The House of Hohenzollern

Fancy struck me at random, Germanophile that I definitely am – despite having zero German blood, except remotely by Anglo-Saxon in the one-quarter British ancestry I have.  Anyhow.  This is the ruling dynasty of Prussia (1701-1871) and Germany (1871-1918). 

Until Germany’s unification in 1871, Prussia was just one of many Germanic kingdoms, which gradually developed into the most important.  The unification itself consisted of 4 kingdoms (Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurttemburg), 6 grand duchies, 5 duchies, 7 principalities, 3 free cities, and Alsace-Lorraine.  Bismarck, the architect of this, was actually an opponent of German nationalism, and structured this as Prussia essentially taking over all of these smaller dominions.  The Kaiser – Emperor of unified Germany – was the King of Prussia. 

Here’s the line of succession:

Frederick I (1701-1713) First King of Prussia, beginning of the house of Hohenzollern.

Frederick Wilhelm I (1713-1740)

Frederick II (The Great) (1740-1786)

Frederick Wilhelm II (1786-1797)

Frederick Wilhelm III (1797-1840)

Frederick Wilhelm IV (1840-1861)

Wilhelm I (King of Prussia and First Emperor of Germany) (1861-1888).  Big mutton chops, like General Burnside and Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. 

Frederick III (1888).  Only reigned for a few weeks.

And then…

Wilhelm II (last Emperor of Germany) (1888-1918).  By far the most famous due to World War I.  He fired Bismarck, which was NOT a good idea.  He did not get along with his cousins King George V or Tsar Nicolas II, and even had a rough time with his grandmother, Queen Victoria; he was her first grandchild.  He spoke English fluently. 

Crown Prince Wilhelm.  The Kaiser’s oldest son, who only outlived him by ten years.   A French officer who met him during WWI (after having been taken prisoner) said the Prince spoke fluent French and was quite charming.  Before the war he was given command of the garrison at Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) but had a reputation for playing tennis rather than taking care of military duties.  The papers made fun of him with a cartoon showing him in a tennis outfit, asking himself, “Danzig…Danzig…I’ve heard that name before!”  The Nazis courted him very early on, but even then he rejected their offers, claiming – quite astutely – that “nothing good will come of them.”  After WWII the French tried to prosecute him for war crimes during WWI.

Since then, there have been two heirs, though neither has served as King of Prussia or Emperor of Germany: Louis Ferdinand, and the current heir, Georg Friedrich.   Germany’s likelihood of reinstating the monarchy is fairly low, but then again we were surprised to see the Berlin Wall come down, East and West Germany reunited, and the Soviet Union collapse.  And how knows if the alternate realities hinted at in “The Man in the High Castle” might actually exist?  Whereas in Turtledove’s Timeline 191 (CSA wins Civil War), since Germany won WWI, the Hohenzollerns were never deposed and continued to reign through WWII. Kaiser Wilhelm II died just as WWII was beginning, and the Crown Prince became the Kaiser. 

FYI: notwithstanding the Hohenzollerns’ love of the name Frederick, the famous Frederick Barbarossa was NOT a Hohenzollern ruler.  He was a Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 to his death in 1190.  He famously drowned in the river during the Third Crusade. 

Bourbons.  While I’m on the topic of royalty, I’ll mention a few others.  The French royal family were the Bourbons, starting with Henry IV, who reigned from 1589-1610.  He’s followed by the famous Sun King, Louis XIV (1648-1715), and the ill-fated Louis XVI (1774-1791), who supported America’s cause in our Revolution and whose life ended with a guillotine during the French Revolution.  After Napoleon was dispatched to Devil’s Island in 1814, they brought back the French kings:  Louis XVIII (1814-24), Charles X (1824-30), and finally Louis Philippe (1830-48), who was deposed in the Revolutions of 1848, and who thus counts as the last reigning Bourbon king.  Since then there have been 4 Republics: Second 1848-52 (ended by Louis Napoleon, aka Napoleon III), Third 1870-1940, Fourth 1946-1958, and finally the current Fifth Republic, 1958-present.  The Brazilian royal family, whose reign ended in 1888 with Dom Pedro II, is an offshoot of the Bourbons.  Today’s living heir, Louis Alphonse, would be Louis XIX if the Fifth Republic were to somehow dissolve into a monarchy.  That looks unlikely.

Habsburgs.  Actually Habsburgs-Lorraine, as the Habsburg house died out in the 1700s.  This group is extremely complicated but mainly associated with Austria-Hungary, which itself, as a country, only dates from 1867.  As such, there were only two rulers:  Franz Joseph, another of those mutton-chopped guys, who died in 1916 while WWI was going on, and his grand-nephew Charles I, who took over and only ruled until 1918, when A-H’s monarchy died and both countries split off into independent republics. 

Romanovs.  First off, the entire royal family of Nicolas II, his Empress, Tsarina Alexandria, four daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia) and Alexis, the son with hemophilia were murdered by Ermakov and the Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, Russia, in July 1918, when the city was surrounded and besieged by the White Armies.  The dynasty began with Michael I, who reigned from 1613-1645.  As of now, Maria Vladimirovna claims to be the heir apparent, but her claim is well disputed.  While Vladimir Putin appears conscientious about using Russian nationalism to promote himself, his regime, and his country, I see no evidence that he would be amenable to abdicating to any Romanov pretender and allowing a new Tsar – or Tsarina – to take power from him. 

House of Windsor, formerly Saxe-Coburg & Gotha.  Of these, the only ones still in power, though Britain’s government has made the Prime Minister and Parliament the effective rulers and the monarchy purely symbolic.  The current ruler is obviously Queen Elizabeth II.  This dynasty began with Edward VII (immediately after Queen Victoria), George V (king during WWI), Edward VIII (the one who abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson in the 1930s), George VI (played by Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”), and of course QE2.  Her eldest son is Prince Charles (who would be King Charles III, though he says he would prefer to be known as George VII), her eldest grandson is Prince William (who would be King William V), and great-grandson George (who would be King George VII, though right now he’s only 3).   

The prior House of Hanover consisted of King George I, George II, George III (during the American Revolution), George IV (portrayed by Hugh Laurie in Season 3 of The Black Adder), William IV, and Queen Victoria.