 | This article possibly contains original research .(September 2019) |
| Monarchy of Germany | |
|---|---|
Federal | |
 | |
 Wilhelm II | |
| Details | |
| Style | His Imperial and Royal Majesty |
| First monarch | William I |
| Last monarch | William II |
| Formation | 18 January 1871 |
| Abolition | 9 November 1918 |
| Residence | Stadtschloss, Berlin |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
The Monarchy of Germany (the German Monarchy) was the system of government in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.
The Monarch of Germany was created with the proclamation of the President of the North German Confederation and the King of Prussia, William I of Prussia, as "German Emperor" during the Franco-Prussian War, on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles.
The title German Emperor (German : Deutscher Kaiser) was carefully chosen by Minister President of Prussia and Chancellor of the North German Confederation Otto von Bismarck after discussion until (and after) the day of the proclamation. William I accepted this title grudgingly as he would have preferred "Emperor of Germany" which was, however, unacceptable to the federated monarchs, and which would also have signalled a claim to lands outside of his reign (Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg etc.). The title Emperor of the Germans, as had proposed at the Frankfurt Parliament in 1848, was ruled out as he considered himself chosen "By the Grace of God", not by the people as in a democracy.
By this ceremony, the North German Confederation was transformed into the German Empire. This empire was a federal monarchy; the emperor was head of state and president of the federated monarchs (the kings of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the grand dukes of Oldenburg, Baden, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hesse, as well as other principalities, duchies and of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen).
Some organisations such as Tradition und Leben advocate a return to monarchy; however, there is currently little mainstream support for a restoration of the monarchy.[ citation needed ]
| Monarch | Consort | Reign | Royal House | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Portrait | Name | Reign start | Reign end | |
| 1 |  | Emperor William I (1797–1888) Kaiser Wilhelm I |  | Empress Augusta (1811–1890) Kaiserin Auguste | 18 January 1871 [1] | 9 March 1888 | House of Hohenzollern |
| 2 |  | Emperor Frederick III (1831–1888) [2] Kaiser Friedrich III |  | Empress Victoria (1840–1901) [3] Kaiserin Viktoria | 9 March 1888 | 15 June 1888 | House of Hohenzollern |
| 3 |  | Emperor William II (1859–1941) Kaiser Wilhelm II |  | Empress Augusta Victoria (1858–1921) Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria | 15 June 1888 | 9 November 1918 (Abdicated) | House of Hohenzollern |
Despite the abolition of the monarchy in 1918, the House of Hohenzollern never relinquished their claims to the thrones of Prussia and the German Empire. These claims are linked by the Constitution of the German Empire: according to this, whoever was King of Prussia was also German Emperor. However, these claims are not recognised by the Federal Republic of Germany or anyone else, this included the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and West or East Germany.
In 1933 Prince William renounced his claim to the former throne when he married Dorothea von Salviati, in 1940 William II accepted Dorothea and his daughters Felicitas and Christa as dynastic members thus styled HRH Dorothea, Princess of Prussia, HRH Felicitas, Princess of Prussia and HRH Christa, Princess of Prussia, Prince William was killed in 1940.
Prince Louis Ferdinand who was third in line of the succession by 1933, his first son Prince Friedrich Wilhelm renounced his claim in 1967 to marry Waltraud Freytag whom he divorced in 1975 and his second son Prince Michael renounced his claim in 1966 to marry Jutta Jörn like his brother he divorced her in 1982, then his third son Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Jr. was involved in a severe accident during military maneuvers when he was pinned between two vehicles. Although his leg was amputated, he succumbed several weeks later to the trauma and died in 1977.
Prince George Frederick inherited from his grandfather, and during his time as head of House of Hohenzollern his two uncles Princes Friedrich Wilhelm and Michael challenged him to a lawsuit claiming that, despite their renunciations as dynasts at the time of their marriages, the loss of their inheritance rights based on their selection of spouse was discriminatory and unconstitutional. [4] His uncles were initially successful, the Regional Court of Hechingen and the higher Regional Court of Stuttgart ruling in their favour in 1997 on the grounds that the requirement to marry equally was "immoral". [5] However, the Federal Court of Justice of Germany overturned the original rulings in favour of Georg Friedrich's uncles, the case being remanded to the courts at Hechingen and Stuttgart. This time both courts ruled in favour of Georg Friedrich. His uncles then took their case to the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany which overruled the previous court rulings in Georg Friedrich's favour. [4] On 19 October 2005, a German regional court ruled that Georg Friedrich was indeed the principal heir of his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand (who was the primary beneficiary of the trust set up for the estate of Wilhelm II), but also concluded that each of the children of Louis Ferdinand was entitled to a portion of the Prussian inheritance.[ citation needed ]
| Pretender | Consort | Reign | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Portrait | Name | Reign start | Reign end |
| 1 | | Emperor William II (1859–1941) | | Empress Augusta Victoria (1858–1921) | 9 November 1918 [6] | 4 June 1941 |
 | Empress Hermine Reuss (1887–1947) | |||||
| 2 |  | Crown Prince William (1882–1951) |  | Crown Princess Cecilie (1886–1954) | 4 June 1941 | 20 July 1951 |
| 3 |  | Prince Louis Ferdinand (1907–1994) |  | Princess Kira Kirillovna (1909–1967) | 20 July 1951 | 26 September 1994 |
| 4 |  | Prince George Frederick (1976–) |  | Princess Sophie (1978–) | 26 September 1994 | |
The House of Hohenzollern is a formerly royal German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire, and Romania. The family came from the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the late 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061.
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 following the abdication of its sovereign in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern.
The Kingdom of Prussia constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1866 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Its capital was Berlin.
Victoria, Princess Royal was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of Frederick III, German Emperor. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and was created Princess Royal in 1841. As the eldest child of the British monarch, she was briefly heir presumptive until the birth of her younger brother, the future Edward VII. She was the mother of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor.
Ernest Augustus ; 17 November 1887 – 30 January 1953) was Duke of Brunswick from 2 November 1913 to 8 November 1918. He was a grandson of George V of Hanover, thus a Prince of Hanover and a Prince of the United Kingdom. He was also a maternal grandson of Christian IX of Denmark and the son-in-law of German Emperor Wilhelm II. The Prussians had deposed King George from the Hanoverian throne in 1866, but his marriage ended the decades-long feud between the Prussians and the Hanoverians.
Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia was the eldest child of the last Kaiser, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, and thus a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and distant cousin to many British Royals, such as Queen Elizabeth II. As Emperor Wilhelm's heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, until the abolition of the monarchy.
Charles was King of Württemberg from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891. Charles I married Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia in 1846 and ascended to the throne in 1864. Despite their marriage, the couple had no children, likely due to Charles' homosexuality. Charles was involved in several scandals, including a close relationship with American Charles Woodcock. In 1870, the couple adopted Olga's niece, Vera Konstantinovna. Charles I aligned with Austria during the Austro-Prussian War but later sided with Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, joining the new German Empire in 1870. He died childless and was succeeded by his sister's son, William II.
Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preussen is a German businessman who is the current head of the Prussian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia. He is the great-great-grandson and historic heir of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who abdicated and went into exile upon Germany's defeat in World War I in 1918. Thus he is a fourth great-grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and a distant cousin of many European monarchs.
Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia was a member of the princely House of Hohenzollern, which occupied the Prussian and German thrones until the abolition of those monarchies in 1918. He was also noteworthy as a businessman and patron of the arts.
The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg. In his Dutch exile after World War I, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family. He made his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, a Lady in the Order of the Black Eagle.
Prince August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor of Prussia, nicknamed "Auwi", was the fourth son of German Emperor Wilhelm II by his first wife, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was a vocal supporter of Nazism and of Adolf Hitler.
Hohenzollern-Hechingen was a small principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
The German Emperor was the official title of the head of state and hereditary ruler of the German Empire. A specifically chosen term, it was introduced with the 1 January 1871 constitution and lasted until the official abdication of Wilhelm II on 9 November 1918. The Holy Roman Emperor is sometimes also called "German Emperor" when the historical context is clear, as derived from the Holy Roman Empire's official name of "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from 1512.
Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the last German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia as the wife of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, the son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor.
The House Order of Hohenzollern was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses and medals which could be awarded to lower-ranking soldiers and civilians.
Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Joseph Christian Olaf of Prussia was the eldest child of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. At his birth, he was second in line to the German throne and was expected to succeed to the throne after the deaths of his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm II, and his father, Crown Prince Wilhelm. Both, however, outlived him.
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia was a member of the House of Hohenzollern, great-grandson of King Frederick William III of Prussia.
Philip William, Prince in Prussia was a Prussian Prince, was the first owner of the Prussian secundogeniture of Brandenburg-Schwedt and was governor of Magdeburg from 1692 to 1711.
The abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia was declared by Chancellor Maximilian of Baden on 9 November 1918; it was formally affirmed by a written statement of Wilhelm on 28 November, made while in exile in Amerongen, the Netherlands. The abdication caused the German Empire to dissolve and concluded the House of Hohenzollern's 500-year rule over Prussia and its predecessor state, Brandenburg. Wilhelm reigned from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. As a result of the abdication and the German Revolution of 1918–19, the nobility as a legally-defined class was abolished. Following the proclamation of the Weimar Constitution on 11 August 1919, all Germans were declared equal before the law. The rulers of the twenty-two constituent states of the Empire also had to relinquish their monarchical titles and domains.