abdication had been announced in Berlin he was outraged and never forgave Prince Max. Prince Max knew that he himself also had to go as it was seen that only Friedrich Ebert could restore order so the very same day the Kaiser’s abdication was announced Prince Max turned over the Chancellorship to Ebert.

Wilhelm was still not convinced all was lost. Ever the Prussian militarist Wilhelm had a delusional idea that he would lead the German Army, who was ever loyal to him, back into Berlin to crush any rebellion and restore his power. It took General Wilhelm Groener, Ludendorff’s replacement, to convince the emperor that the Army would not support him. It was only then that he agreed to seek exile and leave. The night of July 10th the Kaiser left Spa by train to seek asylum in the Netherlands. He was granted asylum by Queen Wilhelmina () and eventually settled in Doorn where he stayed for the rest of his life. His cousin, George V of the United Kingdom, called him the worst criminal in history. Many nations called for his extradition and wanted the Kaiser hung for war crimes. Eventually even president Wilson agreed that to extradite the Kaiser would destabilize the tentative peace.

Bismark mention in how he saw the Kaiser: he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers’ mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, pathological in his hatred against his English mother.

Reading one of the leading biographers of the Kaiser, John C. G. Röhl, found he blamed many others for his downfall and he had a streak of antisemitism in him as well.

Kaiserin August Victoria of Germany

He had married for the first time in 1881, HSH Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1858-1921). There have not been many kind words written about her. She was devoted to her husband in an almost hero-worshiping fashion and was seen as rather plain and unintelligent. Her devout Christian conservative views also created more negative images of her. She bore the Kaiser 6 sons and one daughter to whom he was devoted to. His eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm, was a womanizing playboy and this did not sit well with the emperor. The two strong willed men had many conflicts. One son, Prince Joachim, who was divorced shortly after the war never recovered from his loss of position and life as a royal and committed suicide in 1920. A year later his wife, Empress Augusta Victoria, died at the age of 62.

The Kaiser remarried in 1922. On his birthday in January of that same year Wilhelm received a birthday card from a son of the late Prince Johann George of Schönaich-Carolath. Wilhelm invited the boy and his mother, born Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, to Doorn. While meeting the former kaiser Wilhelm found Hermine very attractive and the two got on well. They were wed November 9, 1922 in spite of very vocal objections his children, who were about the same age as their new stepmother, and also from Wilhelm’s monarchist supporters who were eager for the restoration of the monarchy. Hermine, who was called the empress within the corridors of Huis Doorn was similarly devoted to her husband as was his first wife.

The Kaiser passed away on June 4, 1941. He saw the first few years of World War II. He eventually distance himself from Hitler and would not allow himself to be used for Nazi Propaganda and would not allow himself to be buried in Germany unless the monarchy was restored. To this day his remains lie in a mausoleum on the grounds of Huis Doorn.

Although I didn’t have a lot of positive things to say about the last Kaiser yet I do find him fascinating. He was a complex character that was steering the ship when the German Empire ran aground. Historians say that World War I changed a way of life for the aristocracy that had existed in Europe for centuries. There are also some historians who say that the 20th century didn’t actually begin until the end of the First World War. As a monarchist it presents an opportunity to understand why the monarchy ended. I am of the belief that if the kaiser had been more open to change and willing to go the way of constitutionalism that the other monarchies had gone, there is a strong chance that Germany would still be a monarchy today.