Wilhelm II of Germany

Wilhelm II of Germany (born Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert von Preußen 27 January, 1859–4 June 1941), was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and the last King (König) of Prussia, ruling from 1888 to 1918.

Marriages and Family

On February 27, 1881, he married Augusta Viktoria, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein. They had seven children:

Related Topics:
February 27 - 1881 - Augusta Viktoria, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein

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• Crown Prince Wilhelm (1882-1951).
• Prince Eitel Friederich (1883-1942)
• Prince Adalbert (1884-1948)
• Prince August Wilhelm (1887-1949)
• Prince Oskar (1888-1958)
• Prince Joachim (1890-1920)
• Princess Viktoria Luise (1892-1980)

Wilhelm had previously fallen in love with his cousin, Elisabeth, daughter of his Aunt Alice, even writing her love poems. But, she found him intolerable; Wilhelm tried to impose his will on everyone, and he demanded Elisabeth always be at his side. Although she rejected him, as an old man, he confessed that he never forgot her.

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Despite what lingering feelings he may have had for Elisabeth, Augusta's death on April 11, 1921 devastated him. It came less than a year after their son, Joachim, committed suicide, unable to accept his lot after the abdication and the failure of his marriage to Marie-Auguste of Anhalt.

Related Topics:
April 11 - 1921 - Suicide - Anhalt

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The following January, Wilhelm received a birthday greeting from a son of Prince Johann Georg von Schönaich-Carolath. He invited the boy and his mother, Hermine, daughter of Prince Henry XXII of Reuss and a descendant of William the Conqueror, to Doorn. Taken by her beauty and delighted by her companionship, he married her on November 9, 1922 over the objections of his children. Hermine's daughter, Henriette, married Joachim's son, Karl Franz Josef, on October 5, 1940. They divorced in 1946.

Related Topics:
Reuss - William the Conqueror - November 9 - 1922 - October 5 - 1940

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Wilhelm was somehow involved in the scandal of his aide and friend, Philipp Prince zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld, which revealed homosexual activities in the Kaiser's inner circle (the Harden-Eulenburg Affair). Bismarck, among others, suggested that there was an improper relationship between the two men.

Related Topics:
Philipp Prince zu Eulenburg-Hertefeld - Harden-Eulenburg Affair

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