Wilhelm II And His Brothers

in last week's video we covered the lives of Wilhelm II's Four Sisters today is a continuation on that topic as we will look at the Three Brothers Wilhelm had but before we jump right in I have to mention that two of those Brothers sickest men and waldemar died in childhood while only Henry reached adulthood to make the video more understandable we will look at sigismund and waldemar first before we unroll the life of Prince Henry Wilhelm and his siblings were the children of the later German Emperor and King of Prussia Frederick III and his british-born wife Victoria Victoria was known as The Princess Royal being the eldest daughter to Queen Victoria and her husband Albert the prince consort in total they had eight children all of them being born before Frederick ascended the throne especially after the death of sickest men and Voldemort the family split apart the three eldest siblings Wilhelm Charlotte and Henry formed one group that despised their parents and the youngest three sisters who were loving and supporting of their parents but now let's get into the video Prince Francis Frederick sigismund of Prussia was born on September 15 1864 at the new Palace in Potsdam sigismund or Ziggy as he was called in his family fell ill with meningitis in June 1866. as his father had taken all doctors available to the front of the austropression war sickest men succumbed to the disease at only 29 months the death of sigismund left his mother Victoria heartbroken as she felt guilty for not being able to help him sigismund was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria to die almost 115 years before his last cousin Princess Alice Countess of athlan died in 1981. Princess Alice was in fact the longest lived blood Royal of all time sigismund also died before he had the chance to meet his youngest three siblings Prince jochim Frederick Ernest waldemar of Prussia was born two years after the death of sigismund on February 10 1868. the Young Prince was known as waldemar in the family and he quickly became the favorite Child of his parents he was Lively cheerful and had a big love for sports and animals while visiting his grandmother Queen Victoria waldemarled lose his pet crocodile in her study which shocked the queen like this story already underlines Prince waldemar had a great sense of humor and a fun character much to the Delight of his mother who founded a pleasure to teach a young boy in March 1879 Voldemort felt seriously ill with diphtheria and it did not take long for the Young Prince to find his early death due to the disease he was buried near his elder brother in the Royal Mausoleum of the frieden's character in Potsdam Prince Henry of Prussia was the elder brother of sigismund and waldemar and the younger brother of the later Wilhelm II he was born in Berlin on August 14 1862. young Henry just like his brother Wilhelm and his sister Charlotte struggled to live up to the high expectations of his mother in a letter Victoria wrote to her own mother about her son she stated he is lazy boring and bad in school with only three years between Henry and Wilhelm the two brothers were inseparable as young boys their parents Frederick and Victoria had hired a tutor named Guero Kings Peter in order to make sure that the young boys and especially Wilhelm Would One Day become a modern monarch Henry turned out to be less intelligent than his older brother much to the demise of his mother the family would often make trips to England where they visited the sea ports to show their children the mighty Fleet of Europe's greatest naval power therefore from an early age on Henry was interested in the Navy to encourage his interests a ship Mass was set up in the new Palace in Potsdam and so it is no surprise that Henry dropped out of a gymnasium and Castle to enter the Imperial cata program at 15 years old but with the entry into the cada program also came the separation from Wilhelm the two brothers were allowed to sleep in Henry's room before he had to leave the next day Henry therefore left his bed to Wilhelm and slept on his hammock for the night it would take seven years and the two-year tour around the world until Henry would complete his education and enter the Navy Henry very much enjoyed his life on the sea he in fact even wrote to his mother in a letter you can hardly imagine how glad I am to go to Sea again as a sailor's life on board is too nice and I am so fond of it as a prince he was privileged to soon take over command of the first torpedo boat division many more commands followed in the next few years Henry's education laid the foundation for his humble self-image and his excellent social skills as he was required to live in the cramped space of the ships just like all his other colleagues in 1888 Prince Henry married his first cousin princess Irene of Hess and by Ryan the marriage was much to the displease of their grandmother Queen Victoria as she was not informed by the courtship until they already had decided to marry Henry's father the new German Emperor attended the wedding although he was dying of throat cancer Henry and Irene had a happy marriage she soon got pregnant and gave birth to her first son in March 1889. she shocked her mother-in-law when she did not hide her pregnancy with proper clothing the couple had three more Sons two of them inherited hemophilia from their mother the so-called Royal disease Henry and Irene's youngest son died of Hemophilia at four years old when he hit his head their eldest son waldemar died six days before the second world war came to an end as the leftover blood supplies were used to treat the victims of the concentration camp nearby despite enjoying a happy marriage Henry had an affair with a Hungarian singer named Julie Who Bore him two more Sons Henry was closed with his brother but different in many ways Henry was quite popular within the Empire and his down-to-earth attitude was appreciated by the soldiers he was a great Diplomat representing his brother abroad and unlike Wilhelm Henry always found to write words Henry looked up to his older brother while Wilhelm did not cry to appreciate his younger brother's admiration for him although Henry was wilhelm's Deputy as long as wilhelm's eldest son was a minor Wilhelm always made sure to keep his brother out of politics but that was no problem for Henry who was not interested in politics anyways in fact many people were worried about the type of region he would be in the case that the Empire would need one one day Henry was interested in flying yachting and in Motor Cars he was the first person to receive a flying license in Germany and he was dedicated to modern technology understanding early the value of Innovations Henry himself registered a patent on a windshield wiper for cars in 1905. he supposedly also invented a car horn further Henry attended the test drive of the newly German produced submarine Pharrell during the ride Henry would partially also Drive the submarine successfully when the first world war broke out Henry was appointed commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet he hindered the Russian Navy from making attacks on the German Coast after the Russian Revolution of 1917 Henry's Duty in the Navy came to an end he consequently left the Navy with the end of the monarchy in 1918. Henry and Irene continue to live in Germany after the first world war where Henry continued to devote his time towards his interests he would visit his exiled brother in the Netherlands once or twice a year Henry lastly died in 1929 of stroke cancer the same illness that killed his father over 40 years earlier ironically during Henry's lifetime it was always said that he most resembled his father's looks and attitude and just like Frederick Henry also was a lifelong heavy smoker up until this day historians claim that Henry might have been a better Emperor than his elder brother he might have been a good constitutional Monarch and understanding to his people however these remained speculations as we do not know how history would have gone that way

Channel: Back To History

Views: 27,491

Keywords: wilhelmii, henry of prussia, queen victoria, prince sigismund, prince waldemar, frederick iii, wilhelm ii's brothers, backtohistory, german empire, history of germany, kings of prussia, prussia, 1900s

Id: OMSdKS9_GYM

Length: 9min 27sec (567 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 15 2022