Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick: Encyclopedia II - Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick - Crown Princess of Prussia

Victoria Princess Royal and Empress Frederick - Crown Princess of Prussia

In January 1861, on the death of his childless uncle Frederick William IV of Prussia and the accession of his father as King Wilhelm I, Prince Friedrich became Crown Prince of Prussia, Victoria therefore became Crown Princess. The new Crown Prince and Princess, however, were politically isolated; their liberal and Anglophile views clashed with the authoritarian rule of the Prussian minister-president, Otto von Bismarck.

During the three Wars of German Unification – the 1864 Prussian-Danish War, the 1866 Austro-Prussian War, and the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War – Victoria and Friedrich strongly identified with the cause of Prussia and the North German Confederation. Their sympathies created a rift among Queen Victoria's extended family, since Victoria's younger brother, the Prince of Wales, was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark, the elder daughter of Christian IX of Denmark, who was also reigning duke of the disputed territories of Schleswig and Holstein. At Versailles on 18 January 1871, the victorious princes of the North German Confederation proclaimed a German Empire with King Wilhelm I of Prussia as the hereditary German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser) with the style Imperial and Royal Majesty (Kaiserliche und Königliche Majestät); Fritz and Vicky became Crown Prince and Crown Princess of the German Empire with the style Imperial and Royal Highness (Kaiserliche und Königliche Hoheit).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Crown Princess of Prussia", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki