Today I have the pleasure of receiving
Author Christina Croft here on EBJ- History Salon! Please read her amazing post and then leave her a comment to enter her Giveaway!
Please Welcome, Christina Croft...
Queen Victoria’s Devoted Grandson
Some years ago, while visiting Osborne House, I
stood in Queen Victoria’s bedroom, trying to imagine how her eldest grandson
felt as he knelt by the bed with her head resting on his arm as she died. Even
more moving was the thought of the overwhelming sadness that surely clouded his
later years as he looked back on this event, and his many other happier visits
to England. The date of my visit was significant – August 4th, the anniversary
of Britain’s entry into the First World War – for the grandson was, of course,
Kaiser Wilhelm II.
History has painted this man in a very poor
light and even today he is often mistaken for the caricature on the Allies’
propaganda posters, but I feel deeply for the Kaiser, and, in researching and
writing the ‘Shattered Crowns’ trilogy – following the royalties of Europe
through the First World War – I soon came to the realization that he, like
several other royalties of the time, became the scapegoats for someone else’s
crime.
Kaiser Wilhelm – ‘Willy’ – was the eldest son
of Queen Victoria’s brilliant eldest daughter, Victoria, who married the future
German Emperor Frederick III. His birth was particularly traumatic to the extent
that the doctors feared for the lives of both the mother and child, and when,
after a long labour, Willy was finally born he appeared not to be breathing. The
doctors shook him so violently that his left arm was badly wrenched, damaging
the nerves. Consequently, the arm failed to grow properly and remained a
permanent and very visible disability, which prevented him from using a knife
and fork until he was ten years old, and seriously affected his balance and his
ability to learn to ride. His mother wrote that: “He has a charming
countenance, and very pleasing expression, particularly his eyes. I think he
would be very good-looking someday, if it were not for the distressing
crookedness caused by his poor arm, which is very visible in his face as his
head is not straight and the whole left side of the neck and face much thinner
and flatter than the other.” Throughout his
childhood, in an effort to correct the deformity, Willy was subjected to a
series of very painful and fruitless treatments but far worse than the physical
trauma was the psychological effect of the disability when the future Kaiser
heard whispers that: ‘a one-armed man should never be king.’ Moreover, he
appears to have begun to believe (quite wrongly!) that his English mother was
not only responsible for the trauma but also was repulsed by it. These events
inspired in him an inability to endure weakness and he over-compensated for his
sense of inadequacy by arrogant outbursts and a great deal of bluff and
bluster.
To exacerbate matters, the Chancellor,
Bismarck, despised Willy’s mother and went out of his way to fill the boy’s head
with stories of German superiority and his parents’ weakness for espousing
liberal and English ideas. Poor little conflicted boy! He passed through
childhood and adolescence alternatively adoring and hating his mother. He even
passed through a strange episode of sending her adoring letters, telling her how
much he loved her and particularly her beautiful hands. Shortly after this, he
fell madly in love with his cousin, the beautiful Ella of Hesse (Most Beautiful Princess) but she refused his proposal and for
many months afterwards his confidence was so shaken that he was unable to remain
in the same room as her, though he kept her picture on his desk until the end of
his life.
The one solid anchor in his childhood was his
grandmother, Queen Victoria, whom he dearly loved, though she never hesitated to
correct his arrogant outbursts, suggesting on more than one occasion that he
deserved ‘a skelping’ and should go and ‘find his level’. Unfortunately, his
arrogant manner alienated many other members of the family and when the Queen
was dying there was great reluctance to invite him to visit. When he did arrive,
he was not permitted to enter her room and was left waiting on the corridor
outside until her doctor took pity on him and led him to her.
Wilhelm became German Emperor in 1888 and for
twenty-five years his country was at peace, prospering in every regard. He
promoted the arts and culture, open libraries and tried in many ways to emulate
his hero Frederick the Great who had also been a great patron of the arts. He
was also, in spite of his arrogant manner, keen to maintain ties with his
cousins throughout Europe. It seems that he had a desperate need to be loved and
respected and many of his pompous pronouncements and poses were simply attempts
to conceal his lack of self-esteem behind a mask of greatness. He is often
portrayed as a warmonger due to his love of uniforms and all the trappings of
militarism but in fact he was rather like a small boy dressing up and playing a
role. He never commanded an army or captained a ship and he was as happy to be
seen in he uniform of a British Admiral as in that of his famous Death’s Head
Hussars. He loved England and all things English, but on occasions he seemed to
transfer the love-hate relationship with his mother, to a love-hate relationship
with her homeland, and, with so many conflicting ideas in his head and the
stress of constantly trying to live up to an image, it is unsurprising that he
suffered at least two nervous breakdowns.
In any event, the last thing he wanted was a
war. To the very last minute he and Tsar Nicholas were exchanging telegrams in
an effort to maintain peace but – as my novel ‘The Scapegoats’ seeks to
demonstrate – matters were taken out of the hands of monarchs by those who had a
great deal to gain from the destruction of the three great European autocracies
of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany. Willy, I firmly believe, was, along with
Tsar Nicholas and the Austrian Emperor, simply a scapegoat whom history
continues to saddle with responsibility for that dreadful conflict. It is
interesting to note that, although Russia and Germany were on opposing sides in
the war, when the Tsar’s life was threatened by the Russian Revolution and his
British cousin, King George, refused to allow him to go to England, Willy
offered the Imperial Family safe haven in Germany. Within a few months, Willy,
too, had fallen victim to revolution.
He ended his days in exile in the Netherlands
and the last photographs and film footage of him show a very sad and broken man
and one whom, I believe, history has unjustly vilified.
Thank you, Lucy, for your hospitality in
allowing me to write on your lovely blog!
Thank you, Christina for this enlightening post!
Christina Croft is graciously giving away ONE Copy of SHATTERED CROWNS: THE SCAPEGOATS 1913-1914 to one of my lucky readers! Thank you!!
TO ENTER:
Please leave your comment for Christina
For extra chances post on FB, Twitter, Blog...and come back with your link.
Open to Canada, US and Britain
Winner Announced on Monday, July 23
GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!
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