Does anyone know anything interesting (and obscure) about Kaiser Wilhelm?

Question

I'm looking for fun facts about Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II that I can't find on Wikipedia. Just for kicks. Thanks!

Answer 1

I really don't know to much about this man... back years ago when I was in school I was doing a research paper on WWI , I ran across some things on the man.... ... one of the things I read..was he used to criticize King Edward all the time and even described him as being Satan.....so when Chavez said this about Bush...I had to wondered if Chavez was stealing some material..lol...

He had two dachshund dogs that he used to take everywhere with him and on a semi-official visit to see the Archduke Ferdinand...his two babies (dogs) ..ended up making short work (killed) the Crown Prince's prized golden pheasant and it almost caused an international incident..the Prince didn't take the death of his pheasant to well....

He suffered a nervous breakdown at some point in his life ....

and he also wrote a couple of books about his life...if you could get a hold of them..they probably would give you a real good insight to this man.....

I don't know if any of this information could be considered obscure ..since I managed to read about them....

Answer 2

In England during World War I, many German names and titles were changed and given more English-sounding names, including the royal family's from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor. Kaiser Wilhelm II countered this by jokingly saying that he was off to see a performance of 'The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.'
His mum was in Labour for 15 hours. It was a very difficult breech birth. Most people were certain that both Vicky and the baby would die, and notices were made ready to send to the press if this happened. Neither of them died, but little Willy was born with a withered arm, and recent research suggests that he was cut off from oxygen for a time while in the womb, thus causing brain damage. This may have contributed to his rather unstable personality in the future.
He rifled through his father's desk hoping to find and repossess his correspondence. Wilhelm did all of these things soon after his father's death, but the first thing he did was have his guards surround the palace and prevent anyone from entering or leaving. He searched his father's desks for his papers and correspondence, but he was out of luck – Vicky and Fritz had deposited them safely with Queen Victoria in Windsor when they went to England for her Golden Jubilee a year earlier. Before Fritz died, he requested that the Neue Palais, where he and Vicky had lived more or less all their married life, be renamed Friedrichskron in his memory. Soon after Fritz's death, Wilhelm callously ordered his mother to leave the palace that had been her home for 30 years, and ordered that it be named the Neue Palais once again. His callousness shocked Queen Victoria, who wrote him a letter asking him to be kind to his mother in this difficult time. Though Willy respected his grandmother, she might as well not have bothered for all the effect it had.


After the Great War, Wilhelm fled to Holland and the comparative safety of Doorn, his home there. Dona did not long survive this change of scene, dying in 1921. Surprisingly, Wilhelm married again, at the age of 62. Hermine was his second wife. Hermine was the daughter of Henry XXII, Duke of Reuss. She was a lady with considerably more spunk than Dona, but they soon tired of each other and by the time Wilhelm died in 1941 they lived separate lives.

Answer 3

Wilhelm hated his uncle, King Edward VII of England, and spent years trying to "one up" him. One of Edward's favourite spots was the regatta at Cowes every year. When Wilhelm consistently began turning up every year with a larger and more ostentatious yacht than Edward, Edward gave up sailing.

Answer 4

The title "Kaiser" is a derivation of Caesar. Is that considered a fun fact?