Figure 1.--This formal portrait shows Kaiser Wilhelm with his grown sons and daughters and their families. The Crown Prince stands between his father and mother at the center, but I can not identify the others at this time. Given the uniforms and limited number of grand children, this appears to be a photograph from the early 1900s, well before World War I.

The German royal family was one of the largest in Europe. Wilhem II was the eldest of eight children. The Kaiser fathered eight children himself. The number of nieces and nephews as well as grand children and great nieces and nephews is indeed daunting. Just the immediate family with his children and their families is quite a large group.

Figure 2.--This enlargement shows one of the grandchildren, I'm not sure which. Note that the boy wears an army uniform.

Identity

This formal portrait shows Kaiser Wilhelm with his grown sons and daughters and their families. The Crown Prince stands between his father and mother at the center. Unfortunately, HBC cannot at this time identify the others.

Clothing

While HBC can not identify the individuals, the photograph does reveal some interesting information about the clothing of the German princes. Military uniforms are worn by all the men and boys--except for the one boy still wearing a dress. One might take this as an indication of Prussia's militarism. Similar photographs of the British or other European royal families would have revealed a lot of uniforms. That said Edward VII and George V were often photographed in civilian dress.

Dresses

One of the boys wears a white dress. White appears to have been a popular color for European royal boys. This child looks to be about 3 years old.

Army uniforms

Obly one of the grandchildren wears an army uniform. It is hard to tell, but this boy appears to have long curls under his cap. Strangely he is the only person wearing a cap.

Figure 3.--This enlargement shows the three boys in sailor suits and the boy still wearing a dress.

Sailor suits

Almost all of the boys wear long pants sailor suits. They all have white middy blouses. One has white and the other has black long pants. The other boy stands behind his mother.

Hair styles

Almost all of the boys, even the boy in the dress, has short hair--in some cases severely short hair. The boy in the army uniform may have long hair, but it is difficult to tell.

Created: April 7, 2000
Last updated: April 7, 2000