The Bizarre Life Of Victoria's Disabled Grandson | Crippled Kaiser | Real Royalty
Real Royalty・30 minutes read
Kaiser Wilhelm II's tragic past, including a secret disability, gruesome treatments, and a strained relationship with his mother, influenced his actions during WWI and shaped his tumultuous reign as Germany's leader. Despite facing immense public backlash, abdication, and exile after WWI, Wilhelm II held on to a love-hate relationship with Great Britain, ultimately dying in the Netherlands in 1941, far from his homeland, while his mother, Vicky, faced a tragic life in Germany.
Insights
- Kaiser Wilhelm II, the leader of Germany during World War I, faced a traumatic childhood marked by a secret disability, leading to intense medical treatments and feelings of shame and disappointment from his mother, Queen Victoria's daughter Vicky.
- Wilhelm's troubled relationship with his mother Vicky, shaped by her withdrawal of love due to his disability, influenced his psychological development and public perception, impacting his leadership style and contributing to tensions between Britain and Germany.
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Recent questions
Who was Kaiser Wilhelm II?
German leader during World War I, Queen Victoria's grandson.
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Summary
00:00
"Kaiser Wilhelm II: Tragic Family Conflict"
- Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany's leader during World War I, was Queen Victoria's grandson, leading to a family conflict.
- A cache of royal letters revealed a dark story of a young boy with a secret disability subjected to gruesome treatments.
- Kaiser Wilhelm's actions in WWI led to millions of deaths and Europe's devastation, akin to Adolf Hitler later.
- British historian John Rawl discovered a collection of private letters shedding light on Kaiser Wilhelm's tragic past.
- Queen Victoria's daughter Vicky married a Prussian prince, leading to the birth of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
- Vicky's traumatic childbirth led to Wilhelm's permanent left arm paralysis, a significant setback for a royal child.
- Vicky sought a cure for Wilhelm's condition, leading to bizarre and traumatizing medical procedures.
- Wilhelm's disability was treated with medieval methods like animal therapy and electrotherapy, causing him immense suffering.
- Attempts to cure Wilhelm's disability failed, leading to his deformity being hidden from the public eye.
- Vicky struggled with the shame and disappointment of Wilhelm's disability, feeling it marred her pride and joy in him.
20:15
"Wilhelm's Troubled Relationship with Mother Vicky"
- Wilhelm, the future Kaiser of Germany, suffered permanent paralysis of his left arm during a traumatic birth in 1859.
- Freud studied the troubled relationship between Wilhelm and his mother Vicky, concluding that her withdrawal of love due to his disability shaped their obsessive relationship.
- Wilhelm had contrasting feelings towards his mother Vicky and grandmother Queen Victoria, attributing much blame for his troubled childhood to his mother.
- Wilhelm wrote erotic letters to his mother from the age of nine to sixteen, expressing a crush on her and his desire for forbidden love.
- Vicky, disappointed in Wilhelm's character, attempted to make up for his deformity through education, sending him to a grammar school at 16.
- Wilhelm's difficult upbringing led to a complicated and volatile youth, disappointing his mother Vicky, who corrected his grammar in response to his intimate letters.
- Wilhelm's antipathy towards his mother and England grew when an English doctor treated his father, leading to his father's death and Wilhelm's succession as Kaiser at 29.
- Wilhelm's shorter arm influenced his psychological development and public perception, making him feel inadequate as a leader in Germany.
- Wilhelm's love for his English grandmother Queen Victoria tempered tensions between Britain and Germany, but his ambitions for a powerful navy strained relations.
- After Queen Victoria's death, tensions between Britain and Germany escalated, leading to Wilhelm's actions being viewed as threatening by his mother Vicky, who feared ruin and destruction.
40:46
"Kaiser Wilhelm II: Rise and Fall"
- Kaiser Wilhelm II faced immense public backlash and calls for his trial and execution following World War I, leading to his abdication and exile in the Netherlands in 1918, where he lived in a medieval castle called Haus Doorn. Despite his frustration and denial of being a war criminal, he maintained a love-hate relationship with Great Britain, evident in the portraits of his mother and grandmother he kept in the castle.
- Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, died in 1941 at the age of 82 and was buried in the Netherlands as per his instructions, never to return to Germany. In contrast, his mother, Queen Victoria's daughter Vicky, faced a tragic life in Germany after her hopes of leading the country to a bright future were dashed, highlighting the contrasting fates of the two family members.
