Royalty
In the early years of the 20th century, the European sovereign was, “the personification of the state, the symbol of continuity, the emblem of permanence, the magnet of all loyalties, the embodiment of the past history and the present identity of the nation.” Bismarck wrote, after many years of German unification, that Germans were, in fact, strong supporters of monarchies, more so than any of the European countries. To the Germans, their monarchs provided a national focus and basis for unity. Their influence lasted for centuries.
The German royal families were intertwined with those of other European nations through familial relationships, financial investments and business ventures. This Intermarriage not only protected property, finances and political interests, but it also pressured the families and created insurmountable problems when monarchs could not or would not separate their personal feelings from sound political decisions or when the political reality forced a choice against family. It also created a devastating genetic legacy.
For example, Queen Victoria and her nine children were related through blood or marriage to the German Kaiser, the Tsar of Russia and the kings of Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania and Belgium. Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, was a prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and her first cousin. Their son, King Edward VII, married Alexandra, who was linked to the royal families of Greece, Denmark and Norway. This created a familial and political issue when Germany annexed Schleswig and Holstein. Edward supported his wife’s father, King Christian IX, of Denmark, against his mother’s wishes.
The Kaiser’s family is a further example of intertwined bloodlines. Friedrich III, the Kaiser’s father, was married to Queen Victoria’s oldest child, Victoria (Vicky) and, as a result, Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria’s first grandchild. The Queen wrote to Augusta of Prussia (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), “Our mutual grandson binds us and our two countries even closer together!” Wilhelm, who spoke fluent English, spent long periods of time in England and held a deep admiration for England and its navy. Family connections ran deep, but cultural convictions were often at odds. In some instances, it led to war.
Members of the different Hohenzollern lines also integrated with different royal families. The Brandenburg Hollenzollerns became protestant after the reformation. The Swabian Hohenzollerns remained Catholic. The son of the head of one branch became a prince in Romania and later, in 1881, was crowned Carol I in 1881. The elder son, Leopold, was a candidate to the Spanish throne after Queen Isabella II was deposed. This alarmed France and with other issues resulted in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Leopold’s son, Ferdinand, followed Carl I as king of Romania.
The Romanov family line was also related to many European families. When the Tsaravich Nicholas died unexpectedly at the age of 21, his fiancée Princess Dagmar of Denmark was then betrothed to his brother, Alexander II. Their son, Tsar Alexander III, married Marie of Denmark. The wife of Nicholas II, the last tsar, was Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter. And so it went.
Not only were much of European royalty related but they appeared to genuinely like each other on a personal level. It is little wonder that members of the British, Russian and German royal families often visited one another in private or state visits. King Edward VII, who considered himself European, met with his nephew the Kaiser on five different occasions, although they were not all particularly cordial, as political exigencies precluded a close relationship. After Edward’s death, the Kaiser attempted to advise George V on a number of issues. The two had, in fact, signed a treaty of alliance in 1905, which provided a momentary feel-good union, but it did not stand up to the political realities of the times.
Further, George V met with the Kaiser on at least three subsequent occasions, one of which in 1913 was the wedding of the Kaiser’s daughter, Viktoria Luise to Ernest Augustus, heir to the title of Duke of Cumberland and grandson of Christian IX of Denmark. Nicholas II also attended this family affair and spent private time with George V, much to the consternation of the Kaiser, who was concerned that they might be conspiring against him.
Politics won out over blood in the relationship between Britain’s George V and the Kaiser. Unlike his father, George had always identified more with Britain than with Europe. Some have gone so far to say that he detested foreigners. Nonetheless, rumors and speculation were widespread that he secretly supported the Kaiser. H.G. Wells spoke out against George, as did many members of the media. As political events unraveled in 1917, George ordered all family members to renounce any German titles, and he changed his own family’s name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. Nicholas, upon hearing this, allegedly said that Shakespeare’s play “The Merry Wives of Windsor” should be changed to “The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.”
It was during that same year that George, after vacillating, refused to grant asylum to Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Wilhelm was likewise distressed. Initially, Britain agreed to grant the family asylum, and Wilhelm agreed to their safe passage through Germany. Again, political realities superseded bloodlines. George finally chose to show his unequivocal allegiance to country over heritage.
What George and Wilhelm were slow to understand was that the hereditary monarchies were changing, losing ground in their once revered position in society. The industrial revolution with its innovations and the explosion of science and art were negating the influence of the monarchs, though some would argue that the British sovereigns, constitutional monarchs since 1689, had been well aware for many years of the limitations to their power. After the Napoleonic era, monarchs searched for ways to strengthen their rule but were forced to anchor their power in the constitutions of their states, in which they voluntarily limited their own power.