Kaiser Wilhelm II -- becoming King of England?

Peter_Suciu

Peter_Suciu

Well-known member
How far down the line was the Kaiser for the throne of England? As grandson of Queen Victoria he must have been in there somewhere, but at what point would have been "out of the running?"

Would this have been as soon as war was declared, and was he ever taken off the list of succession after he abdicated as Kaiser of Germany and King of Prussia?

Something I wonder after my recent visit to Huis Doorn in the Netherlands. I was there for a short vacation and made sure to trek down to Doorn. Very impressive.
 
peter_suciu said:
How far down the line was the Kaiser for the throne of England? As grandson of Queen Victoria he must have been in there somewhere
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Unfortunately, I can't find an old line of succession on the net, but you are correct, Kaiser Wilhem II would have been in the line somewhere. Currently it appears that Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia is number 133. This is interesting to me because he has been excluded (by his father) from being the head of the royal house due to his several unequal marriages and his nephew, Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, is the current head of the royal house (and 147th in line for the British throne).
 
It's interesting but until WW1 the Royal family were part of the House of Hanover, this was changed after hostilities to the House of Windsor, which is still is today. Realistically Kaiser Wilhelm would never have assumed the thrown, which would have created a constitutional crisis and probably have resulted in the removal of the monarchy. Kaiser Wilhelm would have had to give up his current monarchy in order to claim the crown. Glad to see the site up and running again.
Bill )In Maryland)
 
That is a good point. I know that Queen Victoria was unable to be the ruler of Hanover, because a woman couldn't take on the role.

That would have made for an interesting Franco-Prussian War had England had kings the whole way. Would the English King have been a vassal of the Kaiser?
 
Some additional info on the Kaiser and his offspring. This is taken from Mud Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan 1st published in 2003 page 405. I am paraphrasing: The Kaiser spent his exile at Doorn in Holland. He resisted overtures by the Nazis but could not resist sending a message of congratulation to the German army when it occupied Paris. This irritated Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and led to the sequestration of the Doorn estate after the war. The Kaiser died 4 June 1941. The sequestration deprived the Crown Prince Wilhelm of inheriting the estate. The Crown Prince died a dissolute and poverty stricken rake in the arms of his mistress in Italy 1951. The Kaisers' grandson died serving in the German army in 1940. Todays claimants to the Hohenzollern throne serve in the British Army under the name of von Preussen.
The irony of this last bit of information jumps out from the page. I wonder what the Kaiser would think of his decendants serving with the Brits? Perhaps he could console himself with the fact that they still carry on his fondness for the military life and they are working for his blood kin. Brian
PS: Queen Wilhelmenia and her children were sheltered in Canada throughout WW2 and the Canadian forces liberated her country in 45. The Dutch have never forgotten this liberation and there are still close ties between the two countries. Dutch children still tend the graves of Canadians who gave their lives for the liberation of Holland.
 
b.loree said:
Todays claimants to the Hohenzollern throne serve in the British Army under the name of von Preussen.
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This could be entirely true, I don't really know, but I do know the current head of the imperial/royal house of Hohenzollern, Georg Friedrich Prinz von Preussen served in the Bundeswehr, as did his father. Georg Friedrich's father was killed in a Army reserve training accident and that's how the headship of the house went straight from his grandfather to him.

Under German law the nobles titles became their last name, so members of the royal Hohenzollern family has the last name of Prinz von Preussen or Prinzessin von Preussen, not von Hohenzollern. The members of the princely house of Hohenzollern have Fürst von Hohenzollern as their last name. The current head of that house is Friedrich Wilhelm Fürst von Hohenzollern.
 
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