German Royalty: Wilhelm II Children's Clothes


Figure 1.--Wilhelm II's children were photographed here about 1898-99. The children are from the left: Oskar, Eitel Friedrich, Victoria on Crown Prince Wilhelm's knee, Adalbert, Joachim (in front), and August Wilhelm. The boys wear the uniform of their milatary academy. I assume that means that even the youngest boy, Joachim was enrolled. I'm not ure why Adalbert's uniform is different.

Kaiser Wilhelm's children wore a variety of outfits. As young boys they wore dresses, some with sailor styling. Some wore pantalettes with their dresses. They were born during the Fauntleroy era and at least some of the children wore velvet suits with lace collars. The sailor suit with kneepants appears to have been a popular outfit. These outfits, however, were only worn by the boys when younger. By about age 10 they more commonly appear in the military academy uniforms. The boys also wore military uniforms which was usually the uniforms for the military academies that they attended. They also had formal military uniforms that they wore on special occasions. We also notice the boys wearing kilts, but we do not know how common that was.

Dresses

As young boys they wore dresses, some with sailor styling. Some wore pantalettes with their dresses.

Fauntleroy Suits

They were born during the Fauntleroy era and at least some of the children wore velvet suits with lace collars. We have one 1896 portrait of Prince Jocachim, the Kaiser's youngest son, wearing a Fauntleroy suit. We assume that the other boys also wore Fauntleroy suits aor similar velvet suits when they were the same age. Interestingly, the image of Prince Joachim wearing a Fauntleroy suit shows him with short hair. We note, however, that Prince Joiachim for a time wore long shoulder-length ringle curls.

Sailor Suits

The sailor suit with kneepants appears to have been a popular outfit. We are unsure, however, to what extent the boys wore sailor suits. The Kaiser himself commonly wore sailor suits as a boy, but he had an English mother. We are unsure just how commonly he and his wife dressed the boys in sailor suits, in part because of the relatively few familay images we have acquired. (Images of Kaiser Wilhelm;s grandchildren are much more common than his children.) Sailor suits only seem to have ben worn by the boys when younger and before they began cadet school. We note that in the 1896 portrait where Prince Joachom wrears a Fauntleroy suit, that the next youngest prinesc (Oskar and Augustus) are wearing very plain kneepants sailor suits. We have found only one image with all the children wearing sailor suits.

Military Uniforms

By about age 10 they more commonly appear in the military academy uniforms. The boys also wore military uniforms which was usually the uniforms for the military academies that they attended. Most of the boys in the image here are wearing their cadet unifoirms (figure 1). They also had formal military uniforms that they wore on special state occasions.

Scottish Highland Kilts

We also notice the boys wearing kilts, but we do not know how common that was. Pne portrait shows Prince Oskar and Prince Joachim wearing Highland kuilts with Glengary caps. We are unsure how common this was. We only have one such image. Notably it the outfit is virtually identical to the Highland kilt outfits worn by the children of Prince George (future George V). We are not sure if the boys here are wearing it as fancy dress or perhaps in hor of their visiting royal English cousins. We suspect that the kilt was not a common article of atire bb the German royals, but here we have no real information.

Sources

Röhl, John C.G. Young Wilhelm : the Kaiser's early life, 1859-1888, translated by Jeremy Gaines and Rebecca Wallach.

Van der Kriste, John. Wilhelm II: Germany's Last Emperor (Bodmin: Sutton Publishing, 1999), 244p.






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Created: June 6, 1998
Last updated: 10:56 PM 3/2/2008