Figure 1.--The still very young Princess Victoria is seen here at her wedding at the right with her family. The boys all wear Highland kilts. Prince Lepold seems to be misbehaving, he has thrown his cap on the floor. Her father is at the left and her mother at the center of the portrait. Her grandmother is the Duchess of Kent is behind her right shoulder. The marriage was one of the most important of the 19th century. This is an engraving from a painting by John Philip Standing.

The announcement of the engagement of the Princess Royalm Victoria and Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia who was to become Kaiser Frederick III was generally gteeted with disapproval. The Grmans were hostoric allies against France. Yet Prussia has not joined Brritain in the Crimean War and the Prussian monarchy had not fulfilled their pledges to the liberals after the 1848 uprisings. The wedding took place at St. James Palace, London, England (January 25, 1858). Prince Albert was still alive and was able to see his eldest daughter married. Vicki's brothers and sisters were in attendance, the boys decked out in Highland finery. Frederick and Victoria, patronized art and literature and encouraged the work of the royal museums. They shared the liberal principles represented by the constitutional English monarchy. The mairrage was the centerpiece of the royal family and the British Government's policy of weaving a pattern of family relationships with major royal families of Europe. This was potentially the most important marriage of the 19th century. Both had liberal ideas and could have helped direct Germany down the path of liberal democracy. But such was not to be. She strove to introduce English manners and the precepts of constitutional monarachy, but was opposed by Bismark. Frederick was not well by the time his father died. He reigned only a few days.

Sources

Bennett, Daphne. Vicky, Princess Royal of England and German Empress (Harvill, 1971).

Pakula, Annah. An Uncommon Woman: the Empress Frederick (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1996).

Created: May 30, 2003
Last updated: 6:37 PM 1/14/2020