January 27, 1859: Birth of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia

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Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Dr. August Wegner, Emperor Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, Physician Sir James Clark, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal, Wilhelm II

Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; January 27, 1859 – June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor (German: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from June 15, 1888 until his abdication on November 9, 1918.

Wilhelm was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859—at the Crown Prince’s Palace—to Victoria, Princess Royal “Vicky”, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His father was Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (“Fritz” – the future Emperor Friedrich III).

At the time of his birth, his granduncle, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, was king of Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm IV had been left permanently incapacitated by a series of strokes, and his younger brother Prince Wilhelm was acting as regent.

Upon the death of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in January 1861, Wilhelm’s paternal grandfather (the elder Wilhelm) became King of Prussia, and the two-year-old Wilhelm became second in the line of succession to Prussia.

After 1871, Wilhelm also became second in the line to the newly created German Empire, which, according to the constitution of the German Empire, was ruled by the Prussian King. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, after his maternal uncles and his mother.

Traumatic birth

Shortly before midnight on January 26, 1859, Wilhelm’s mother experienced labour pains, followed by her water breaking, after which Dr. August Wegner, the family’s personal physician, was summoned. Upon examining Victoria, Wegner realised the infant was in the breech position; gynaecologist Eduard Arnold Martin was then sent for, arriving at the palace at 10 am on January 27.

After administering ipecac and prescribing a mild dose of chloroform, which was administered by Victoria’s personal physician Sir James Clark, Martin advised Fritz the unborn child’s life was endangered. As mild anaesthesia did not alleviate her extreme labour pains, resulting in her “horrible screams and wails”, Clark finally administered full anaesthesia.

Observing her contractions to be insufficiently strong, Martin administered a dose of ergot extract, and at 2:45 pm saw the infant’s buttocks emerging from the birth canal, but noticed the pulse in the umbilical cord was weak and intermittent.

Despite this dangerous sign, Martin ordered a further heavy dose of chloroform so he could better manipulate the infant. Observing the infant’s legs to be raised upwards and his left arm likewise raised upwards and behind his head, Martin “carefully eased out the Prince’s legs”.

Due to the “narrowness of the birth canal”, he then forcibly pulled the left arm downwards, tearing the brachial plexus, then continued to grasp the left arm to rotate the infant’s trunk and free the right arm, likely exacerbating the injury. After completing the delivery, and despite realising the newborn prince was hypoxic, Martin turned his attention to the unconscious Victoria.

Noticing after some minutes that the newborn remained silent, Martin and the midwife Fräulein Stahl worked frantically to revive the prince; finally, despite the disapproval of those present, Stahl spanked the newborn vigorously until “a weak cry escaped his pale lips”.

March 10, 1863: Marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales to Princess Alexandra of Denmark

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King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Lady Randolph Churchill, Prince Albert Edward, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal

September 1861, Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, was sent to Germany, supposedly to watch military manoeuvres, but actually in order to engineer a meeting between him and Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian of Denmark and his wife Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Prince Christian would become King Christian IX of Denmark in 1863.

The Queen and Prince Albert had already decided that Edward and Alexandra should marry. They met at Speyer on September 24 under the auspices of his elder sister, Victoria, who had married Prince Friedrich of Prussia in 1858.

Albert Edward’s sister, acting upon instructions from their mother, had met Alexandra at Strelitz in June; the young Danish princess made a very favourable impression. Albert Edward and Alexandra were friendly from the start; the meeting went well for both sides, and marriage plans advanced.

Albert Edward gained a reputation as a playboy. Determined to get some army experience, he attended manoeuvres in Ireland, during which he spent three nights with an actress, Nellie Clifden, who was hidden in the camp by his fellow officers.

The marriage of the Prince of Wales with Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Windsor, March 10, 1863

Prince Albert, though ill, was appalled and visited Albert Edward at Cambridge to issue a reprimand. Albert died in December 1861 just two weeks after the visit. Queen Victoria was inconsolable, wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life and blamed Albert Edward for his father’s death. At first, she regarded her son with distaste as frivolous, indiscreet and irresponsible. She wrote to her eldest daughter, “I never can, or shall, look at him without a shudder.”

Marriage

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert’s death, she arranged for Albert Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul.

The British Government wanted Albert Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt’s ruler, Said Pasha, to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed. It was the first royal tour on which an official photographer, Francis Bedford, was in attendance.

As soon as Albert Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Albert Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on March 10, 1863. He was 21; she was 18.

The couple established Marlborough House as their London residence and Sandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale. Their marriage met with disapproval in certain circles because most of Queen Victoria’s relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein.

When Alexandra’s father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, the German Confederation took the opportunity to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. The Queen was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match, given the political climate. After the marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.

Albert Edward and Alexandra were distant cousins from their mutual descent from King George II of Great Britain.

The Prince and Princess of Wales

Albert Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress Lillie Langtry; Lady Randolph Churchill (mother of future Prime Minister Winston Churchill); Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress Sarah Bernhardt; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as “La Barucci”); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser; and Alice Keppel.

At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured. How far these relationships went is not always clear. Albert Edward always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation. Keppel’s great-granddaughter, Camilla Parker Bowles, became the mistress and subsequent wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, Albert Edward’s great-great-grandson.

It was rumoured that Camilla’s grandmother, Sonia Keppel, was fathered by Edward, but she was “almost certainly” the daughter of George Keppel, whom she resembled. Albert Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children. Alexandra was aware of his affairs, and seems to have accepted them.

Happy 70th Birthday to HRH The Princess Royal.

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Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Princess Royal

New photographs have been released to celebrate the 70th birthday of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today!

‪The photographs were taken by John Swannell at The Princess’ home, Gatcombe Park, in February this year.

Anne, Princess Royal, (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born August 15, 1950) is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She is 14th in line to the throne as of August 2019 and has been Princess Royal since 1987.

This date in history: January 13, 1883. Birth of Prince Arthur of Connaught.

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2nd Duchess of Fife, Duke of Connaught, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught, Prince Arthur of Connaught, Princess Alexandra, Princess Louise, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal

Prince Arthur of Connaught (Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert; January 13, 1883 – September 12, 1938) was a British military officer and a grandson of Queen Victoria. He served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from November 20, 1920 to January 21, 1924.

Prince Arthur of Connaught

Prince Arthur was born on January 13, 1883 at Windsor Castle. His father was Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His mother was the former Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, daughter of Prince Friedrich Charles of Prussia (1828–1885), and Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt (1837–1906).

Arthur was baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on February 16, 1883, and his godparents were Queen Victoria (his paternal grandmother), Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (his great-great aunt, for whom his paternal aunt Princess Beatrice stood proxy), Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia (his maternal uncle, who was represented by the German Ambassador Count Münster), Princess Henry of the Netherlands (his maternal aunt, who was represented by Countess Münster), Prince George, Duke of Cambridge (the Queen’s cousin), and the Duke of Edinburgh (his paternal uncle, whose brother the Prince of Wales represented him).

Arthur was the first British royal prince to be educated at Eton College. He was known to his family as “young Arthur” to distinguish him from his father.

During the First World War, Prince Arthur served as aide-de-camp to Generals Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig, the successive commanders of the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1919 and became a colonel in the reserves in 1922. In October 1922, Prince Arthur was promoted to the honorary rank of major general and became an aide-de-camp to his first cousin, King George V.

On October 15, 1913, Prince Arthur married his cousin Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife (May 17, 1891 – February 26, 1959) at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, London.

The couple were attended by five bridesmaids: The Princess Mary, The Princess Royal, Princess Maud of Fife, Princesses Mary, Helena, and May of Teck.

Princess Alexandra was the eldest daughter and heir of the Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife and Princess Louise, The Princess Royal, the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra As such, the couple were first cousins once removed. They had a son, Alastair Arthur Windsor, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (August 9, 1914 – April 26, 1943) and he was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his father and her great-great-grandson through his mother.

As a side note Alastair Arthur Windsor was born with the style and title of His Highness Prince Alastair Arthur of Connaught. However, Prince Alastair Arthur was born shortly after the break out of the First World War which had prompted strong anti-German feelings in the United Kingdom. George V eventually responded to this by changing the name of the Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor and relinquishing all German titles belonging to members of the family who were British subjects.

In letters patent dated November 20, 1917, George V undertook further restructuring of the royal styles and titles by restricting the titles of Prince or Princess and the style of Royal Highness to the children of the sovereign, the children of the sovereign’s sons, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. This excluded Alastair, who was a great-grandson of a former sovereign but was not the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.

Now back to the life of Prince Arthur.

After the accession of his cousin, King George V, Prince Arthur and his aging father were the most senior male members of the Royal Family over the age of 18 to reside in the United Kingdom. As such, he undertook a wide variety of royal duties on behalf of the King, and acted as a Counsellor of State during periods of the King’s absence abroad.

In 1906, by order of the King, he vested the Meiji Emperor of Japan with the Order of the Garter, as a consequence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In 1918, he was a guest aboard the Japanese battlecruiser Kirishima when she voyaged from Japan to Canada. In 1920, Prince Arthur succeeded Viscount Buxton as governor-general and commander-in-chief in South Africa. The Earl of Athlone succeeded him in these posts in 1924. Upon returning to Britain, Prince Arthur became involved in a number of charitable organizations, including serving as chairman of the board of directors of Middlesex Hospital. Like his father, the Duke of Connaught, he was active in the Freemasons, becoming Provincial Grand Master for Berkshire in 1924.

Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife

Prince Arthur of Connaught died of stomach cancer at age 55 on 12 September 1938. He is buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore. One of his last public appearances was at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in May 1937. His father, the Duke of Connaught, survived him by four years. Prince Arthur’s only son, who used the courtesy title Earl of MacDuff after 1917, succeeded his paternal grandfather as 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Earl of Sussex in 1942.

Happy Birthday HRH The Princess Royal

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Birthday, Church of Scotland, Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth II, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Mark Phillips, Peter Phillips, Prince Phillip, Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, Victoria of Edinburgh, Zarah Phillips

Anne, Princess Royal, (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born August 15, 1950) is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her mother – then Princess Elizabeth – and her elder brother, Charles, the Prince of Wales. She rose to second in the succession to the throne after her mother’s accession, but is currently 14th in line as of May 2019 with the birth of Archie Mountbatten-Windsor the son of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

HRH The Princess Royal

Anne is known for her charitable work, and is a patron of over 200 organisations. She is also known for equestrian talents; she won two silver medals (1975) and one gold medal (1971) at the European Eventing Championships, and is the first member of the British Royal Family to have competed in the Olympic Games.

On November 14, 1973, Princess Anne married Mark Phillips, a lieutenant in the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards, at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that was televised around the world, with an estimated audience of 100 million.

As was customary for untitled men marrying into the royal family, Phillips was offered an earldom. He declined this offer leading to their children being born without courtesy titles. The couple would have two children, Peter (born 1977) and Zara Phillips (born 1981).

On August 13, 1989, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips announced their intention to separate, as the marriage had been under strain for a number of years. The couple had been rarely seen in public together, and both were romantically linked with other people. They continued to share the custody of their children, and initially announced that “there were no plans for divorce.” They eventually divorced on April 23, 1992. Anne and Mark Phillips have four grandchildren.

Anne met Timothy Laurence while he was serving on the Royal Yacht Britannia. Their relationship developed in early 1989, three years after he was appointed as an equerry to the Queen. Anne married Laurence, then a Commander in the Royal Navy, at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral Castle, on 12 December 1992. The couple chose to marry in Scotland as the Church of England did not at that time allow divorced persons whose former spouses were still living to remarry in its churches.

The Church of Scotland does not consider marriage to be a sacrament, and thus not binding forever, and has no moral objection to the remarriage of divorced persons. In participating in this ceremony, Anne became the first royal divorcée to remarry since Victoria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, married Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia in 1905.

Princess Anne has held the title of Princess Royal since 1987 and is its seventh holder.

Anne is the seventh Princess Royal, an appellation given only to the eldest daughter of the sovereign, the previous holder being George V’s daughter, Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood.

Lines of Succession to the Throne.

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Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Andrew, Prince Charles, Prince Edward, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of York, The Earl of Wessex, the prince of Wales, The Princess Royal

Today will begin a new series on how the line of succession has changed over the years. I will pick random and important dates and will examine who was in line for the throne at that time. Although my main focus will be the British line of succession I will also include other monarchies from time to time. Although this is a new series I won’t be doing it week-to-week, it will reoccur randomly.

At first there was just four. It was mid 1977 when I began to research the royal family and the Kings and Queens of Britain. At that time there were just four descendants of HM. The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. These four were also the top four in line to the succession to the throne:

1. HRH The Prince of Wales
2. HRH The Prince Andrew
3. HRH The Prince Edward
4. HRH The Princess Anne

Except for the Prince Charles, none of the Queen’s children had any titles yet. Princess Anne would not be given her title, The Princess Royal, until ten years later in 1987. Prince Andrew and Prince Edward would not be given their titles until they married. In 1977 the Queen had been on the throne 25 years and it was also the year of her Silver Jubilee. Her Majesty was 51 years old (the same age as I am now) and would be a first time grandmother that November when Princess Anne would give birth to her first child Peter Philips.

Flash forward 38 years and a lot has changed! Her Majesty is now 89 and has celebrated her Golden Jubilee celebrating 50 years on the throne in 2002 and her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 celebrating 60 years on the throne. This September The Queen will be on the throne one day longer than Queen Victoria and will be come Britain’s longest reigning monarch at 63 years, 217 days. Instead of her descendents occupying the first four places in the succession they now occupy the first 17 places in line for the succession! Here they are in order.

1. HRH The Prince of Wales
2. HRH The Duke of Cambridge
3. HRH Prince George of Cambridge
4. HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
5. HRH Prince Henry of Wales
6. HRH The Duke of York
7. HRH Princess Beatrice of York
8. HRH Princess Eugenie of York
9. HRH The Earl of Wessex
10. Lord Severn
11. Lady Louise Windsor
12. HRH The Princess Royal
13. Peter Philips
14. Savannah Phillips
15. Isla Phillips
16. Zara Tindall
17. Mia Tindall

It is very interesting to see how the line of succession changes over the years. It is fascinating to compare today’s line of succession to February, 1952 just prior to the death of HM King George VI.

1. HRH The Prince Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh
2. HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh
3. HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh
4. HRH The Princess Margaret
5. HRH The Duke of Gloucester (Prince Henry)
6. HRH Prince William of Gloucester
7. HRH Prince Richard of Gloucester
8. HRH The Duke of Kent (Prince Edward)
9. HRH Prince Michael of Kent
10. HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
11. The Princess Royal, Mary, Countess of Harewood
12. The Rt Hon The Earl of Harewood
13. David Viscount Lascelles
14. Gerald Lascelles
15. HH Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife
16. James Carnegie, 3rd Duke of Fife
17. HM King Olav V of Norway

Today, 63 years later only the top two remain in the top twenty inline for the throne. The Prince of Wales (HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh at the time) moved up one place and has remained. His sister, The Princess Royal (HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh at the time) has gone from 3 (she was actually at number 2 until the birth of the Duke of York in 1960) to number 12. The next living member on the list is number 7, HRH Prince Richard of Gloucester, the current HRH The Duke of Gloucester who moved to his current 24th inline to the throne. Incidentally, the Duke of Gloucester is the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary. He is the first inline to the throne who is not descended from King George VI. He is also the senior male line descendant of Queen Victoria.

Benefits of Monarchy

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Constitutional Monarchy, Europe, F. K. Prochaska, Princess Anne, Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy, The Princess Royal, Welfare Monarchy

HRH The princess Royal

one of the hardest working royals.

As I mentioned the other day, here in the United States we are in the middle of a heated political election season. In my life time I do not remember things this heated. However, reading US history perhaps this political season is mild compared to those of the past. On Monday it was reported that Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney called 47% of the electorate victims where dependent on the government. This has been part of the so called “class warfare” between the Republicans and the Democrats. This heated debate, and I suspect it will only get hotter in the coming weeks, proves a point that I have long held; that Monarchy is a system that can help rise above these bitter partisan fights. It also points to the wisdom of having a head of state that is not connected to any political party which gives them the ability to be a representative of all of the people not just a few. No matter who wins the 2012 election in the US there will be some people who view the winner, no matter who it is, as someone who does not represent them. Embodying the office of Head of State with that of Head of the Government in the same person is one of the flaws in our system of government.

That doesn’t mean that I want the US to become a monarchy. That ship sailed over 200 years ago. Here is an interesting article which discusses how supportive politicians and average people were toward the Monarchical system of government back during the times of the founding of this nation.

http://www.historytoday.com/frank-prochaska/american-monarchy

It should come as no surprise because a monarchy was the type of government most people knew and had experienced. It was ingrained in the cultural Zeitgeist. It was an essential aspect of almost every culture in Western Civilization at that juncture in history.

One of the things I admire about the monarchies of today is their work in service. I highly recommend reading the book Royal Bounty: The Making of a Welfare Monarchy by F. K. Prochaska. In the book it describes the evolution of the service work attached to monarchies. Emperors, Kings and Queens and Princes and Princesses have been working for charities and supporting organizations that support the poor and needy. The book gives a detailed account of the impact that a royal working in service has had on the charities. I watched a PBS special here in the states which also mentioned this phenomenon. I apologize for not remembering the show, I have seen so many in the Diamond Jubilee year, but it was stressed that when a royal is a patron of a specific charity the amount of money that goes into those charities and the awareness of the work and needs of that charity rises greatly.

Often people who do not follow royalty wonder what is the point in having them? There is a notion that they do nothing and only live a life of privilege. In truth these people have given up their lives and freedoms in a way only few of us could know or imagine. If you read the Court Circular from any Court in Europe you will see that the royals in these families have extremely busy schedules.

Although having a Head of State who is above partisan politics is no guarantee of stability and success or does it mean it will shelter them from criticism, it does greatly lessen the probability that the monarch will only represent a small faction of their nation. Having a symbolic hereditary Head of State that is there not by Divine Right, but by the will of the people, demonstrates the great responsibility the members of the family have to live lives above public criticism and reproach. This is why Prince Harry’s most recent escapades were such a PR nightmare. If things like that continue on a large scale you could quickly see Buckingham Palace turned into a museum.

Pretty Princesses

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Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Saxony, Empress Frederick of Germany, Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, HGDH Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, HH Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, HIH Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, HRH Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, HRH Princess Dagmar of Denmark, HRH Princess Margaret of Connaught, HRH Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, HRH Princess Victoria, HRH The Duchess of Anjou, Pretty Princesses, The Princess Royal

Here is a fun series I will do for a couple of Wednesdays in a row. I am a typical guy, I must confess that and there are some Princesses both past and present I simply find beautiful. 

Here is this weeks list..in no particular order.

HRH Princess Dagmar of Denmark, Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia (1847-1928)

HH Princess Märtha Louise of Norway (1971 – 

HRH Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (1882-1920)

HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (1926- )

HRH Princess Marie Marguerite of Bourbon, The Duchess of Anjou (1983 – 

HGDH Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia (1864-1918)

HRH Princess Victoria, The Princess Royal, Empress Frederick of Germany (1840-1901)

HRH Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark (1983- )

HIH Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899–1918)  

HRH Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, Duchess of Saxony, Duchess of Galliera (1884-1966)

Royal Genealogy ~ Queen Victoria & Prince Albert

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Buckingham Palace, Charles II of England and Scotland, Denmark, Duke of York, Ernst August of Hanover, France, Friedrich I of Prussia, Friedrich III, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Italy, James VI-I of Scotland and England, Kings and Queens of England, Portugal, Prince Frederick, Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), Spain, The Princess Royal, United Kingdom of Great Britain, Victoria and Albert, Wilhelm II of Germany

When I began my interest in royalty, genealogy was the doorway by which I entered. After sorting out the genealogy of the British Royal Family the era that piqued my interest the most was the Victorian Era. To be more accurate I also am equally interested in the Edwardian Age and the time until the end of the First World War. One of the things I have read frequently is the statement that the descendants of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert married into all the great Royal Houses of Europe. While this is true, in some ways I find it misleading because royals marrying royals is a practice that had been going on for centuries. Today all the reigning royal families are related and this is nothing new.

Let us take the marriage of Victoria and Albert’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, and her marriage to the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia as an example. The two royals were already related. Both were descendants of Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia) and Elector Ernst August of Hanover, the line from which the royal family earned its claim to the throne. Electress Sophia’s daughter, also named Sophia, married King Friedrich I of Prussia and their son, King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia married his first cousin, Princess Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain. The next time the Prussians and the British royal family mingled was when Friedrich III’s great aunt, Princess Frederica, married Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal’s great uncle, Prince Frederick, Duke of York. Their mutual descent from the Electress Sophia made Fritz and Vicky 5th cousins.

Even if you go further back into the British Royal Family’s genealogy, their members frequently married into or chose members from the reigning houses that ruled France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Italy and many others. Charles II of England and Scotland was the first cousin of King Louis XIV of France. The marriage of Charles’ grandfather, James VI-I of Scotland and England married, Anne, the daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and from this union also descends many of the great royal houses of Europe.

As I discuss this topic on Monday we will come to see all the myriad ways in which the various royal families are related.

HRH Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal, German Empress & Queen of Prussia.

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German Empress & Queen of Prussia., HRH Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, Kaiser Friedrich III of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Prince William, Prussia, The Princess Royal, Wilhelm II of Germany

HRH Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal, German Empress & Queen of Prussia.
Born: November 21, 1840. Died: August 5, 1901.

Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Her parents were a little disappointed that their first child was a boy, but many were relived that there was now at least one person in line for the throne ahead of the queen’s uncle, the much disliked King Ernst August of Hanover. Until the birth of her brother, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, Victoria, called Vicky within the family, was heiress presumptive.

Vicky had a close relationship with her father and his liberal politics greatly influenced her. Her marriage at the age of 17 to the future King Friedrich III of Prussia was a part of her Father’s plan to see a liberal Prussia at the head of the German Empire with his daughter Vicky as empress leading the Germans from Conservatism to a liberal monarchy modeled after that of Great Britain. Although Albert, the Prince Consort, did not live long enough to see Germany become an empire under Prussian leadership he would have been disheartened to learn that it never strayed from its conservative ideals.

Vicky had a difficult time adjusting to Prussia and its rigid court. For her part, Vicky did carry a sense of pride in all things English which bothered many Germans at court. In 1861 she and her husband became the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia. Their desires to raiser their son, Wilhelm, in a liberal fashion brought her into conflict with her father-in-law, King Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Prussian Chancellor Bismark. They feared that liberalism would weaken the power of the monarchy and place power away from the king and chancellor and into the hands of the reichstag and that Vicky would place Britain’s interests over Germany’s.

In 1871 Germany became a federated empire with the Prussian king as emperor. The new emperor was 74 years old and Vicky and Fritz did not think they would have too many years before they in turn sat on the new imperial throne. In 1887 Crown Prince Friedrich was diagnosed with throat cancer. In March of the next year German Emperor Wilhelm I, King of Prussia died and Fritz became Emperor Friedrich III, King of Prussia. His reign was brief lasting only 99 days. With such a short time on the throne he could not impalement any liberal policies he and Vicky had envisioned. Vicky became known as the Empress Frederick in her widowhood and he relationship with her son, the new emperor, Wilhelm II, remained strained.

Vicky and Fritz had eight children (4 boys and 5 girls) with two of her young sons, Sigismund and Waldemar, dying at young ages affecting Vicky deeply. In her widowhood she continued to be a patron of the arts and education and established schools for the higher education of girls and for nurses’ training. She also continued to be close to her British relatives and kept a almost daily correspondence with her mother totaling over 3,500 letters.

Vicky’s mother died in January of 1901 and Vicky was unable to attend the bedside vigil due to the fact the she herself was also dying from bone cancer. Vicky died at the age of 60 and was buried along side her husband and their two young children at Friedenskirche in Potsdam.