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

[Sarai_Porretta]

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[elisa_1872]

In Van der Kiste's "Queen Victoria's Children", and Salway's "Queen Victoria's grandchildren", it says that Waldemar was "to become the favourite son of both Vicky and Fritz.. he was quick to learn and his mother found him a pleasure to teach... He was boisterous and high-spirited, with a sensible independent and honest nature.. Vicky always claimed he resembled her father.. "
Waldemar had a "fun loving" character, and a great sense of humour and love for animals. There was a story of how one day he let his pet crocodile loose in Queen Victoria's study. !

I have a photo of little Waldemar that was taken shortly before his death in 1879. I've sent it to the Forum Admin if he might kindly post it here.

Elisa

[elisa_1872]

Salway's book also mentions a few lines about little Sigismund+

"Both parents doted on this young prince, who seemed so much more clever and intelligent that their other children. Vicky was even convinved he would come to resemble her beloved father.. Sigismund died from meningitis aged 21 months.."

"The memory of Sigismund's death was to haunt Vicky for the rest of her life"

(Pg 21)

+

[elisa_1872]

A few more nice details i found about Waldemar :- +

He liked to hunt minerals and fossils on the Isle of Wight which were labelled and sent to the Swiss Cottage Museum by his mother, at Osborne. It appears they are still there.

:-)

[Annie]

Very nice pictures and info!

Where is Wilhelm here?



I would think he is the tallest since he's the oldest, but his left arm looks normal length, which it wasn't. In most pics, like the one of him as a small child, they made an effort to hide the arm.

The story of his birth, and how Vickie almost died until the English doctor arrived, is one of the most interesting of the German royal family. Like Alexei at Spala, obits had been prepared for both she and the baby. But they were saved, though his arm was damaged in the delivery.

[Robert_Hall]

My, what a sorry lot of waxworks these appear to be ! Nothing at all like the Romanov family, as has been mentioned before.
The "body language" alone speaks volumes of unhappiness.
"Cheers" seems singularly inappropriate, so instead-
Best,
Robert

[grandduchessella]

I don't think it really shows unhappiness, some are just more comfortable in front of cameras and situations vary. Even QA looked different depending on whether she was posing in England or at home in Denmark. The Prussian WAS a very stiff one. Vicky and "Fritz" had one of the happiest royal marriages ever and a wonderful relationship with their younger children. By this point, I don't know how soured the relations were with Willy, Charly and Henry.
Anyway, geneaologically:
Victoria, Princess Royal of GB m. Frederick III of Germany
1. Wilhelm m. (1) Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein
   (2) Hermine of Reuss
    children (all from 1st marriage): Wilhelm (6 children), August Wilhelm (1 child), Oskar (4-5 children), Adalbert (no children), Joachim (1 child), Eitel Fritz (no children), Victoria Louise (5 children, including Queen of Greece)
2. Charlotte m. Bernard of Saxe-Meiningen
  1 child: Feodora m. Prince of Reuss (no children)
3. Henry m. Irene of Hesse
   3 children: Waldemar (no children), Sigismund (2 children), Henry (died young, no children)
4. Victoria m. (1) Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (no children)
(2) Alexander Zubkoff (no children)
5. Sigismund (died young of meningitis, no children)
6. Sophie m. Constantine I of Greece
   6 children: George II (no children), Alexander I (one child, Queen of Yugoslavia), Paul I (3 children including Queen Sophia of Spain), Queen Helen of Romania (1 child, King of Romania), Irene , Duchess of Aosta (issue), Katherine, Lady Brandam (issue)
7. Waldemar (died young of diptheria, no children)
8. Margaret m. Frederick of Hesse-Cassel
 6 children (incl. 2 sets of twins) Richard, Wolfgang, Christopher (d. WW2, married to sister of Prince Philip, issue), Maximilian (died WW1 no children), Philip (2-3 children), ??. I think 2 died in WW1 and one in WW2?

[Robert_Hall]

I do not disagree with one word you said GDElla, & I realize that the Prussian/German court was rather a burden.  Also, the fashions of the day...it just seems so sad to see them staring down at the floor like frightened mice!
But then again, that was a pretty strange family.
Cheers,
Robert

[elisa_1872]

My, what a sorry lot of waxworks these appear to be ! Nothing at all like the Romanov family, as has been mentioned before.
The "body language" alone speaks volumes of unhappiness.
"Cheers" seems singularly inappropriate, so instead-
Best,
Robert

Robert, it's not correct to speak this way about the Emperor and Empress Frederick! Public and private photos will naturally look very different. We must also remember that photos were also sometimes taken with "long exposure" and took some time to take, and that it was not usual to smile for "officials".

[Annie]

Grandduchessella, that was a great family tree! Are there years of birth and death for some of them? I think the Kaiser was 1859-1941.

I don't think it's that people were so miserable in those pics, but that in those days you had to keep perfectly still for 60 seconds for the picture to form. This was especially hard on little kids. In some of the old pics, you can see blurs where babies are kicking or shaking their arms.

[grandduchessella]

That's sort of what I meant by being unhappy. I would definitely NOT be if I had to stand still for repeated takings of photos (they seem to often be in a series) with a corset and a bunch of bored, grumpy children.  

Let's see:
William II, German Emperor 27 JAN 1859-4 JUN 1941
(1) m. Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein 22 OCT 1858-11 APR 1921 (2) m. Hermine of Reuss 17 DEC 1887-7 AUG 1947
a) Crown Prince Wilhelm 1882-1951
b) Eitel Friedrich 1883-1942
c) Adalbert 1884-1948
d) August Wilhelm 1887-1949
e) Oskar 1888-1958
f) Joachim 1880-1920 (suicide)
g) Victoria Luise 1892-1980

Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen 1860-1919
m. Bernard of Saxe-Meiningen 1851-1928
a) Feodora 1879-194?  m. Prince of Reuss

Henry 1862-1929 m. Irene of Hesse 1866-1953
a) Waldemar 1889-1945 (longest lived hemophiliac of QV's descendants; died fleeing Soviets due to lack of blood transfusion) m. Calixta of Lippe 1895-1982
b) Sigismund 1896-1978 m. Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg 1899-1989
c) Henry 1900-1904

Sigismund 1864-1866 (d. of meningitis)

Victoria 1866-1929 m. (1) Adolph of Schaumburg Lippe 1859-1916 (no children) m. (2) Alexander Zubkoff 1900-1936 (shady con man MUCH younger than her)

Waldemar 1868-1879 (d. of diptheria)

Sophie 1870-1932 m. Constantine I of Greece 1868-1923 (all 3 sons became King of Greece)

Margaret 1872-1954 m. Frederick Charles of Hesse-Cassel 1868-1940 (2 sets of twins--all boys; 2 sons died in WW1, 1 son died in WW2 as did 2 daughters-in-llaw)

[Martyn]

The photos are very posed becuase of the long exposure time required - this must have been quite hard to achieve with small children.
I have to agree with Robert about the clothing;I don't think however that you can pin the blame entirely on the current fashions.  I don't think that Vicky had any more idea about fashion than her mother and was unfortunate enough to be quite small.  Whereas Alix of Wales and even GD Alice always look quite elegant in the fashions of the 1860's and 1870's, Vicky didn't really have much of a chance even if she had been blessed with good taste.

[grandduchessella]

Vicky certainly became matronly quickly (having so many kids quickly will do that to a woman) but I think she was still an attractive woman. The dresses of certain periods certainly didn't suit her, but towards the '80s, the more streamlined look did. I remember seeing a painting of her around her marriage by Winterhalter that was just SO lovely. Granted, it's Winterhalter and he made everyone look good, but she was just so sweet and enchanting. She had on a lovely, soft dress and her hair done becomingly and such a sweet smile. Her niece Marie of Romania wrote of her beautiful smile and others have often commented on her beautiful eyes. I think she looked especially lovely in her later years with her white hair and bright blue eyes which remained clear until the end. And Fritz was such a handsome man. I usually don't like beards, but I did his. He was once described as a Lohengrin with his bearing and bright white outfit during QV's Jubilee.

[Annie]

Thank you for the dates Ella!

I liked the 'hoop skirt' look of the 1860's more than the bustle look of the 1880's, but I think the problem with the hoop look was that it was beautiful in the southern belle look, like Scarlett, off the shoulders and dainty, but in the more matronly styles it took on a tank type of look. But she still looks nice.

[grandduchessella]

Here is a link to the painting:

http://www.kronberger-maler.de/victoria/photo_vicky1.html

Here she is wearing the "Scarlett" look but looks dainty and fresh. Just click on the image to enlarge.