June 4, 1941: Death of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia

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Frederick III of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, German Chancellor, German Emperor Wilhelm II, German Empire, King of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, Victoria of the United Kingdom, Wilhelm I of Prussia, World War I

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

Despite strengthening the German Empire’s position as a great power by building a powerful navy, his tactless public statements and erratic foreign policy greatly antagonized the international community and are considered by many to be one of the underlying causes of World War I. When the German war effort collapsed after a series of crushing defeats on the Western Front in 1918, he was forced to abdicate,

Wilhelm was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859—at the Crown Prince’s Palace. Born during the reign of his granduncle King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Wilhelm was the son of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

King Friedrich Wilhelm IV had been left permanently incapacitated by a series of strokes, and his younger brother Wilhelm was acting as regent. Wilhelm was the oldest of the 42 grandchildren of his maternal grandparents (Queen Victoria and Prince Albert), but more importantly, he was the first son of the Crown Prince of Prussia.

Upon the death of Friedrich Wilhelm IV in January 1861, Wilhelm’s paternal grandfather (the elder Wilhelm) became King Wilhelm I 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.

As a young man, Wilhelm fell in love with one of his maternal first cousins, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, the second child of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

She turned him down, and in time, married into the Russian imperial family when she married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, the fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, brother of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and uncle of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia.

In 1880 Wilhelm became engaged to Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, known as “Dona”.

Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria’s half-sister Feodora. She grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869.

The couple married on February 27, 1881, and remained married for 40 years, until her death in 1921. In a period of 10 years, between 1882 and 1892, Augusta Victoria bore Wilhelm seven children, six sons and a daughter

In March 1888, his father Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm ascended the German and Prussian thrones as Friedrich III. Friedrich III came to the throne while dying from throat cancer and he passed away just 99 days later, and his son succeeded him as German Emperor Wilhelm II, King of Prussia.

In March 1890, Wilhelm dismissed Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and assumed direct control over his nation’s policies, embarking on a bellicose “New Course” to cement Germany’s status as a leading world power.

Over the course of his reign, the German colonial empire acquired new territories in China and the Pacific (such as Jiaozhou Bay, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Caroline Islands) and became Europe’s largest manufacturer. However, Wilhelm often undermined such progress by making tactless and threatening statements towards other countries without first consulting his ministers.

Likewise, his regime did much to alienate itself from other great powers by initiating a massive naval build-up, contesting French control of Morocco, and building a railway through Baghdad that challenged Britain’s dominion in the Persian Gulf. By the second decade of the 20th century, Germany could rely only on significantly weaker nations such as Austria-Hungary and the declining Ottoman Empire as allies.

Wilhelm’s reign culminated in Germany’s guarantee of military support to Austria-Hungary during the crisis of July 1914, one of the immediate causes of World War I. A lax wartime leader, Wilhelm left virtually all decision-making regarding strategy and organisation of the war effort to the German Army’s Great General Staff.

By August 1916, this broad delegation of power gave rise to a de facto military dictatorship that dominated national policy for the rest of the conflict. Despite emerging victorious over Russia and obtaining significant territorial gains in Eastern Europe, Germany was forced to relinquish all its conquests after a decisive defeat on the Western Front in the autumn of 1918.

Losing the support of his country’s military and many of his subjects, Wilhelm was forced to abdicate during the German Revolution of 1918–1919, thereby marking the end of the German Empire and the House of Hohenzollern’s 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.

The revolution converted Germany from a monarchy into an unstable democratic state known as the Weimar Republic. Wilhelm fled to exile in the Netherlands, where he remained during its occupation by Nazi Germany in 1940. He died there on June 4, 1941.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part IX, Second Reign and Abdication of King Constantine I

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Anatolia, Balkan War of 1913, Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, King Alexander of the Hellenes, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Prime Minister Venizelos, princess Sophie of Prussia, World War I

As mentioned in my last entry, King Alexander died on October 25, 1920, after a freak accident: he was strolling with his dogs in the royal menagerie, when they attacked a monkey. Rushing to save the poor animal, the king was bitten by the monkey and what seemed like a minor injury turned to sepsis. He died a few days later. The following month Prime Minister Venizelos suffered a surprising defeat in a general election.

Greece had at this point been at war for eight continuous years: World War I had come and gone, but yet no sign of an enduring peace was near, as the country was already at war against the Kemalist forces in Asia Minor. Young men had been fighting and dying for years, lands lay fallow for lack of hands to cultivate them, and the country, morally exhausted, was at the brink of economic and political unravelling.

Constantine I, King of the Hellenes

The pro-royalist parties had promised peace and prosperity under the victorious Field Marshal of the Balkan Wars, he who knew of the soldier’s plight because he had fought next to him and shared his ration.

Following a plebiscite in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of the return of the King, Constantine returned as king on December 19, 1920. This caused great dissatisfaction not only to the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, but also to the British and even more the French, who opposed the return of Constantine.

The new government decided to continue the war. The inherited, ongoing campaign began with initial successes in western Anatolia against the Turks. The Greeks initially met with disorganized opposition.

In March 1921, despite his health problems, Constantine was landed in Anatolia to boost the Army’s morale and command personally the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir.

However, an ill-conceived plan to capture Kemal’s new capital of Ankara, located deep in barren Anatolia, where there was no significant Greek population, succeeded only in its initial stages. The overextended and ill-supplied Greek Army was routed and driven from Anatolia back to the coast in August 1922.

Constantine with his family, ca. 1910. Top left: the king holding the toddler Princess Irene. Top right: the future George II. Left: Queen Sophia. Center: Princess Helen. Right: the future Alexander I. Front: the future Paul I. Princess Katherine not yet born.

Following an army revolt by Venizelist officers, considering him as key responsible for the military defeat, King Constantine abdicated the throne again on September 27, 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, as King George II of the Hellenes.

Second exile and death

Constantine spent the last four months of his life in exile in Italy and died at 1:30 am on January 11, 1923 at Palermo, Sicily of heart failure. His wife, Sophie of Prussia, was never allowed back to Greece and was later interred beside her husband in the Russian Church in Florence.

After his restoration on the Greek throne, George II organized the repatriation of the remains of members of his family who died in exile. An important religious ceremony that brought together, for six days in November 1936, all members of the royal family still alive. Constantine’s body was buried at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace, where he remains.

The Life of Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, last Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

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1917 Titles Deprivation Ac, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke Charles Edward of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, World War I, World War ii

Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (December 31, 1885 – October 3, 1970) was Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as the wife of Duke Charles Edward from their marriage on October 11, 1905 until his abdication on November 14, 1918.

Victoria Adelaide is the maternal grandmother of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. She was a niece of German Empress Augusta Victoria, wife of Emperor Wilhelm II and born a Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Early life

Princess Victoria Adelaide was born on December 31, 1885 at Castle Grünholz, Thumby, Schleswig-Holstein, Prussia as the eldest daughter of Frederick Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Caroline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark. One month before the birth of Victoria Adelaide, he had succeeded to the headship of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and the title of duke upon the death of his father on 27 November 1885.

Wilhelm II chose Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein as the bride of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha who was her first cousin.

Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

They married on October 11, 1905, at Glücksburg Castle, Schleswig. Charles Edward was the only son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany by his wife Princess Helena of Waldeck and a grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Duke Ernst II, ruled the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha from 1844 until his own death in 1893. Because he had died childless, the throne of the two duchies would have passed to his late brother Prince Albert’s male descendants.

But Prince Albert was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and his eldest son, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, (future King Edward VII) was already her heir apparent. Besides, he was prohibited by the Constitutions of both duchies from inheriting the throne if there were other eligible male heirs. But Albert Edward had already renounced his claim in favour of his next brother, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. So Alfred became the next Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Victoria Adelaide and Charles Edward, Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

In 1899, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, urged by Emperor Wilhelm II, decided on how to deal with the succession of Duke Alfred, who was in ill health. His only son, Hereditary Prince Alfred (“Young Affie”) of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, had died by suicide in February 1899.

The next in line to the Ducal throne was Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, the Queen’s third son, was serving in the British army. This caused Emperor Wilhelm II to oppose him as a ruling prince of Germany. His son, Prince Arthur of Connaught, had been at Eton with Charles Edward.

Emperor Wilhelm II demanded a German education for the boy, but this was unacceptable to the Duke of Connaught. Thus young Arthur also renounced his claims to the Duchy. Next in line was Charles Edward, who consequently inherited the Ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at the age of sixteen when his uncle Alfred died at the age of 55 in July 1900.

Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Princess Victoria Adelaide was described as the leading part in the marriage and the Duke would initially come to her for advice. She and Charles Edward had five children.

The family mainly spoke English at home, though the children learnt to speak German fluently. Hubertus, Charles Edward’s second son, was the favourite child. The children lived in fear of their father, who ran his family “like a military unit”. Charles Edward’s younger daughter, Princess Caroline Mathilde, claimed that her father had sexually abused her. The allegation was backed by one of her brothers.

The Duke and Duchess of Coburg-Gotha with their four eldest children in 1918

Later life

In 1915, King George V, his cousin, ordered his name removed from the register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. In 1917, a law change in Coburg effectively banned any of Charles Edward’s British relatives from succeeding him and that same year the Gotha G.V bomber which had been built in Gotha was used to attack London. In Britain, he was denounced as a traitor. The Titles Deprivation Act 1917 issued by King George V removed his British titles.

In 1918, the Duke was forced to abdicate his ducal throne, following the end of World War I, and he and his family became private citizens.

Victoria Adelaide, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Charles Edward was an early and fervent supporter of Adolf Hitler. Victoria Adelaide initially shared her husband’s enthusiasm and patriotism but she came to loathe Hitler and the Nazi Party following the Nazi seizure of power. She defied her husband by supporting the German Evangelical Church Confederation against the antisemitic German Christians.

After World War II, the couple fled to Austria (where Schloss Greinburg an der Donau had been a Saxe-Coburg property since 1822, and remains such) following the seizure of their properties in East Germany by the Soviet Union. Duchess Victoria Adelaide of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha died at Schloss Greinburg (Grein, Austria) at the age of 84 on October 3, 1970 and was buried beside her husband (Charles Edward died March 6, 1954) at Schloss Callenberg, Coburg, October 8 of that year.

The Life of Princess Victoria of Baden, Queen of Sweden. Conclusion

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Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, King Gustaf V of Sweden, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Liberals and Social Democrats, Nils Edén, Princess Victoria of Baden, Queen Victoria of Baden, World War I

The 1917 elections showed a heavy gain for the Liberals and Social Democrats, who between them held a decisive majority. Despite this, King Gustaf V initially tried to appoint a Conservative government headed by Johan Widén. However, Widén was unable to attract enough support for a coalition.

It was now apparent that King Gustaf V could no longer appoint a government entirely of his own choosing, nor could he keep a government in office against the will of Parliament. With no choice but to appoint a Liberal as Prime Minister, he appointed a Liberal-Social Democratic coalition government headed by Staaff’s successor as Liberal leader, Nils Edén.

Queen Victoria of Baden

Queen Victoria deeply resented the social democratic election victories and worked unsuccessfully to prevent them from taking part in the government. Victoria’s political influence was founded upon the power position of her first cousin, the German Emperor and King of Prussia, Wilhelm II, and in 1918–19, after he was deposed, she lost all political influence in Sweden.

Queen Victoria suffered from very poor health (much due to poor treatment by several doctors in her youth), and often went on trips to make her health better (she suffered from bronchitis and possibly tuberculosis). She was treated with mercury and undue heavy medications during her difficult pregnancies, possibly the cause of her chronic conditions.

From 1892 to her death, Axel Munthe was her personal physician and recommended for health reasons that she spend winters on the Italian island of Capri. While initially hesitant, in the autumn of 1901 she travelled to Capri, arriving to an official welcome and a crowd which escorted her from the Marina Grand to the Hotel Paradise.

From then on, except during World War I and for the last two years of her life, she spent several months a year on Capri. After some time, she decided to purchase her own residence on Capri, an intimate rustic two-storey farmhouse she named Casa Caprile, which she had extensively landscaped, surrounding it with a dense park. In the 1950s, twenty years after her death, the property became a hotel.

The Queen went to Munthe’s residence, the Villa San Michele, most mornings to join Munthe for walks around the island. Munthe and the Queen also arranged evening concerts at San Michele, at which the Queen played the piano. They also shared a love of animals, with the Queen frequently being seen with a leashed dog, and she was known to support Munthe’s (eventually successful) efforts to purchase Mount Barbarossa for use as a bird sanctuary. It was rumoured that Munthe and the Queen were lovers, but this has never been confirmed.

King Gustaf V of Sweden

Queen Victoria spent a lot of her time abroad because of health reasons, as the Swedish climate was not considered good for her, and during her last years as queen, she was seldom present in Sweden: she participated in an official visit to Norrland in 1921, a visit to Dalarna in 1924, and to Finland in 1925. The visit to Finland was her last official appearance as queen; although she did visit Sweden at her husband’s birthday 1928, she did not show herself to the public.

During those celebrations, however, someone noticed the figure of a woman behind a curtain in the Royal Palace of Stockholm: he waved to her, and she waved back with her handkerchief. After this, she left Sweden for Italy for good: she died two years afterwards.

Death

Toward the end of her life, with her health declining, Munthe recommended she no longer spend time in Capri, and she returned to Sweden for some time, building a Capri-styled villa there. She then moved to Rome.

Her final visit to Sweden was on her husband’s 70th birthday in June 1928, and Queen Victoria died on April 4, 1930 in her home Villa Svezia in Rome aged 67.

Her husband, King Gustaf V, never remarried and died twenty years later and after a reign of nearly 43 years. King Gustaf V died in Stockholm of flu complications on October 27, 1950. Victoria and Gustaf V ‘s 67-year-old son succeeded him as King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.

History of The Kingdom of Greece. Part VI: King Alexander

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Allied Entente, Eleftherios Venizelos, King Alexander of the Hellenes, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, King George I of the Hellenes, Sophie of Prussia, World War I

Alexander (August 1, 1893 – October 25, 1920) was King of the Hellenes from June 11, 1917 until his death three years later, at the age of 27, from the effects of a monkey bite.

Alexander was born at Tatoi Palace on August 1, 1893 the second son of Crown Prince Constantine of Greece of the House of Glücksburg and his wife Princess Sophia of Prussia.

King Constantine I of the Hellenes

Alexander was related to royalty throughout Europe. His father was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George I of Greece by his wife Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia; his mother was the daughter of Emperor Friedrich III of Germany and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom. His father King Constantine I was a grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark and a cousin of both King George V of the United Kingdom and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia. Sophia was the sister of German Emperor Wilhelm II and he was also a cousin of King George V through her grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Though he was very close to his younger sister, Princess Helen, Alexander was less warm towards his elder brother Crown Prince George, with whom he had little in common. While his elder brother was a serious and thoughtful child, Alexander was mischievous and extroverted; he smoked cigarettes made from blotting paper, set fire to the games room in the palace.

Princess Sophie of Prussia

Military career

As his father’s second son, Alexander was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George. His education was expensive and carefully planned, but while George spent part of his military training in Germany, Alexander was educated in Greece. He joined the prestigious Hellenic Military Academy, where several of his uncles had previously studied and where he made himself known more for his mechanical skills than for his intellectual capacity. He was passionate about cars and motors, and was one of the first Greeks to acquire an automobile.

He distinguished himself in combat during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13. As a young officer, he was stationed, along with his elder brother, in the field staff of his father; and he accompanied the latter at the head of the Army of Thessaly during the capture of Thessaloniki in 1912. King George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki soon afterwards on 18 March 1913, and Alexander’s father ascended the throne as Constantine I.

Courtship of Aspasia Manos

In 1915, at a party held in Athens by court marshal Theodore Ypsilantis, Alexander became re-acquainted with one of his childhood friends, Aspasia Manos. She had just returned from education in France and Switzerland, and was reckoned as very beautiful by her acquaintances. She was the daughter of Constantine’s Master of the Horse, Colonel Petros Manos, and his wife Maria Argyropoulos.

Aspasia Manos

The 21-year-old Alexander was smitten, and was so determined to seduce her that he followed her to the island of Spetses where she holidayed that year. Initially, Aspasia was resistant to his charm; although considered very handsome by his contemporaries, Alexander had a reputation as a ladies’ man from numerous past liaisons.

Despite this, he finally won her over, and the couple were engaged in secret. However, for King Constantine I, Queen Sophia and much of European society of the time, it was inconceivable for a royal prince to marry someone of a different social rank.

During World War I, King Constantine I followed a formal policy of neutrality, yet he was openly benevolent towards Germany, which was fighting alongside Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire against the Triple Entente of Russia, France and Britain.

Constantine was the brother-in-law of Emperor Wilhelm II, and had also become something of a Germanophile following his military training in Prussia. His pro-German attitude provoked a split between the monarch and the prime minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, who wanted to support the Entente in the hope of expanding Greek territory to incorporate the Greek minorities in the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans. Protected by the countries of the Entente, particularly France, in 1916 Venizelos formed a parallel government to that of the king.

Parts of Greece were occupied by the Allied Entente forces, but Constantine I refused to modify his policy and faced increasingly open opposition from the Entente and the Venizelists.

King Alexander of the Hellenes

In July 1916, an arson attack ravaged Tatoi Palace and the royal family barely escaped the flames; Alexander was not injured but his mother narrowly saved Princess Katherine by carrying her through the woods for more than two kilometers. Among the palace personnel and firefighters who arrived to deal with the blaze, sixteen people were killed.

Finally on June 10, 1917, Charles Jonnart, the Entente’s High Commissioner in Greece, ordered King Constantine to give up his power. On the threat of Entente forces landing in Piraeus, the king conceded and agreed to go into self-exile, though without officially abdicating his crown.

The Allies, while determined to be rid of King Constantine, did not wish to create a Greek republic, and sought to replace the king with another member of the royal family. Crown Prince George, who was the natural heir, was ruled out by the Allies because they thought him too pro-German, like his father.

Instead, they considered installing Constantine’s brother (and Alexander’s uncle), Prince George, but he had tired of public life during his difficult tenure as High Commissioner of Crete between 1901 and 1905; above all, he sought to remain loyal to his brother, and categorically refused to take the throne. As a result, Constantine’s second son, Prince Alexander, was chosen to become the new monarch.

Accession

The dismissal of King Constantine was not unanimously supported by the Entente powers; while France and Britain did nothing to stop Jonnart’s actions, the Russian provisional government officially protested to Paris.

Petrograd demanded that Alexander should not receive the title of king but only that of regent so as to preserve the rights of the deposed sovereign and the Crown Prince. Russia’s protests were brushed aside, and Alexander ascended the Greek throne.

Alexander swore the oath of loyalty to the Greek constitution on the afternoon of June 11, 1917 in the ballroom of the Royal Palace. Apart from the Archbishop of Athens, Theocletus I, who administered the oath, only King Constantine I, Crown Prince George and the king’s prime minister, Alexandros Zaimis, attended.

There were no festivities. The 23-year-old Alexander had a broken voice and tears in his eyes as he made the solemn declaration. He knew that the Entente and the Venizelists would hold real power and that neither his father nor his brother had renounced their claims to the throne. Constantine had informed his son that he should consider himself a regent, rather than a true monarch.

In the evening, after the ceremony, the royal family decided to leave their palace in Athens for Tatoi, but city residents opposed the exile of their sovereign and crowds formed outside the palace to prevent Constantine and his family from leaving.

On June 12, the former king and his family escaped undetected from their residence by feigning departure from one gate while exiting through another. At Tatoi, Constantine again impressed upon Alexander that he held the crown in trust only. It was the last time that Alexander would be in direct contact with his family. The next day, Constantine, Sophia and all of their children except Alexander arrived at the small port of Oropos and set off into exile.

Puppet King

With his parents and siblings in exile, Alexander found himself isolated. The royals remained unpopular with the Venizelists, and Entente representatives advised the king’s aunts and uncles, particularly Prince Nicholas, to leave. Eventually, they all followed Constantine into exile.

Royal household staff were gradually replaced by enemies of the former king, and Alexander’s allies were either imprisoned or distanced from him. Portraits of the royal family were removed from public buildings, and Alexander’s new ministers openly called him the “son of a traitor”.

History of The Kingdom of Greece. Part VI: First Reign of King Constantine I.

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Abdication, Athens, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Crown Prince George of Greece, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, Prime Minister Venizelos, Princess Royal, princess Sophie of Prussia, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., The Balkan War, The Great War, World War I

Constantine I (August 2, 1868 – January 11, 1923) was King of the Hellenes from March 18, 1913 to June 11, 1917 and from December 19, 1920 to September 27, 1922. He was commander-in-chief of the Hellenic Army during the unsuccessful Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and led the Greek forces during the successful Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Greece expanded to include Thessaloniki, doubling in area and population. He succeeded to the throne of Greece on March 18, 1913, following his father’s assassination.

Crown Prince Constantine of Greece

Constantine was born on August 2, 1868 in Athens. He was the eldest son of King George I and Queen Olga (Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia). His birth was met with an immense wave of enthusiasm: the new heir apparent to the throne was the first Greek-born member of the family.

As the ceremonial cannon on Lycabettus Hill fired the royal salute, huge crowds gathered outside the Palace shouting what they thought should rightfully be the newborn prince’s name: “Constantine”.

This was both the name of his maternal grandfather, Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich of Russia, and the name of the “King who would reconquer Constantinople”, the future “Constantine XII, legitimate successor to the Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos”, according to popular legend.

He was inevitably christened “Constantine” on August 12, 1868. The most prominent university professors of the time were handpicked to tutor the young Crown Prince: Ioannis Pantazidis taught him Greek literature; Vasileios Lakonas mathematics and physics; and Constantine Paparrigopoulos history, infusing the young prince with the principles of the Megali Idea.

In 1884, Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece, turned sixteen and his majority was declared by the government. He then received the title of Duke of Sparta. Soon after, Constantine completed his military training in Germany, where he spent two full years in the company of a tutor, Dr. Lüders. He served in the Prussian Guard, took lessons of riding in Hanover and studied political science at the Universities of Heidelberg and Leipzig.

Betrothal and Marriage

After a long stay in the United Kingdom celebrating her grandmother, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Princess Sophie of Prussia became better acquainted with Constantine in the summer of 1887.

Princess Sophia of Prussia, was a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Prussia, (future German Emperor Friedrich III) and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom.

The Crown Prince of Prussia was the son of King Wilhelm I of Prussia (German Emperor Wilhelm I) and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The Princess Royal was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Princess Sophie of Prussia

Queen Victoria watched their growing relationship, writing “Is there a chance of Sophie’s marrying Tino? It would be very nice for her, for he is very good”. Crown Princess Victoria also hoped that Sophie would make a good marriage, considering her the most attractive among her daughters.

During his stay at the Hohenzollern court in Berlin representing the Kingdom of Greece at the funeral of Emperor Wilhelm I in March 1888, Constantine saw Sophie again. Quickly, the two fell in love and got officially engaged on September 3, 1888. However, their relationship was viewed with suspicion by Sophie’s older brother Prince Wilhelm (future Emperor Wilhelm II) and his wife Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

This betrothal was not completely supported in the Greek royal family either: Queen Olga showed some reluctance to the projected union because Sophie was Lutheran and Olga would have preferred that her son marry an Orthodox Christian. Despite the difficulties, the wedding was scheduled for October 1889 in Athens.

On October 27, 1889, Crown Prince Constantine married Princess Sophie of Prussia in Athens in two religious ceremonies, one public and Orthodox and another private and Protestant. They were third cousins in descent from Emperor Paul I of Russia, and second cousins once removed through King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

Princess Sophie of Prussia

For the wedding Sophie’s witnesses were her brother Heinrich and her cousins Princes Albert Victor and George of Wales; for Constantine’s side, the witnesses were his brothers Princes George and Nicholas and his cousin the Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia.

The marriage (the first major international event held in Athens) was very popular among the Greeks. The names of the couple were reminiscent to the public of an old legend which suggested that when a King Constantine and a Queen Sophia ascended the Greek throne, Constantinople the Hagia Sophia would fall into Greek hands.

Crown Prince Constantine and Crown Princess Sophie had six children. All three of their sons ascended the Greek throne. Their eldest daughter Helen married Crown Prince Carol of Romania; their second daughter married the 4th Duke of Aosta; whilst their youngest child, Princess Katherine, married a British commoner.

George I was assassinated in Thessaloniki by an anarchist, Alexandros Schinas, on March 18, 1913, and Constantine succeeded to the throne. In the meantime, tensions between the Balkan allies grew, as Bulgaria claimed Greek and Serbian-occupied territory.

Balkan Wars

In May, Greece and Serbia concluded a secret defensive pact aimed at Bulgaria. On June 16, the Bulgarian army attacked their erstwhile allies, but were soon halted. King Constantine led the Greek Army in its counterattack in the battles of Kilkis-Lahanas and the Kresna Gorge.

The widely held view of Constantine I as a “German sympathizer” owes something to his marriage with Sophie of Prussia, sister of Wilhelm II, to his studies in Germany and his supposed “militaristic” beliefs and attitude.

The Great War

When World War I broke out Constantine did rebuff Emperor Wilhelm II who in late 1914 pressed him to bring Greece into the war on the side of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In their correspondence he told him that his sympathy was with Germany, but he would not join the war. Constantine then also offended the British and French by blocking popular efforts of Prime Minister Venizelos to bring Greece into the war on the side of the Allies.

Constantine’s insistence on neutrality, according to him and his supporters, was based more on his judgement that it was the best policy for Greece, rather than venal self-interest or his German dynastic connections, as he was accused of by the Venizelists.

In August 1916, a military coup broke out in Thessaloniki by Venizelist officers. There, Venizelos established a provisional revolutionary government, which created its own army and declared war on the Central Powers.

With Allied support, the revolutionary government of Venizelos gained control of half the country – significantly, most of the “New Lands” won during the Balkan Wars. This cemented the National Schism, a division of Greek society between Venizelists and anti-Venizelist monarchists, which was to have repercussions in Greek politics until past World War II.

Constantine I, King of the Hellenes

Venizelos made a public call to the King to dismiss his “bad advisors”, to join the war as King of all Greeks and stop being a politician. The royal governments of Constantine in Athens continued to negotiate with the Allies a possible entry in the war.

During November/December 1916, the British and French landed units at Athens claiming the surrender of war materiel equivalent to what was lost at Fort Rupel as a guarantee of Greece’s neutrality. After days of tension, finally they met resistance by paramilitary (Epistratoi) and pro-royalist forces (during the Noemvriana events), that were commanded by officers Metaxas and Dousmanis.

After an armed confrontation, the Allies evacuated the capital and recognized officially the government of Venizelos in Thessaloniki. King Constantine then became the most hated person for the Allies after his brother-in-law Emperor Wilhelm II.

After the fall of the monarchy in Russia, Constantine lost his last supporter inside the Entente opposed to his removal from the throne.

In the face of Venizelist and Anglo-French pressure, King Constantine finally left the country for Switzerland on June 11, 1917; his second-born son Alexander became king in his place.

The Allied Powers were opposed to Constantine’s first born son Crown Prince George becoming king, as he had served in the German army before the war and like his father was thought to be a Germanophile.

The Life of Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg. Part II

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Baron von Plettenberg, Bellevue Castle, Berlin, Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, Empress Augusta Victoria, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Grand Duke Friedrich August II in Oldenburg, Harald von Hedemann, Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg, World War I

On February 27, 1906, Sophia Charlotte married Prince Eitel in Berlin. The wedding fell on the anniversary of Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Victoria Augusta’s silver wedding anniversary, which amplified the event considerably. The wedding had 1,500 guests, which included many members of Germany’s royal families. Sophia Charlotte wore a four-yard long dress that was made of pearl white silk and embroidered with silver roses.

The wedding had three ceremonies – the signing of the marriage contract under the statutes of the House of Hohenzollern on the first day, the administering of the civil law oaths on the second, and lastly the religious rites in the chapel of the castle later that day. She was warmly welcomed in Berlin.

Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia in military uniform

They had an unhappy marriage. Despite her warm Berlin welcome, Sophia Charlotte failed to make friends there. Eitel Friedrich was also continually unfaithful. One source states that upon realizing what type of person she had married, Sophia Charlotte “withdrew into a kind of haughty reserve, from which she never emerged”.

They rarely saw each other during his time fighting in World War I. It was a lonely time for Sophia Charlotte, and she resided mostly in Bellevue Castle in Berlin, where she spent her time mainly reading, painting, and socializing with a small number of friends.

Plettenberg case testimony

In 1922, Prince Eitel Friedrich sued four German newspapers over what he considered libelous allegations that his wife had committed adultery. These events began when Sophia Charlotte was summoned as a witness in a divorce case, and apparently admitted to having an affair with the male defendant.

In the case, she stated that she had known the defendant for a number of years before her marriage when he served her father Grand Duke Friedrich August II in Oldenburg. When asked by the judge, she said “our intimate relations continued even after my marriage with the Emperor’s son”.

She also added that her husband was aware of the affair the entire time, and that her and Plettenberg’s intimate relationship only ceased once he married. Sophia Charlotte later announced however, “I emphatically deny that either before or after have I had any unpermitted relations whatever with the plaintiff. I not only never committed adultery with the plaintiff nor did we ever kiss each other, nor did I maintain any relations whatsoever with him which overstepped the limits permitted by good society”.

The case was heavily suppressed in German newspapers, so that most reports were published in foreign newspapers.

Divorce

Sophia Charlotte and Eitel Friedrich were divorced October 20, 1926. The couple had no children. It is believed that the couple had wanted to divorce before the war, but were prevented by Eitel Friedrich’s father. Eitel Friedrich reportedly began divorce proceedings against Sophia Charlotte on March 15, 1919, citing infidelities before the war. In the end, a verdict given out by the court merely stated that Eitel Friedrich was the guilty party.

Later life

After many rumors of potential husbands circulated after her divorce (including the aforementioned Baron von Plettenberg), Sophia Charlotte married in 1927 Harald von Hedemann, a former Potsdam police officer. He was forty and she was forty-eight.

Despite his low status, the wedding was held at the Grand Ducal palace at Rastede Castle, and was attended by her father the former Grand Duke as well as a small number of both their relations. Sophia Charlotte was considered one of the richest women in the country, and the couple took up residence at the same castle where they were married.

Sophia Charlotte died on March 29, 1964 in Westerstede.

Personal traits and looks

Sophia Charlotte was well-educated and was brought up with a quiet and unworldly upbringing. She was a good linguist and musician. She was also a talented water-colour painter.

There were concerns of her well-being in Sophia Charlotte’s youth, as her mother had suffered from ill health. By traveling to spa resorts and residing in warm weather however, she was able to overcome any signs of sickness. Once source stated right before her marriage that Sophia Charlotte had “developed into a thoroughly healthy and happy woman, whose fair hair and blue eyes, so entirely German, are somewhat piquantly associated with a delicacy of feature that suggests the Latin rather than the Teutonic origin”.

According to another account, Sophia Charlotte was considered slim and graceful with pale, regular features. Contemporaries state she inherited some of the good looks and charm of her mother. As she was the only child of the Grand Duke by his first wife, she was a great heiress. Her wealth was often stressed when mentioned in articles and newspapers. One book called her “pretty, rich, and supposed to be very clever”. Another contemporary source however calls her plain and uninteresting.

December 28, 1952: Death of Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen of Denmark. Conclusion.

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Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Copenhagen, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Christian X of Denmark, King Frederik VIII of Denmark, king George II of the Hellenes, King Haakon VII of Norway, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, World War I, World War ii

On May 14, 1912 while on a return journey from a trip to Nice with his wife and four of his children, King Frederik VIII of Denmark made a short stop in Hamburg, staying at the Hotel Hamburger Hof under the pseudonym “Count Kronsberg”.

That evening, Frederik—while incognito—went out for a stroll on the Jungfernstieg, during which he became faint and collapsed on a park bench at Gänsemarkt. He was discovered by a police officer who took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead; his cause of death was announced as a heart attack. As King Frederik VIII was incognito at the time and had no papers on him, his body was brought to the local morgue, where he was identified by the hotel manager the next morning.

Alexandrine’s husband acceded to the throne as King Christian X, and Alexandrine became Queen Consort of Denmark. She is not considered to have played any political role, but is described as being a loyal support to her spouse.

She was interested in music, and acted as the protector of the musical societies Musikforeningen i København and Den danske Richard Wagnerforening. She was known for her needlework, which she sold for charitable purposes. After the death of her mother-in-law Louise of Sweden in 1926, she succeeded her as the official protector of the various charity organisations founded by Louise. She enjoyed golf and photography.

During World War I, she founded Dronningens Centralkomité af 1914 (“The Queen’s Central Committee of 1914”) to the support of poor families. The revolution in Russia brought much heartbreak for Alexandrine as three of her uncles, Nicholas, George and Sergey, were killed by the Bolsheviks.

She survived the 1918 flu pandemic.

King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

World War II

On April 9, 1940 at 4 am Nazi Germany invaded Denmark in a surprise attack, overwhelming Denmark’s Army and Navy and destroying the Danish Army Air Corps. King Christian X quickly realized that Denmark was in an impossible position.

Its territory and population were far too small to hold out against Germany for any sustained period of time. Its flat land would have resulted in it being easily overrun by German panzers; Jutland, for instance, would have been overrun in short order by a panzer attack from Schleswig-Holstein immediately to the south.

Unlike its Nordic neighbours, Denmark had no mountain ranges from which a drawn-out resistance could be mounted against the German army. With no prospect of being able to hold out for any length of time, and faced with the explicit threat of the Luftwaffe bombing the civilian population of Copenhagen, and with only one general in favour of continuing to fight, King Christian X and the entire Danish government capitulated at about 6 am, in exchange for retaining political independence in domestic matters, beginning the occupation of Denmark, which lasted until May 5, 1945.

In contrast to his brother, King Haakon VII of Norway, and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, King George II of the Hellenes, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Peter II of Yugoslavia, President Edvard Beneš of Czechoslovakia and President Władysław Raczkiewicz of Poland, all of whom went into exile during the Nazi occupation of their countries, King Christian X (like King Leopold III of the Belgians) remained in his capital throughout the occupation of Denmark, being to the Danish people a visible symbol of the national cause (Haakon VII escaped the German advance after refusing to accept a Nazi-friendly puppet regime.)

King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

The royal couple was given great popularity as national symbols during the World War II occupation, which was demonstrated during a tour through the country in 1946. Before the occupation, she and her daughter-in-law were engaged in mobilising the Danish women.

Her rejection of Major General Kurt Himer, Chief of Staff to General Kaupisch on April 9, 1940 became a symbol for her loyalty toward Denmark before her birth country Germany. When General Himer asked for an audience with the monarch, Christian was persuaded to receive him by his daughter-in-law as he would any other, which was supported by Alexandrine. He asked to do so alone, but Alexandrine told him she would interrupt them.

When the General was about to leave, she came in; and when he greeted her, she said: “General, this is not the circumstance in which I expected to greet a countryman.”

During the German occupation of Denmark, the King’s daily ride through Copenhagen became a symbol of Danish sovereignty. This picture was taken on his birthday in 1940

It was reported, that although Alexandrine was seen as shy and disliked official ceremonies, she had a “sharp” intelligence, and she was, together with her daughter-in-law, Ingrid of Sweden, a true support of the monarch and a driving force for the resistance toward the occupation within the royal house.

It was also reported, that in contrast to the monarch himself and the Crown Prince, the Queen and the Crown Princess never lost their calm when the nation was attacked.

As she was not the Head of the Royal House, she could show herself in public more than her spouse, who did not wish to show support to the occupation by being seen in public, and she used this to engage in various organisations for social relief to ease the difficulties caused by the occupation. Kaj Munk is quoted to describe the public appreciation of her during World War II with his comment: “Protect our Queen, the only German we would like to keep!”

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark

King Christian X used to ride daily through the streets of Copenhagen unaccompanied while the people stood and waved to him. One apocryphal story relates that one day, a German soldier remarked to a young boy that he found it odd that the King would ride with no bodyguard. The boy reportedly replied, “All of Denmark is his bodyguard.”

Later life

At his death in Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, in 1947, at the age of 76, King Christian X was interred along with other members of the Danish royal family in Roskilde Cathedral near Copenhagen. Although he had been behind the politics of Erik Scavenius, a cloth armband of the type worn by members of the Danish resistance movement was placed on his coffin under a castrum doloris.

When Queen Alexandrine was widowed; she became the first Queen Dowager of Denmark to opt not to use that title.

She died in Copenhagen on December 28 in 1952 at the age of 73 and is interred next to her husband in Roskilde Cathedral.

August 1, 1914: Russia declares war on Germany

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, French Ambassador, German Emperor Wilhelm II, July Crisis, Maurice Paléologue, Mobilization, Willy and Nicky Correspondence, Winter Palace, World War I

Nicholas II (May 18, 1868 – July 17, 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer, was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on March 15, 1917.

Nicholas Alexandrovich was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

On November 26, 1894 Emperor Nicholas II married his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.

Princess Alix converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and was renamed Alexandra Feodorovna.

On June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, Gavrillo Princeps, in Sarajevo, who opposed Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este

The outbreak of war was not inevitable, but leaders, diplomats and nineteenth-century alliances created a climate for large-scale conflict. The concept of Pan-Slavism and shared religion created strong public sympathy between Russia and Serbia.

Territorial conflict created rivalries between Germany and France and between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and as a consequence alliance networks developed across Europe. The Triple Entente and Triple Alliance networks were set before the war.

Emperor Nicholas II wanted neither to abandon Serbia to the ultimatum of Austria, nor to provoke a general war. In a series of letters exchanged with Wilhelm of Germany (the “Willy–Nicky correspondence”) the two proclaimed their desire for peace, and each attempted to get the other to back down.

Nicholas II (right) with German Emperor Wilhelm II in 1905. Nicholas is wearing a German Army uniform, while Wilhelm wears that of a Russian hussar regiment.

Nicholas II and Wilhelm II were second cousins once removed. Wilhelm’s great-Aunt Charlotte of Prussia (sister to his grandfather Emperor Wilhelm I) was the wife of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia who was Emperor Nicholas II’s great-grandfather.

Emperor Nicholas II desired that Russia’s mobilization be only against Austria-Hungary, in the hopes of preventing war with Germany.

On 25 July 1914, at his council of ministers, Nicholas decided to intervene in the Austro-Serbian conflict, a step toward general war. He put the Russian army on “alert” on July 25. Although this was not general mobilization, it threatened the German and Austro-Hungarian borders and looked like military preparation for war.

However, his army had no contingency plans for a partial mobilization, and on July 30, 1914 Nicholas took the fateful step of confirming the order for general mobilization, despite being strongly counselled against it.

Emperor Nicholas II (left) with his first cousin King George V of the United Kingdom

On July 28, one month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary formally declared war against Serbia. On July 29, 1914, Nicholas sent a telegram to Wilhelm with the suggestion to submit the Austro-Serbian problem to the Hague Conference (in Hague tribunal).

Wilhelm did not address the question of the Hague Conference in his subsequent reply. Count Witte told the French Ambassador, Maurice Paléologue that from Russia’s point of view the war was madness, Slav solidarity was simply nonsense and Russia could hope for nothing from the war.

On July 30, Russia ordered general mobilization, but still maintained that it would not attack if peace talks were to begin. Germany, reacting to the discovery of partial mobilization ordered on July 25, announced its own pre-mobilization posture, the Imminent Danger of War.

Emperor Nicholas II declares war on Germany on the balcony of the Winter Palace August 1, 1914

Germany requested that Russia demobilize within the next twelve hours. In Saint Petersburg, at 7 pm, with the ultimatum to Russia having expired, the German ambassador to Russia met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov, asked three times if Russia would reconsider, and then with shaking hands, delivered the note accepting Russia’s war challenge and declaring war on August 1.

Less than a week later, on August 6, (the anniversary of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire) Emperor Franz Joseph signed the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Russia.

May 6, 1882: Birth of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia

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Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Head of the House of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, King of Prussia, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, World War I

Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; May 6, 1882 – July 20, 1951) was the eldest child of the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. As Emperor Wilhelm’s heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

Wilhelm was born on May 6, 1882 as the eldest son of the then Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg, where his parents resided until his father acceded to the throne.

When he was born, his great-grandfather Wilhelm I was the German Emperor and King of Prussia while his grandfather Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm was the heir apparent, making Wilhelm third in line to the throne.

His birth sparked an argument between his parents and his grandmother Crown Princess Victoria. Before Wilhelm was born, his grandmother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, had expected to be asked to help find a nurse, but since her son did everything he could to snub her, the future Wilhelm II asked his aunt Princess Helena to help instead. His mother was hurt and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was the younger Wilhelm’s great-grandmother, was furious.

Wilhelm became crown prince at the age of six in 1888, when his grandfather Friedrich III died and his father became emperor.

Wilhelm married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (September 20, 1886 – May. 6, 1954) in Berlin on June 6, 1905. After their marriage, the couple lived at the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin in the winter and at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam.

Cecilie was the daughter of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1851–1897) and his wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860–1922). Their eldest son, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, was killed fighting for the German Army in France in 1940.

However, Crown Prince Wilhelm was a womanizer and the marriage was unhappy. After the fall of the German monarchy, at the end of World War I, Wilhelm and Cecilie lived mostly apart.

Wilhelm was crown prince for 30 years until the fall of the German Empire on November 9, 1918. During World War I, he commanded the 5th Army from 1914 to 1916 and was commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince for the remainder of the war.

After his return to Germany in 1923, he fought the Weimar Republic and campaigned for the reintroduction of the monarchy and a dictatorship in Germany.

After his plans to become president had been blocked by his father, Wilhelm supported Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, but when Wilhelm realised that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled.

Wilhelm became head of the House of Hohenzollern on June 4, 1941 following the death of his father. Although the Monarchy had been abolished, to his supporters and monarchists he had become Wilhelm III, German Emperor and King of Prussia. He held the position until his own death on July 20, 1951. He was succeeded in the headship of the House of Hohenzollern by his second son, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia.