Antonia, Dowager Queen of Prussia, died at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin on 21 March 1886 aged 88. King Frederick William V, whose health was already delicate after a fall from his horse in 1884, was devastated by the loss of his mother;
without her, I felt empty, sadly remarked to Bismarck, who now feared the political implications of this demise: the Dowager Queen was his most staunch support, even against his own relatives in France. Now with her disappearance, all the Chancellor's efforts to made Prussia the first major power of Europe are ashes and dust, as he remarked at the funeral in the royal vault in Charlottenburg.
Less than five months later, on 19 August, Frederick William V suffered a severe attack of melancholy and apathy that left him unable to continue with his government functions. Three days later (22 August) once the King was formally declared mentally incapable, the 42-years-old Crown Prince Frederick William became in Regent of the Kingdom.
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Since early childhood, Prince Frederick William showed a complete sympathy about everything who came from France, thanks to the strong influence that his mother, Queen Franziska, had over him. Extremely closed with his only sibling, Princess Antonia Leopoldine, both were strictly raised in the royal residences, being
Sanssouci their favorite one and were both had the most treasured memories of their childhood.
Once his father took the throne in 1861 and he became Crown Prince,
little François (as Bismarck ironically called him) showed a notorious Pro-French inclination and for this he constantly clashed with his father, grandmother and Bismarck, who despised him.
Being one of the first task of the Crown Prince was to secure the succession of the throne, soon began a search of a suitable bride. His personal feelings are towards France, and he wanted to marry with one of his cousins, but this was strictly forbidden by the King and Bismarck.
After an intense search, the King finally showed his son two candidates:
- One was his first-cousin, Princess Louise Marie of Prussia (born in 1838) daughter of Prince William, in turn younger brother of Frederick William V, who was spurned by the Prince-Regent of Baden, who married with a French princess.
- The other was Princess Augusta Louise of Saxe-Meiningen (born in 1843), daughter of Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.
The marriage with his cousin was highly supported by both the King and court, who
wanted a future Queen from their own lands, rather than another foreign. By the other hand, the marriage with the Meiningen princess would reconcilied Prussia with her homeland, who in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 sided with the Habsburgs.
Reportedly, when the Crown Prince asked his father who was his personal choice, and the King decanted for his niece Louise, he answered:
Your Majesty made his choice, but I do marry with Meiningen.
The marriage between Crown Prince Frederick William and Princess Augusta Louise of Saxe-Meiningen took place at Berlin Cathedral on 19 October 1861; as a wedding gift (and in a failed gesture to reconciled with his son), the King gave the newlyweds the Palace of
Sanssouci as their residence.
Despite her beauty and vivacity, unfortunately the Crown Princess never gained the love of her husband, who despised her because
she was imposed to him....I can't love her but only to fulfilled my duties...., he later remarked to his close friends. Not even the arrival of offspring would forget the disdain of the Crown Prince over his wife; between 1862 and 1874 they had 8 children, of whom only three survive infancy:
• Prince Frederick William of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 19 November 1862 – died:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 21 July 1863).
• Princess Antonia Katharina of Prussia (born and died:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 11 December 1863).
• Princess Franziska Leopoldina of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 1 March 1865).
• Prince Frederick Ludwig of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 17 February 1867).
• Princess Henriette Sophie of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 16 July 1869 – died:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 17 July 1869).
• Princess Louise Margarethe of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 10 January 1871).
• Prince Bernhard Georg of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 8 December 1872 – died:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 16 January 1873).
• Prince Joachim Ferdinand of Prussia (born:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 17 February 1874 – died:
Sanssouci, Potsdam, 1 March 1874).
After the birth and death of their last child, the Crown Prince decided to formally separated from his wife; the Crown Princess moved to the
Neues Palais, on the western side of Potsdam, while her husband and children remained in
Sanssouci, where shortly after Queen Franziska and Princess Antonia Leopoldine moved with their households to help the Crown Prince to raise the children. Despite the King's vociferous opposition, since that time he remained alone at Charlottenburg Palace, with the Dowager Queen taking the main role at court life, who already had since the beginning of her son's rule.
Now, in Prussia appeared two royal courts who clashed between them: the
Charlottenburg court, leaded by the King, Dowager Queen and Bismarck, who firmly believed in the hegemony and power of Prussia over all Europe, and the
Sanssouci court, presided by the Crown Prince and the Queen, who are pro-French and advocated for an alliance with them and Austria. This division in the Prussian royal family was incentived by Louis XVII, who in this way diverted the threat over France and the rest of Europe.
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Now with the death of the Dowager Queen and the mental illness of the King, Bismarck lose
the two main pillars of his politics, as one courtesan recalled.
Twenty-four days after his enthronement (15 September 1886), the now Prince-Regent asked the Chancellor to present his resign from all his posts and dignities at court. Bismarck, now abandoned by all, reportedly say:
Well little little François, you win the war....But I warning you, France was not your friend, believe me, one day that country would be your destruction. I hope being dead when that time came.....
The destitution of the popular Chancellor caused several riots at Berlin and in other parts of the Kingdom, who were firmly suppressed by orders of the Prince-Regent.
In the meanwhile, the mental illness of the King worsened; finally, he was practically imprisoned at Schönhausen Palace, in the borough of Pankow near Berlin, where he remained outside from the public eye until his death on 13 November 1888 aged 70. The remains of Frederick William V were quietly transported to the royal vault in Charlottenburg, where he was buried on 16 November.
King Frederick William VI and Queen Augusta were crowned at Berlin Cathedral on 1 January 1889; this was the first coronation of the Prussian ruler, and was held in the same manner as were made the French Kings' coronations.
The first act of the new Prussian monarch was to move the royal court from Charlottenburg to the
Stadtschloss in the center of Berlin; in this way, as he recalled,
the King would be close to his beloved subjects. After this, he reconciled with his long-time estranged wife, who performed her duties as Queen consort, although was the now Dowager Queen Franziska who retained the primarly position at court and in the King's heart.
Later, the King signed with his grandfather Louis XVII the
Treaty of Berlin (19 October 1889), where both monarchs declared a perpetual truce and mutual military help between their countries. Two months later, on 27 December, Frederick William VI signed a similar treaty with Emperor Franz Joseph I.
TO BE CONTINUED......
