Who would be Empress of Germany today?

The German Empire came to an end in 1918 with the abdication of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor. But the claim to the throne still exists today. As women could not inherit the throne, the Empresses mentioned here are consorts. Any titles following the end of the monarchy are titular.

Wilhelm II inherited the throne following the death of his father in June 1888. His father had only just succeeded to the throne himself but was already dying of throat cancer. He had been married to Victoria, Princess Royal since 1858. After a reign of 99 days, the throne passed to their eldest son, Wilhelm.

Wilhelm married Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein in 1881, and they had seven children together – six sons and one daughter. Following the end of the First World War, Wilhelm fled to the Netherlands, where he was granted asylum, and his wife was soon able to join him there. She died in 1921, not long after they moved into Huis Doorn. She would be the last German Empress.

Wilhelm remarried the following year to the widowed Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz. She had five children from her first marriage to Prince Johann of Schönaich-Carolath. Following their wedding, Hermine became the first titular German Empress. Hermine moved into Huis Doorn with her youngest daughter and was married to Wilhelm until his death in 1941.

Following his death, the claim to the German throne passed to his eldest son, also named Wilhelm. He had been married to Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin since 1905. She would be the second titular German Empress. She and Wilhelm had six children together. Their eldest son, yet another Wilhelm, gave up his succession rights in 1933 to marry Dorothea von Salviati.

When Crown Prince Wilhelm died in 1951, the claim passed to his second son, Louis Ferdinand. He had married Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia in 1938, and they had seven children together. She was thus the third titular German Empress. Their two eldest sons made non-dynastic marriages, and their third son died at the age of 32 during a military exercise. However, he had made a dynastic marriage and he had two children (one was born posthumously) with his wife, Countess Donata of Castell-Rüdenhausen. It was thus his son, Georg Friedrich, who inherited the claim of Louis-Ferdinand in 1994.

Georg Friedrich married Princess Sophie of Isenburg in 2011. This makes her the fourth and current titular German Empress. They have three sons (including a set of twins) and one daughter.

Sophie was born on 7 March 1978 as the daughter of Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg and Countess Christine von Saurma-Jeltsch. She has four siblings – two brothers and two sisters. Both of her sisters also married into former royal families. Katharina married Archduke Martin, a grandson of the last Austrian Emperor, and Isabelle married Carl, 8th Prince of Wied.