Kaiser Friedrich III, his spouse Victoria and their family, Part II

[Kalafrana]

I think we should bear in mind that having Vicky for a mother was very difficult for Wilhelm, since she set him standards which were quite impossible to achieve and never gave him credit for anything he did. Rohl quotes one rather sad episode when Wilhelm, aged about 19, sent his mother a photograph (inevitably showing him in uniform) and got a lengthy reply exhorting him to clean his teeth better. She was nothing like as demanding with the three younger girls, and they, inevitably, got on better with her.

It is a recognised phenomenon that parents tend to apply strict standards to first-borns, who bear the weight of expectations and ambitions, as well as rules. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries we can also see this with heirs apparent - look at the way Victoria and Albert treated the future Edward VII!

Ann

[HerrKaiser]

I think we should bear in mind that having Vicky for a mother was very difficult for Wilhelm, since she set him standards which were quite impossible to achieve and never gave him credit for anything he did. Rohl quotes one rather sad episode when Wilhelm, aged about 19, sent his mother a photograph (inevitably showing him in uniform) and got a lengthy reply exhorting him to clean his teeth better. She was nothing like as demanding with the three younger girls, and they, inevitably, got on better with her.

It is a recognised phenomenon that parents tend to apply strict standards to first-borns, who bear the weight of expectations and ambitions, as well as rules. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries we can also see this with heirs apparent - look at the way Victoria and Albert treated the future Edward VII!

Ann

While it would take further and deep psycho analysis, Vicky may well have resented that her first born was a boy who automatically inherited the wealth and power. She was first born but had no such position yet had to have seen how much more capable she was than her brother. Wilhelm was the second time in her life that she got trumped by a less inspiring youngster.

[HerrKaiser]

To be fair. I don't see there is another point in WII as a person. While the blame on WWI can be shared, WII role in bringing it forward cannot be diluted in any way balanced or not. It is like saying Hilter is a nice person because he is good to his dog. Individual aspects did not play that much into the character of a certain person in this case WII. I would disagree and argue that John Rohl did a balance and fair portrait of WII. His instability of moods and contradicting actions left his relatives in the UK baffled, while his cruelty and unbending towards his family (especially mother & sisters) did not leave a good legacy to his character. 

Precisely plays into my point. You think it's "fair" to take Rohl's opinions, in spite of the emotion that his commentaries are diluted with, at face value. I find that as unfair as well as unreliable.

To suggest that a less negative view of WII is analogous to an apology for Hitler because of Hitler's dog is exemplary of how emotionality distorts reason. Did Herr Rohl make the same comparative?

[Eric_Lowe]

I don't think Vicky resented that Willy's status as first born. She had high hopes for him and Willy did love her despite her high standards for him. Vicky's brother Bertie did have the same expectation, but he did not turn into a egomaniac like Willy. QV was not always fair to her heir, but his wife Alix was always the bridge that drew them together. Willy on the other hand was pumped up by Bismark and Wilhelm I without any consideration or understanding for his parents. "I bide my time" was his motto. While Alix of Denmark was a comfort to her mother-in-law, Dona wasn't. I don't think even John Rohl can find any info to dispute the negative picture that history had put on WII. But it was a fair one as far as his personality and his role in the Great War is concerned, but I agree he wasn't the "only" guilty party here and much of the blame can be shared by Russia (Pan-Slav Movement) and Austria & France. A seriously lack of goodwill from Germany was part of the problem as Vicky wrote much about this subject in her letters to her mother. No John Rohl did not indicate that but I did, it is my trouble with "revisionist" history been written.

[Marie Valerie]

There is a new photobook of Vicky in German:

Kaiserin Victoria - Die vergessene Deutsche Kaiserin

[Eric_Lowe]

Book cover ?

[Marie Valerie]

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks. Hope this one does justice to this great woman.

[Joanna]

Empress Frederick to her daughter Sophie

Unwanted Guests (creepy-crawlies) Part 2

http://winterpalaceresearch.blogspot.ca/2016/10/unwanted-guests-creepy-crawlies-part-2.html

Joanna

[HerrKaiser]

This recent photo of the Windsors at Buckingham Palace shows what appears to be portraits of Fritz and Vickie on either sides of the doorway behind the royal family. What a surprise! I thought the palace had cleansed all German royal portraits back in 1917.