Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface to the English edition
- Preface to the German edition
- Acknowledgements
- Overview: Wilhelm the Last, a German trauma
- Part I 1859–1888: The Tormented Prussian Prince
- 1 The ‘soul murder’ of an heir to the throne
- 2 Ambivalent motherhood
- 3 A daring educational experiment
- 4 The conflict between the Prince of Prussia and his parents
- 5 1888: the Year of the Three Kaisers
- Part II 1888–1909: The Anachronistic Autocrat
- Part III 1896–1908: The Egregious Expansionist
- Part IV 1906–1909: The Scandal-Ridden Sovereign
- Part V 1908–1914: The Bellicose Supreme War Lord
- Part VI 1914–1918: The Champion of God’s Germanic Cause
- Part VII 1918–1941: The Vengeful Exile
- Notes
- Index
4 - The conflict between the Prince of Prussia and his parents
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Preface to the English edition
- Preface to the German edition
- Acknowledgements
- Overview: Wilhelm the Last, a German trauma
- Part I 1859–1888: The Tormented Prussian Prince
- 1 The ‘soul murder’ of an heir to the throne
- 2 Ambivalent motherhood
- 3 A daring educational experiment
- 4 The conflict between the Prince of Prussia and his parents
- 5 1888: the Year of the Three Kaisers
- Part II 1888–1909: The Anachronistic Autocrat
- Part III 1896–1908: The Egregious Expansionist
- Part IV 1906–1909: The Scandal-Ridden Sovereign
- Part V 1908–1914: The Bellicose Supreme War Lord
- Part VI 1914–1918: The Champion of God’s Germanic Cause
- Part VII 1918–1941: The Vengeful Exile
- Notes
- Index
Summary
While still at the gymnasium in Kassel the pubescent prince reached out one last time to his mother before breaking with her in haughty disdain and mutual recrimination. In the winter of 1874–5 Wilhelm began a series of letters to his mother – in English, naturally – recounting a recurring ‘dream’ he was having; letters that are remarkable not only for their evidently incestuous character but also for their fetishistic emphasis on her gloved left hand – a poignant cry for unconditional acceptance and love if ever there was one. ‘I have got a little secret which is for you alone viz. a peculiar dream,’ he wrote to Vicky in March 1875, shortly after her visit to Kassel for his sixteenth birthday.
I dreamt last night that I was walking with you & another lady; in walking you were discussing who had the finest hands, whereupon the lady produced a most ungraceful hand, declaring that it was the prettiest, and turned us her back. I in my rage broke her parasole [sic]; but you put your dear arm round my waist, led me aside, pulled your glove off your dear left hand – which I so often kissed at Cassel – & showed me your dear beautiful hand which I instantly covered with kisses.
Wilhelm hoped that his ‘dream’ would soon become reality. ‘I wish you would do the same when I am at Berlin, alone with you in the evening.’ And he continued, craving reassurance: ‘Pray write to me what you think about the dream; it is quite true as I have written it. You see I always think of you, my dear Mama, I sometimes dream of you; I am so glad that soon we shall sit together in you[r] dear library and cose [sic] together. But this dream is alone for you to know,’ he insisted. Several days later the ‘dream’ recurred.
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- Information
- Kaiser Wilhelm IIA Concise Life, pp. 22 - 33Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014