Best Known For: Kaiser Wilhelm served as emperor of Germany from 1888 until the end of World War I. Astrological Sign: Aquarius, Death Year: 1941, Death date: June 4, 1941, Death City: Doorn, Death Country: Netherlands, Article Title: Kaiser Wilhelm Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/political-figures/kaiser-wilhelm, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: May 24, 2021, Original Published Date: April 3, 2014. The torments inflicted on me, in this pony riding, must be attributed to my mother."[14]. Wilhelm's behaviour did little to ingratiate himself to the tsar. The Nazi occupation authorities arranged for a small military funeral, with only a few hundred people present. Not long after, Wilhelm rallied German soldiers to fight in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), nicknaming the soldiers "Huns" and encouraging them to fight like Attila's troops. [6] 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. After Wilhelm's death, his son Paul became emperor of Russia. The final split between monarch and statesman occurred soon after an attempt by Bismarck to implement a far-reaching anti-Socialist law in early 1890. In addition to these relations by marriage, Wilhelm was also a first cousin once removed of George VI and his wife Elizabeth. [118] Following his trip to Constantinople (which he visited three timesan unbeaten record for any European monarch)[119] in 1898, Wilhelm II wrote to Nicholas II that,[120], "If I had come there without any religion at all, I certainly would have turned Mohammedan! Sophie visited England throughout the 1920s. ", Otte, T.G., "'The Winston of Germany': The British Elite and the Last German Emperor", Rich, Norman. The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha came into the British Royal Family in 1840 with the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert, son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. Nicholas II and George V were first cousins through their mothers, both Danish princesses and sisters who made grand marriages. [13], His mother, Vicky, was obsessed with his damaged arm, blaming herself for the child's handicap and insisted that he become a good rider. No 'Memorial Service' or committee to remember her marvellous work for the welfare of our German people Nobody of the new generation knows anything about her. After Wilhelm II's grandfather, Wilhelm I, died in 1888, at the age of 90, Frederick III was named emperor. For a totoal of 820 descendats, about 450 are alive today, residing all over the world. He was wildly jealous of the British, wanting to be British, wanting to be better at being British than the British were, while at the same time hating them and resenting them because he never could be fully accepted by them". Therefore, in order to divide and rule, Bismarck ultimately left the German people even more divided in 1890 than they had ever been before 1871.[29]. Despite having a warm relationship with Baron von Windthorst, Kaiser Wilhelm was furious to hear about the plans for coalition talks only after they had already begun. The idea of a prince and princess finding true love may be the dream of many, but for many of Victorias grandchildren, what happened after the royal wedding was more like a nightmare. But not everyone listened to their grandmothers warnings. When Alfred attempted to subdue him by force, Wilhelm bit him on the leg. However, this was impossible under the imperial constitution. [41][clarification needed] Wilhelm used the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War to try to incite fear in the west of the yellow peril that they faced by a resurgent Japan, which Wilhelm claimed would ally with China to overrun the west. The Queen, Prince Philip, and all of their descendants are also related to the Romanovs through Queen Victoria, as she was Tsarina Alexandras grandmother.Queen Elizabeth is a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Philip is Victorias great-great-grandson. I thought of it as a necessary fever. Through his mother, he was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Louis is not pictured above. In exile, one of Wilhelm's greatest passions was hunting, and he killed thousands of animals, both beast and bird. [37] He had an especially bad relationship with his Uncle Bertie, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany | Biography, Contributions & Role in WWI In a deeply ironic moment, a mere decade after demonizing Germany's Catholics as traitors during the Kulturkampf, Bismarck decided to start coalition talks with the all-Catholic Centre Party, and invited that party's leader in the Reichstag, Baron Ludwig von Windthorst, to meet with him to begin the negotiations. Give the whole world an example of manliness and discipline. Wilhelm refused to see his brother-in-law after this incident and never returned to Russia. Bismarck planned to use the young prince as a weapon against his parents in order to retain his own political dominance. He tried with some success to conceal this; many photographs show him holding a pair of white gloves in his left hand to make the arm seem longer. The Kaiser's presence was seen as an assertion of German interests in Morocco, in opposition to those of France. After weeks of this he was finally able to maintain his balance. It took over the physical assets which remained: the palaces, the art collections, the jewels. On January 27, 1859, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was born to Frederick III and Victoria, Princess Royal, the sister of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (George's father). Embed from Getty Images. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, King George V of Britain and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany were cousins. Wilhelm was born on 27 January 1859 in Berlin, the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Queen Victoria was sometimes called the Grandmamma of Europe . But of our Germany, which was a nation of poets and musicians, of artists and soldiers, he has made a nation of hysterics and hermits, engulfed in a mob and led by a thousand liars or fanatics. He lost much of the influence he had previously exercised in domestic and foreign policy. Will the queen still be king when she dies? Who makes the plaid blue coat Jesse stone wears in Sea Change? The throne then passed to their 29-year-old uncle, King Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1886, also, thanks to Herbert von Bismarck, the son of the Chancellor, Prince Wilhelm began to be trained twice a week at the Foreign Ministry. Nevertheless, Wilhelm still retained the ultimate authority in matters of political appointment, and it was only after his consent had been gained that major changes to the high command could be effected. Unknown to the Emperor, Austro-Hungarian ministers and generals had already convinced the 83-year-old Franz Joseph I to sign a declaration of war against Serbia. Queen Victoria's Family Tree: The Cousins Who Started World War I He assumed the role of Kaiser of the German Reich in 1888, after the deaths of his grandfather Wilhelm I, and father . On 1 January 1920, it was stated in official circles in London that Great Britain would "welcome refusal by Holland to deliver the former kaiser for trial," and it was hinted that this had been conveyed to the Dutch government through diplomatic channels. Wilhelm II, German Emperor Answer (1 of 11): According to Wikepedia Wilhelm's most contentious relationships were with his British relations. Victoria liked the German princess, who was also a cousin, because of her level-headedness, and pressured Albert to marry her even though he was rumored to be gay. "[124] Wilhelm advocated a "regular international all-worlds pogrom la Russe" as "the best cure" and further believed that Jews were a "nuisance that humanity must get rid of some way or other. He conferred with representatives of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco. "He believed in force, and the 'survival of the fittest' in domestic as well as foreign politics William was not lacking in intelligence, but he did lack stability, disguising his deep insecurities by swagger and tough talk. Overview. According to this view, what Kaiser Wilhelm termed "The New Course" is characterised as Germany's ship of state going dangerously off course, leading directly to the carnage of the First and Second World Wars. He was the only son and heir of King George V and his wife, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In case it helps combat her straight-laced reputation, Queen Victoria, who was actually named Alexandrina Victoria (for her godfather, czar Alexander I) had an awesome nickname: 'Drina. Between 1888 and 1901 Wilhelm resented his uncle, who despite being an heir-apparent to the British throne, treated Wilhelm not as a reigning monarch, but merely as another nephew. He was personally ill-equipped to steer German foreign policy along a rational course.