German Royalty: Wilhelm II as Father


Figure 1.--

Wilhelm who often complained about his childhood, does not appear to have been much of a father himself. He made little effort to have fun with the children or create a warm home. Wilhelm, in fact, appears to have very little concept of childhood. He appears to have treated the boys as "small recruits". He often barked at them and strictly disciplined them. He maintained a very formal relationship with the boys. This seems quite a contrast to how he and his brothers and sisters had been treated by their father. He appears to have mellowed quite a bit as a grandfather.

Wilhelm and his Father

Wilhelm who often complained about his childhood, does not appear to have been much of a father himself. Friedrich appears to have been a very engaged father. He spent much more time with his children than his father had spent with him. He was delighted with Wilhelm. Friederich delighted in carrying the baby around the palace showing him off to everyone. The Prince wrote an aunt, "... in his clear blue eyes we can already see signs of sparking intelligence." Surely Victoria incouraged her husband to spend time with the children as she did. Also important was that because of the Danzig incident, the King and Bismarck did their best to keep him away from official duties. Friedrich was interested in ancient and medieval history and archeology and loved to tell stories to the children and show them pictures in books. Wilhelm was apparently fascinated. Friedrich expressed his hopes of restoring the German Empire that had existed in medieval Europe. He loved to take the children on outings and to visit relatives. Outings included visits to museums and art galleries. They went on long walks in the country together. He taught them how to swim in the Havel River. Even Prince Wilhelm became a good swimmer despite his handicapped arm. The river became a favored place and Friedrich and the children would swim and boat there. Wilhelm along with the other children learned to row and sail. Wilhelm idealised his father. Some historians, however, question whether Friederich developed a close personal relationship with his son.

Family Life

He made little effort to have fun with the children or create a warm home. Wilhelm, in fact, appears to have very little concept of childhood. Crown Prince Wilhelm later wrore about his father, "... he was always very friendly and, in his own way, loving toward us; but, by, the nature of things, he had none to much time to devote to us. As a consequence, in reviewing our early childhood, I can discover scarsely a seen in which he joins in our childish games with unconstrained mirth or happy abandon. If I try now to explain it to myself, it seems to me as though he was unable to divest himself of the dignity and superiority of the mature adult man as to enable him to be properly young with us little fellows." [William, Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 15.

Discipline

He appears to have treated the boys as "small recruits". He often barked at them and strictly disciplined them.

Formal Relationship

He maintained a very formal relationship with the boys. This seems quite a contrast to how he and his brothers and sisters had been treated by their father. Wilhelm did not incourage the boys to come into his study. When they did, they were taught to hold their hands behind their back so that they would not knock anything over.

Grandfather

Wilhelm appears to have mellowed quite a bit as a grandfather. I have no information yet on the relatinship between Wilhelm II and his grandchildren. There are many photographs with the children. Many are rather touching, intimate family portraits. He appears to be rather a loving, doting grandfather. That is just based, however, on an examination of the photographs. The images that we have appear to be primarily of the Kaiser and the children of the Crown Prince. This suggests of course that these were the children that he took the greatest interest in. Photographs of William II with his other grandchildren are much more limited. I'm not sure how the other grandchildren were dressed.

Sources

Van der Kiste, John. Wilhelm II: The Last German Emperor (Bodmin: Sutton Publishing, 1999), 244p.

Wilhelm, Crown Prince, Memoirs









Christopher Wagner








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Created: June 25, 2001
Last updated: July 12, 2001