Victoria and Albert's Children: Victoria--Motherhood

Figure 1.--

It can easily be said that Vicky was the most important mother in the 19th century. How her first soon Wilhelm developed and the country he guided until 1918 in large measure determined the course of world history in the 20th century. We are still collecting information on Vicky's role as a mother. She has been described as an indifferent mother. HBRC is not at all sure that this is the case. She clearly doted on babies and unchrasterictically for royal mothers wanted to breast feed her first son. She was, however, clearly estrigned from her eldest son. We are not sure just whose fault this was. HBRC has little information on her maternal role at this time. It is interesting to reflect how her father's tutoring had focused so much on history and politics. Had her husband lived, Vicky could have been a valuable adviser. But what proved crucial since her husband died only a few months after becoming Kaiser, was her relationship with her son, and in fact the two were estraigned. HBRC as not yet been able to persue the relationship between the two.

Importance

It can easily be said that Vicky was the most important mother in the 19th century. How her first soon Wilhelm develped and the country he guided until 1918 in large measure determined the course of world history in the 20th century. It had been Albert's great vision of his beloved daughter and Friederich promoting democracy and constitutional rule in Germany. He assumed that they would pass down these values to their children. Think how different modern history would have been if Germany has developed as a progressive modern democracy. Not only could two great world wars possibly been averted, but also the rise of Communism in Russia and the horrors of Stalin.

Research

We are still collecting information on Vicky's role as a mother. She has been described as an indifferent mother. HBRC is not at all sure that this is the case. We are still researching this question. We note a number of historians which comment unfavorably upon her as a mother. A typical reference is that of one historian who writes in passing that Wilhelm was brought up "unlovingly". [Ludwig, p. 568.] We are not sure what sources are involved here. Often these comments are made in passing are using comments by Kaiser Wilhelm himself as an adult. Strange as it may seem, Wilhelm may not be the best source here. As a young adult he became stranged from his mother who unlike the syncophants with which he surrounded himself, was frank and often critical. This probably colored how he looked back on his childhood rather than what his childhood was actually like. Notably, we do not see the kind of critisms leveled at Vicyoria as a mother by any of her other children.

Breast Feeding

She clearly doted on babies and unchrasterictically for royal mothers wanted to breast feed her first son. We know today how valuable this is for both mother and child. This was not the attitude of many in the 19th century. Vicky's mother in law Augusta, for example, considered it an "odious habit". Wilhelm was as a result entrusted to a wet nurse whose milk irritated his stomach. Years later a historian reports that Augusta who was at the time Emperess told Wilhelm that his mother could not face feeding him and found his injured arm to be repugnant. [Bennett, p. 87] This was a cruel lie when just the opposite was true. As a young man after the death of his father, Wilhelm was only too ready to hear any thing uncomplimentary about his English mother. The truth is that both Vicky and Friederich were enchanted by infant Wilhelm and Vicky's letters to her parents are full of touching references to the baby.

The New Baby

Vicky was clearly encghanted with her first baby. Her many letters to her parent's secribe him in great detail. She writes that he is "... really a dear little child, he is so inteligent and lively & cries so little, but as he is so forward, great take must be taken not to excite him." [Pakula, p. 128.]

Prince Wilhelm

Many accounts picture Vicky as an engaged and committed mother. As a boy Prince Wilhelm was devoted to his mother. This relationship did not begin to change until after Wilhelm was into his teens.