The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The life and death of the future William I, German Emperor (Part three)

Read part two here.

On 2 January 1861, King Frederick William IV of Prussia passed away at the age of 65. William and Augusta were now the King and Queen of Prussia. William had his heart set on having a coronation, and this had not been done since 1701. He chose the date 18 October 1861, and the coronation took place at Königsberg. He placed the crown upon his head himself and waved the sceptre three times in the direction of the crowd.¹ He said, “I receive this crown from the hands of God.”²

In the early years of his reign, he was faced with a political crisis which had been the result of a disagreement between his late brother and the liberal Landtag. They became deadlocked, and William faced the possibility of abdicating, which horrified his son. He eventually appointed Otto von Bismarck as Minister President. The crisis was resolved, and William stayed on as King.

In fact, he would soon be more than a King. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the South German states had joined the North German Confederation, which was reorganised as the German Empire. The new constitution and the title of Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. On 18 January 1871, during a ceremony in the Salle des Glaces at the Palace of Versailles, the German Empire was proclaimed. William had apparently grumbled that he did not want to trade the crown of Prussia for “a crown of filth.”³ In a letter to Augusta, he called the ceremony, the “Emperor-charade.”⁴

The new title did not bring William and Augusta any closer together. They lived different lives, had their own separate court and their own staff. Augusta was in increasingly poor health and could not get up from her chair anymore without assistance.⁵ In 1878, there were two attempts on William’s life. On 11 May, he was travelling along Unter den Linden with Louise when a man named Max Hödel, a plumber with anarchist sympathies, fired a revolver at the carriage. He missed his target, and a bystander was killed instead. He was captured by the crowd and lost his head three months later. The second incident took place on 2 June when William left the palace in an open carriage. Shortly after, two shots were fired from a window of the Linden Hotel. This time, he took the hit, and he was thrown backwards. The assailant, Carl Nobiling, was caught, but he had shot himself, and he died a few days later.

William had several wounds, and he was in agony. The doctors did not believe that he would survive, but he did, and he would spend the next six months convalescing. During this time, his son was appointed as regent. In June 1879, William and Augusta celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. They asked for donations to be made instead of being given gifts. They renewed their vows during a service in the chapel at Charlottenburg. The following year, the engagement between their grandson, the future William II, and Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was announced, and they married on 27 February 1881. William and Augusta’s great-grandson, yet another William, was born on 6 May 1882.

The Emperor began to feel his age, and his health began to decline. He began to walk unsteadily, and his memory began to fail him. He celebrated his 90th birthday on 22 March 1887. It soon became clear that his elder son was also quite ill, and in November 1887, he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. His grandson came to tell the Emperor of his father’s illness, and he was said to be very deeply affected.⁶ It was not expected that he would outlive his father. During a spontaneous demonstration of sympathy on 19 February 1888, Emperor William appeared on the balcony with three of his great-grandsons.⁷

By March, William was bedbound, and the family gathered around him. Augusta sat in a wheelchair, holding his hand. Their daughter Louise was also by his side as he dozed in and out of delirium. On 9 March 1888, he suddenly asked, “Where is the Empress?” To which Louise replied, “Mamma is sitting by your side.” He nodded and said, “Go to bed.” He died shortly afterwards.⁸

His son and heir was in San Remo for his health when he received the telegram announcing his father’s death. Against the odds, he had managed to outlive him. Queen Victoria wrote to her daughter, “How suddenly this all comes! Doubtless beloved Fritz [Frederick] must feel deeply the loss of his beloved father, my kind old friend, who was always most kind to me.”⁹ Frederick returned to Berlin with his wife, but he was already unable to speak because of the cancer. He died after a reign of just 99 days on 15 June 1888.

William was buried at the Mausoleum at Park Charlottenburg. Augusta died on 7 January 1890 at the age of 78.

1. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.55
2. William of Germany: a succinct biography of William I., German Emperor and King of Prussia by Archibald Forbes p.128
3. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.88
4. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.88
5. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.106
6. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.127
7. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.127-128
8. The first German Empress by John Van der Kiste p.128
9. Beloved & Darling Child edited by Agatha Ramm p.63-64