Frederick III of Germany

1831 – 1888 · Generation XXXIV · German Emperor

Frederick III of Germany (1831–1888). German Emperor. Married Victoria Princess Royal in 1858. “Fritz,” the only son of Wilhelm I, waited decades as crown prince and wore the crown for just ninety-nine days in 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors. Shaped by his studies at Bonn and his ties to Britain, he became a convinced liberal in a conservative, militaristic house, opposing Bismarck's policy of uniting Germany by force and urging that power shift from the emperor toward the Reichstag. He and his wife hoped to remake the empire as a constitutional monarchy on the British pattern, but cancer of the larynx killed him at fifty-six before anything could take root, and his son Wilhelm II abandoned what little he had begun. Historians still debate what a longer reign might have changed.

Partners

Married Victoria Princess Royal (1840 – 1901) in 1858

Life

1831 — Born
1858 — Married Victoria Princess Royal
1888 — Died