William II of Württemberg

Wilhelm II (* February 25, 1848 in Stuttgart, † October 2, 1921 at Schloss Bebenhausen ) was from 1891 to 1918, the fourth and last king of Württemberg.

Biography

Childhood and education

Prince William, was born as the son of Prince Frederick of Württemberg and his wife Princess Catherine of Württemberg, a daughter of King William I of Württemberg. He was the only child of his parents and was educated in the foreseeable childlessness of King Charles and Queen Olga for the tasks of an heir apparent.

In Tübingen and Göttingen, he studied law, political science and finance. During his studies in Tübingen, he joined the Corps Suevia Tübingen and Göttingen during his student days the Corps Bremensia Göttingen.

In Potsdam, Wilhelm entered the Prussian military. After King Charles was weary of office in the last years of his reign, took the young Prince William in his place representation obligations.

Since 1870 William was a prince of the royal house until his accession to the throne in 1891 a member of the Württemberg Chamber of lords. He settled there often represented by other members of the Chamber, but also personally took part in the meetings.

First marriage

In 1877 Prince William married Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont. This marriage combined with a small princely house, a tendency marriage, met with little enthusiasm in Württemberg.

The couple had three children, Princess Pauline (1877-1965), it was the later wife of Prince Friedrich zu Wied (1872-1945) and the son of Prince Ulrich (* / † 1880), which is still in his year of birth at the age of five months died. The death of her son Prince Ulrich met the parents as a heavy blow, for the husband Prince William should follow one another. In April 1882 Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont died during delivery of her third child, which was not viable at birth.

Second Marriage

Prince William married in 1886 his second wife Princess Charlotte of Schaumburg -Lippe, Prince William fell again choosing a wife to an aristocrat from a less important dynasty.

From his marriage with Princess Charlotte of Schaumburg -Lippe no children were born, which is why Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, the scion of a Catholic secondary line of the House of Württemberg, was introduced as a future heir to the throne in the business of government since the 1890s.

King of Württemberg

After the death of King Charles, the Prince joined in 1891 as King William II the government. Many sovereign rights had fallen to the German emperor.

King William maintained a rather upper-class lifestyle. Without guard or escort he walked up to the last days of his government in Stuttgart. Men from the middle class, he invited to Mr. evenings at his residence in Stuttgart Wilhelmspalais.

For servants and agricultural workers in the land of the king introduced a health insurance and taxes in Württemberg were first imposed after the actual income of the citizens.

The Emperor in Berlin was King William II over distances, especially since his life he does not particularly appreciated the Military.

In the reign of King William II, it was the International Socialist Congress (1907 ) allowed to meet in Stuttgart.

At the court theater pieces were played, their performances were banned in other countries of the Empire, such as the works of Frank Wedekind, at performances in Stuttgart, the king and queen were present together.

Abdication and last years

The outbreak of the First World War was hard on King William II. With tears in his eyes, he passed his troops in Stuttgart.

From the end of October 1918, the demonstrations and protest meetings increased against the existing social order. In Württemberg the abolition of the monarchy was demanded. In an interview the protesters with Interior Minister Köhler on 4 November 1918, the demonstrators admitted that King William II - highly appreciated by his subjects - have exemplary behavior constitutionally; one of the spokesmen, the Spartacist Seebacher, formulated the required abdication because even as follows: " s'isch but because of the Sischtem " ( "but it's because of the system "). After November 9, 1918 a revolutionary crowd was penetrated with partly foreign leaders into Wilhelmspalais, Konig Wilhelm II finally left Stuttgart in the evening towards Bebenhausen. That no one stood by him in this situation, he never relatives. On November 30, 1918, he renounced the crown and took the title of Duke of Württemberg. The provisional government assured him already November 29, 1918 very obligingly that he would retain in addition to an annual pension of 200,000 marks and a lifelong right to live in a hunting lodge Bebenhausen the unrestricted right to dispose of his private property. He spent his last years in Bebenhausen and more frequently in Friedrichshafen. After he died on October 2, 1921 in Bebenhausen, the funeral was, according to his last wish, passed around Stuttgart. In the old cemetery in Ludwigsburg, Wilhelm II had buried alongside his first wife and his son in an Excavated grave. In this family grave system also his second wife was buried in 1946.

The Wilhelmspalais in Stuttgart, built to a design by Giovanni Salucci, the court architect of King William I., in the style of classicism, in the years 1834 - 1840

A bronze statue of Wilhelm II before Wilhelmspalais, as the king was his Stuttgarters familiar spazierend his dogs, a work by H. - C. Zimmerle 1991

Plaque at the hunting lodge Bebenhausen with a double profile portrait of King William II and Queen Charlotte on a bronze bas-relief Tondo

The king, who shunned his residence after his abdication forever, was laid to rest in the chosen family tomb in the Old Cemetery Ludwigsburg

The Württemberg citizens and their last king

Wilhelm II was a popular and its citizens closer to the people king. Even today, stories are often told how the inhabitants of Stuttgart monarchs during a walk with his dogs (two peaks) with the words: " Good day, Mr. King," and saluted Wilhelm II as a response took off his hat and gave the children candy. So it should also have been not uncommon when children met their king that he had been asked of them: " Keenich, hoscht mer nex? " - What to say: "King, do you have anything for me?".

Drive up

Duke Friedrich Eugen of Württemberg (1732-1797) ∞ 1753 Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg- Schwedt Sophia (1736-1798)

Duke Karl II of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel (1735-1806) ∞ 1764 Augusta of Hanover (1737-1814)

Duke Ernst Friedrich III. Carl von Sachsen- Hildburghausen (1727-1780) ∞ 1758 Ernestine of Saxe- Weimar -Eisenach (1740-1786)

Grand Duke Karl of Mecklenburg -Strelitz (1741-1816) ∞ 1768 Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse- Darmstadt (1752-1782)

Duke Friedrich Eugen of Württemberg (1732-1797) ∞ 1753 Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg- Schwedt Sophia (1736-1798)

Duke Karl II of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel (1735-1806) ∞ 1764 Augusta of Hanover (1737-1814)

Duke Friedrich Eugen of Württemberg (1732-1797) ∞ 1753 Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg- Schwedt Sophia (1736-1798)

Prince Karl Christian of Nassau- Weilburg (1736-1798) ∞ 1753 Wilhelmina Carolina of Orange-Nassau (1736-1798)

King Friedrich (1754-1816) ∞ 1780 Auguste Caroline of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel (1764-1788)

Duke Frederick of Saxony -Hildburghausen (1763-1834) ∞ 1785 Charlotte Georgine Luise of Mecklenburg -Strelitz (1769-1818)

King Frederick of Württemberg (1754-1816) ∞ 1780 Auguste Caroline of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel (1764-1788)

Prince Ludwig von Württemberg (1756-1817) ∞ 1797 Henrietta of Nassau- Weilburg (1780-1857)

Prince Paul of Württemberg (1785-1852) ∞ 1805 Charlotte of Saxe- Hildburghausen (1787-1847)

King Wilhelm I of Württemberg (1781-1864) ∞ 1840 Pauline of Württemberg (1800-1873)

Prince Frederick of Württemberg (1808-1870) ∞ 1845 Catherine of Württemberg (1821-1898)

King William II (1848-1921)

Honors

• Memorial Hermann - Christian Zimmerle (1991 ) before the Wilhelmspalais in Stuttgart.