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Kaiser Wilhelm II

Biography

Kaiser Wilhelm II

Overview

  • Born
    January 27, 1859 · Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia [now Germany]
  • Died
    June 4, 1941 · Doorn, Utrecht, Netherlands (undisclosed)
  • Birth name
    Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert Hohenzollern von Preußen
  • Nicknames
    • Kaiser Bill
    • Willie
  • Height
    5′ 9″ (1.75 m)

Biography

  • Kaiser William II was born on January 27, 1859 to a Prince and Princess of Prussia. His mother was the daughter of Queen Victoria. He grew up like any Prussian Prince, except for an arm that was deformed from birth. He admired his grandparents who became Kaiser and Empress when he was small. He also admired his English Grandmother Queen Victoria as well as Otto von Bismarck. During his formative years he had to deal with having brothers and sisters. His brother Henry even got married to their cousin Irene (their Aunt Alice's daughter). Because of the attention his parents gave to his arm he grew to detest them.

    When William was in his late teens he fell in love with his cousin (the daughter of his Aunt Alice) but she did not love him and got married to Grand Duke Serge of Russia. A few years later he got married to a granddaughter of his grandmother's half-sister. They had several children. In 1888 when his father died he raided his desk to find anything that may have incriminated his father in something, but all that was found was papers about how bad he had been in his life. He was with his grandmother Queen Victoria when she died in 1901. Later that year he lost his mother as well. He did the same thing to his mother that he did with his father with the same results. Vickie had given all her papers to the British ambassador to Berlin a few days before she died.

    After his mother died he continued to rule Germany in a back handed manner, and did not like the fact that his Uncle Edward was more powerful than he was. He did not like the fact that he was part of starting World War One because it pitted him against cousins, aunts, and uncles all over Europe and the Americas. His response to his cousin changing their last name to Windsor was that he would like to see the Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. After the war he had to give up his throne and he went to the Netherlands, where after the death of his first wife he married a second. He stayed married to his second wife till he died at the age of 82 in 1941.
    - IMDb mini biography by: CR amended by garryq

Family

  • Spouses
      Princess Hermine Reuss-Greiz(November 5, 1922 - June 4, 1941) (his death)
      Empress Augusta Victoria(February 27, 1881 - April 11, 1921) (her death, 7 children)
  • Children
      Crown Prince Hohenzollern
      August Wilhelm von Preußen
      Prince Joachim of Prussia
      Prince Adalbert of Prussia
      Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
      Prince Oskar of Prussia
      Viktoria Luise von Preußen
  • Parents
      King Frederick III of Prussia
      Princess Royal Victoria
  • Relatives
      Princess Charlotte of Prussia(Sibling)
      Prince Henry of Prussia(Sibling)
      Prince Albert(Grandparent)
      Duke of Kent and Strathearn Prince Edward(Great Grandparent)
      Duchess of Kent and Strathearn(Great Grandparent)
      Prinz Louis Ferdinand von Preussen(Grandchild)
      Wilhelm-Karl von Preußen(Grandchild)
      Friedrich Wilhelm Prinz von Preußen(Great Grandchild)
      Prinz Michael von Preussen(Great Grandchild)
      Prinz Louis Ferdinand Junior von Preussen(Great Grandchild)
      Grand Duchess Alice(Aunt or Uncle)
      Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Alfred(Aunt or Uncle)
      Helena of Schleswig-Holstein(Aunt or Uncle)
      Duchess of Argyll Princess Louise(Aunt or Uncle)
      Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught(Aunt or Uncle)
      Prince Leopold of Duke of Albany(Aunt or Uncle)
      Princess Henry of Battenberg(Aunt or Uncle)
      Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen(Niece or Nephew)
      Prince Waldemar of Prussia(Niece or Nephew)
      Prince Sigismund of Prussia(Niece or Nephew)
      Grand Duke of Baden Frederick II(Cousin)
      Queen Victoria of Baden(Cousin)
      Victoria Mountbatten(Cousin)
      Elizabeth Feodorovna(Cousin)
      Princess Irene of Prussia(Cousin)
      Ernest Louis(Cousin)
      Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine(Cousin)
      Tsarina Alexandra(Cousin)
      Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine(Cousin)
      Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Alfred(Cousin)
      Queen Marie of Romania(Cousin)
      Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia(Cousin)
      Princess Alexandra of Hohenlohe-Langenburg(Cousin)
      Princess Margaret of Connaught(Cousin)
      Princess Patricia of Connaught(Cousin)
      Princess Alice(Cousin)
      Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Charles Edward(Cousin)
      Queen Victoria(Grandparent)
      King George V(Cousin)
      Prince Albert Victor(Cousin)
      Princess Louise(Cousin)
      Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom(Cousin)
      Dronning Maud(Cousin)
      King Constantine II(Great Grandchild)
      Queen Frederica of Greece(Grandchild)
      King Paul of Greece(Niece or Nephew)
      Queen Sofía of Spain(Great Grandchild)
      Queen Victoria Eugenia(Cousin)
      Princess Irene of Greece(Great Grandchild)
      Elena of Greece and Denmark(Niece or Nephew)
      Heinrich von Hannover(Great Grandchild)
      King Georgios II(Niece or Nephew)
      King Edward VII(Aunt or Uncle)
      Prince Sigismund(Sibling)

Trivia

  • Played by Syd Chaplin, Kenneth More, Jürgen Prochnow, and John Mylong.
  • Publicly sided with the Boers after the Jameson Raid in 1896, and during the Second Boer War (1899-1902).
  • The Kaiser's left arm was deformed due to a traumatic breech birth. Some have theorized that this affected his emotional development.
  • Whenever he was at his summer residence in Stuttgart, he and his cavalry officers would parade up and down the main street every Sunday at noon. The townsfolk were "encouraged" to attend.
  • The impact of Wilhelm's abdication sent youngest son, Prince Joachim, into a deep depression. Unable to accept his new status as a commoner, he shot himself on July 18, 1920.

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