Princess Charlotte of Prussia, was born on 24 July 1860 in the Neues Palais in Potsdam. Her birth was much easier on her mother, Victoria, than that of her older brother William which almost cost her mother her life. While her parents were deeply in love, there was huge tension within the family over the raising of the children, a conflict the young Crown Princess (only about 18-19) didn’t feel independent enough to withstand. She was young, separated from her family, still basically a newlywed (2 children in roughly the first 2 years of marriage), with a disabled child, was rather tactless and regarded with deep suspicion within the Court for her liberal ideas (which she didn’t hesitate to express). She also didn’t get on well with her mother-in-law who had a rather cold personality and provided no helpful advice to her (esp as she herself was disliked within the Court and unhappily married). She couldn’t even please with the names—QV wanted every granddaughter to have ‘Victoria’ in her name and ‘Albert’ for the boys (with some ‘Victors’ and ‘Albertas’ thrown in). Thus this first daughter of Vicky & Fritz was christened Viktoria Elisabeth Auguste Charlotte, and would be called Charlotte (also nicknamed ‘Charly’ and ‘Ditta’). Charlotte served to honor that Prussian princess who became Empress Alexandra of Russia. Disregarding both the fact of the child's first name and the potential confusion of having two princesses being called by "Viktoria", QV wrote, "I do hope one of your daughters, if you have any more, will be called Victoria, so that there may be 4 generations of Victorias". Charly would come to share the special place, along with William, as the only grandchildren Albert would live to see during a visit by V&A..
"Charly" was a huge disappointment to her mother. Brilliant as she herself was, Vicky had trouble undertanding how her own daughter didn’t follow in her footsteps. Instead, she grew increasingly critical of this nervous, agitated child, who showed signs of problems (which would continue into adulthood and be diagnosed in modern times as porphyria) when she was little more than an infant. Charly not only bit her fingernails, she also sucked and chewed on her clothing. Adding to her criticism, Vicky also noted that not only did Charly share the Hohenzollern looks, she was neither graceful nor "well-made." Long of body and short of limb, Charly looked, according to Vicky, very "top heavy" when standing, but gave the illusion of being tall when seated. The corsets and styles of the time only emphasized Charly's hefty arms, large breasts and over-long neck though the fashions of long and full skirts at least had the benefit of hiding her extremely short legs. Her letters to her mother were full of criticisms of her behavior and looks. Charly began to develop a willful nature which was encouraged by her grandparents William & Augusta who spoiled both her and William. With her grandparents encouraged her every whim which set her against her parents, Charly soon began her long career as a trouble-maker supreme.
