Figure 1.--This portrait of Prince Albrecht shows him plating in a pond. He is wearing his plat clothes, but it is difficult to make out just what the garments are. The photograph was taken in Lille during 1915, after the twin tragic deaths of his mother and older brother.

Crown Prince's children were very elegantly dressed in the early 20th century before World War I. We see the boys wearing quite a wide variety of outfits. A photograph that appears to be taken in the 1900s shows the two boys in satin outfits with open lace collars and matching lace at the cuffs. The younger boy wears a skirt outfit. His older brother who looks to be about 10 years old wears a matching outfit but with short pants and a waist sash. Both boys wear short white socks and buckle shoes. Interestingly these outfits are very similar to out fits that Bavarian Princess who became the Queen of Belgium chose for the Belgian princes (Leopold and Charles) at about the same time. Most of the images show the boys wearing what look to us like very formal clothing. We notice a few images of the boys more informally dressed, but mostly they were photograph in formal Clothing.

Skirted Outfits

The boys wore various skirted outfits. When young they wore dresses. We have not noted images of Luipold in dresses, but assume he worn them when younger as Albrect is seen in quite a few portraits wearing dresses. For some reason there are not very many portraits of Luitpold when he was very young. But there are photographs of Zlbrecht, normally with his older brother. The dresses we have noted are white and look rather fancy. Some images show Albrecht still wearing dresses after his older brother had been breeched. The boys also wore tunic suits. Here again we mostly see Albrecht wearing them.

Blouses

Many portraits show the boys weraring fancy blouses. Normally they were open-necked blouses with large frilled collars and worn without bows.

Fauntleroy/Fancy Suits

A photograph that appears to be taken in the 1900s shows the two boys in satin outfits with open lace collars and matching lace at the cuffs. They are not precisely Fauntleroy suits, but are fancy suits. We are not sure just when the boys wore these suits. The images we have found are family portraits and thus do not indivate just where the boys wore these outfits or how commonly. The younger boy wears a skirt outfit. His older brother who looks to be about 10 years old wears a matching outfit but with short pants and a waist sash. Most of the images show the boys wearing what look to us like very formal clothing. We notice a few images of the boys more informally dressed, but mostly they were photograph in formal Clothing.

Sailor Suits

We note a number of portraits showing the boys wearing sailor suits, a popular outfit for German royals at the time..

Ethnic Outfits

We notice some photographs of the boys in folk costumes including lederhosen. These outfits were popular in Alpine regions, bith Bavaria and Austria. We note both Bavarian and Austrian royals wearing these outfits. This includes both boys and adult men. Interestingly, it was not as common for the girls and adult women to wear the female costumes, a dress referred to as a drindle. We are not sure about the chronologt of these cosrumes, but we note royalty wearing them in the late-19th century. The Bavarian princes are seen wearing them in the 1910s. The boys wear complete Bavarian folk costumes incliding hats and very heavy knee socks. We are not sure how commonly they dressed like this. It looks like they may have worn these outfits for outings into the country.

Casual Clothes

The portrait here of of Prince Albrecht shows him plating in a pond in rather casual clothing (figure 1). He is wearing his plat clothes, but it is difficult to make out just what the garments are. The photograph was taken in Lille during 1915, after the twin tragic deaths of his mother and older brother.

Footwear

Both boys wear short white socks and buckle shoes. Interestingly these outfits are very similar to out fits that Bavarian Princess who became the Queen of Belgium chose for the Belgian princes (Leopold and Charles) at about the same time.

Created: 3:21 AM 9/9/2004
Last updated: 4:49 PM 8/14/2008