0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: "The British Grenadiers"
0:00:04 > 0:00:06On August 4th, 1914,
0:00:06 > 0:00:12Britain went to war against an old friend and traditional ally.
0:00:12 > 0:00:13A people with whom it shared
0:00:13 > 0:00:16countless historical and cultural ties.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22It did so in alliance with an authoritarian dictatorship
0:00:22 > 0:00:26which had been its most deadly enemy for the best part of a century.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34How it is that Britain came to fight alongside Russia against Germany
0:00:34 > 0:00:36is one of the great puzzles of the 20th century.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43The explanation, in part, lies in the eccentricities
0:00:43 > 0:00:46and foibles of a single family -
0:00:46 > 0:00:49that of Queen Victoria, whose descendants occupied the thrones
0:00:49 > 0:00:53of no less than ten European countries,
0:00:53 > 0:00:54a dynastic web that meant
0:00:54 > 0:00:58European diplomacy was also a domestic drama.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02At the outbreak of war,
0:01:02 > 0:01:07three first cousins reigned over Europe's greatest powers.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09Tsar Nicholas II of Russia,
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14and King George V of Britain.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Their passions,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21their friendships,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and, above all, their poisonous rivalries
0:01:23 > 0:01:28would play a key role in the realignment of European politics.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30A role often overlooked by historians.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37This is the story of how royalty helped drag Europe into the abyss.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42The story of a family tragedy.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58On March 10th, 1863, half a century before the outbreak
0:01:58 > 0:02:02of World War I, the royalty of Europe gathered
0:02:02 > 0:02:04at St George's Chapel, Windsor,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08for the wedding of Queen Victoria's eldest son Bertie,
0:02:08 > 0:02:13later King Edward VII, to Princess Alexandra of Denmark.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16MUSIC: "Serenade For Strings in E major" by Antonin Dvorak
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Beautiful and glamorous, Princess Alix, as she was known,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26was the Princess Diana of her day.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32Already wildly popular with the British public.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40But the wedding would also be remembered as the first
0:02:40 > 0:02:44public appearance in England of Queen Victoria's grandson,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47the future German Kaiser Wilhelm II.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54Wilhelm, who is aged four, comes to the wedding as a page.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57And he's very excited because he's allowed to wear
0:02:57 > 0:03:00what he calls his "Scotch dress", with a kilt and a sporran
0:03:00 > 0:03:03and a sgian-dhu in his socks.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07He is sat next to a couple of his uncles,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and first of all he bites the leg of one of them
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and then he throws his little dirk into the middle of the aisle
0:03:14 > 0:03:17while they're saying their vows!
0:03:17 > 0:03:22So at the age of four he's trying to upstage the British monarchy
0:03:22 > 0:03:23and his uncle.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31It was the beginning of a long, complex and tortured relationship
0:03:31 > 0:03:34between the future German Kaiser and his British family.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42And the wedding that spring day would prove a turning point
0:03:42 > 0:03:46in the Royal Family's relations with Europe in other ways as well.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57Within a year of the marriage of Bertie and Alix,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Prussia invaded Denmark.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Prussia was the largest of the states,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06in a Germany which, at that time, was still not united.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11The troublesome Wilhelm's father, known as Fritz,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13was heir to the Prussian throne,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17and was married to Queen Victoria's oldest daughter Vicky.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Denmark was the home country of the beautiful new Princess of Wales.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29The effect of this is basically to set up
0:04:29 > 0:04:34a hostility between Denmark and Prussia
0:04:34 > 0:04:37that is to be a major factor
0:04:37 > 0:04:39in the sort of alignment of the European powers,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and to divide Victoria's family.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Alix was reported to weep every night,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and Bertie would come in and find her crying over
0:04:50 > 0:04:54the tremendous humiliation that Germany had done to Denmark.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00But Alix's mother-in-law Queen Victoria took Prussia's side.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03She ordered her son Bertie to remember...
0:05:03 > 0:05:06'Your connection with Denmark is only of a year's standing.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10'Your whole family are German, and you are half-German.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:12You've got to remember that she is
0:05:12 > 0:05:14pretty much completely German herself -
0:05:14 > 0:05:18her mother was German, her paternal grandmother was German,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22and her great-grandparents were all German too.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23Princess Alix, though,
0:05:23 > 0:05:28was determined to signal her support for her Danish homeland.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32She became, I think, more deeply anti-Prussian
0:05:32 > 0:05:35because she had to bottle it up effectively.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38And she found lovely subtle little ways of expressing it.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44One of the earliest family photographs of their first child,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46she has the baby on her knee,
0:05:46 > 0:05:51and he is dressed in what appears to be the traditional baby outfit,
0:05:51 > 0:05:56but if you look very closely it's decorated with little Danish flags.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It is literally a very quiet piece of flag-waving
0:05:59 > 0:06:01on the part of the Princess of Wales.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Princess Alix, darling of the British public,
0:06:06 > 0:06:11wife of one future British king, mother of another,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15would never forgive the Prussians for the war of 1864.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And although Prussia won, the war would also have
0:06:20 > 0:06:24profound implications for Queen Victoria's daughter Vicky
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and her husband Fritz in Berlin.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30MUSIC: "Prussia's Glory" by Johann Gottfried Piefke
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Prussia was an aggressive, rising power.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37When Victoria and Prince Albert
0:06:37 > 0:06:41had sent Vicky to marry the Prussian heir six years before,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43they were sending her on a mission.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Queen Victoria and Albert had this plan to civilise Prussia.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53It was an attempt to use Vicky
0:06:53 > 0:06:57to marry the eventual heir to the German throne,
0:06:57 > 0:07:05and to rescue Prussia from the excesses of German militarism.
0:07:06 > 0:07:11Vicky was just 17 when she married Fritz. A child bride.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13But she was highly intelligent,
0:07:13 > 0:07:18and had been carefully trained by her father for the task in hand.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26It was assumed Germany would soon be united under Prussian leadership.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31It was Vicky's job to make sure the new Germany would be a liberal,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34pro-British constitutional monarchy.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39If you have a liberal Prussia, you'll have a liberal Germany.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44So Vicky is fired off like a sort of Exocet missile into Prussia
0:07:44 > 0:07:46to kind of create the liberal Prussia.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51It was nothing less than a battle for the soul of the future Germany.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56A heavy burden to place on the shoulders of a 17-year-old girl,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58as even Queen Victoria recognised.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01'Poor, dear child.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06'I often tremble when I think how much is expected of her.'
0:08:06 > 0:08:09Victoria's plans soon unravelled.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17In 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed Prussian Prime Minister.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21An arch-conservative,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Bismarck's politics were the opposite of Vicky's.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28The attack on Denmark in 1864
0:08:28 > 0:08:31consolidated Bismarck's grip on power,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33resulting in the seizure of the Duchies
0:08:33 > 0:08:35of Schleswig and Holstein.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40A series of short wars followed, during which Bismarck
0:08:40 > 0:08:43crushed the independence of the smaller German states
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and defeated Austria and France.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51By 1871, he had achieved the dream of German unification,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53transforming the map of Europe.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58The creation of the united Germany totally threatens the European
0:08:58 > 0:09:00balance of power.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Simply because of the number of Germans,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05their strategic position in the middle of Europe,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and the fact that Germany has the most vibrant economy,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12in many ways it creates in the middle of Europe
0:09:12 > 0:09:16a country which potentially could dominate the continent.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Unification also meant a dramatic tilt in the balance of power
0:09:24 > 0:09:26within Germany.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30The forces of conservative militarism were triumphant.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32Vicky was sidelined.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36She wrote anguished letters to her mother, Queen Victoria.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41'You cannot think how painful it is to be continuously
0:09:41 > 0:09:45'surrounded by people who consider your very existence a misfortune.'
0:09:50 > 0:09:54But Bismarck was just one of Vicky's problems.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56As the British had already observed at Bertie's wedding,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59her son Wilhelm was a difficult child.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05His problems had begun on the night he was born.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Wilhelm's had been a breech birth.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14The baby was firmly stuck.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17He was coming out bottom first.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20His legs were sort of up over his chest.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23His arms were behind his head.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30And the doctor somehow got the left arm,
0:10:30 > 0:10:31brought it down,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34but he said in his own notes
0:10:34 > 0:10:37that he had to use considerable force to do it.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Which, even when you think about it, it's hideous.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46And it's really in those moments that the Kaiser is made.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Wilhelm's left arm would be permanently disabled -
0:10:52 > 0:10:55shorter than his right, and of little use.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57His sensitive, intelligent
0:10:57 > 0:11:0018-year-old mother Vicky was traumatised.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06'It cuts me to the heart when I see all other children
0:11:06 > 0:11:10'with the use of all their limbs, and that mine is denied that.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13'The idea of his remaining a cripple haunts me.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15'I long to have a child
0:11:15 > 0:11:18'with everything perfect about it like everybody else.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:20It's a militaristic society,
0:11:20 > 0:11:23a milieu where you can't be handicapped -
0:11:23 > 0:11:25I mean, you can't have a one-armed king,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27that's something you don't have in Prussia.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29You have to have the perfect body,
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and she has a son who hasn't got a perfect body.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Wilhelm's grandfather, the Prussian King Wilhelm I,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41reacted with characteristic Prussian tact.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44William I, when he sees little baby William,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48is said to have wondered aloud to his son Fritz
0:11:48 > 0:11:53whether he should congratulate him on the birth of a defective child.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01Vicky had failed in what, for the Prussians, was her central mission.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08By the early 1860s, Vicky and Fritz were living in the vast,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12impersonal grandeur of the new palace outside Berlin.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Here, Wilhelm was subjected to a series
0:12:21 > 0:12:23of desperate treatments for his disability.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27His right arm was strapped to his body,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29to force him to use his left arm,
0:12:29 > 0:12:32resulting only in endless painful falls
0:12:32 > 0:12:36as he tottered along the marble corridors.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Then, at the age of four, Wilhelm's head began to twist to one side
0:12:40 > 0:12:44as a result of the imbalance in his neck muscles.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49To treat this, he was strapped into a machine.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52Vicky included a sketch in a letter to her mother.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58'I cannot tell what I suffered when I saw him in that machine.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01'It was all I could do to prevent myself from crying.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06'To see one's child treated like one deformed, it really is very hard.'
0:13:09 > 0:13:14Wilhelm's young, traumatised mother compounded his problems.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Vicky finds it almost impossible to accept Wilhelm's disability,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22that there's no bonding between them.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24She clearly sends messages,
0:13:24 > 0:13:26perhaps subliminally, to Wilhelm
0:13:26 > 0:13:30that he's somehow not up to her expectations.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34This is the story of a proud mother
0:13:34 > 0:13:38who reacts really badly to her son's handicap.
0:13:41 > 0:13:42She TRIES to love him,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46and pulls herself together and tries to be a good mother,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49but at the end of the day
0:13:49 > 0:13:51she looks at him and she thinks, "This is my greatest failure."
0:13:51 > 0:13:53That's what she feels.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The relationship between the future Kaiser
0:13:56 > 0:14:00and his English mother would be fraught and complicated,
0:14:00 > 0:14:05with profound implications for the future of Europe.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09MUSIC: "Moments musicaux No.3" by Franz Schubert
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Across the North Sea at Marlborough House,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14the London home of the Prince and Princess of Wales,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17the childhood of the future King, George V,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20could not have been more different.
0:14:21 > 0:14:26George was born six years after Wilhelm, and was healthy and robust.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33The second son, he was not originally intended for the throne.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35His brother Eddie was the heir.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40George was spared the hothouse education
0:14:40 > 0:14:43imposed on his German cousin.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45His father, Bertie, the Prince of Wales,
0:14:45 > 0:14:49although fond of George's mother, was a notorious philanderer.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55It was a situation the beautiful Princess Alix, his future Queen,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57had little option but to accept.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01But it meant she poured her affection into her children.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Alix is the dominant figure at home. Bertie is often away.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11And she creates, what, for small children, must have been a rather
0:15:11 > 0:15:15wonderful, atmosphere of endless games. No lessons, nothing serious.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20Endless, sort of, romping. A very, sort of, child-centred environment.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Every other summer, Princess Alix would take the whole family off
0:15:31 > 0:15:34to stay with her parents, in Denmark.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41Although comparatively impoverished, the Danish royal family
0:15:41 > 0:15:44had succeeded in marrying into various European dynasties.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Cousins, uncles and aunts, from across the Continent,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51would all meet up at the Danish king's
0:15:51 > 0:15:53summer home, outside Copenhagen.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Among them were the Russian royal family.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03It was here that George first met his cousin,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06the future Tsar Nicholas II,
0:16:06 > 0:16:10whose mother, Dagmar, always known as "Minnie", was Alix's sister.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13What happens is,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Bertie and Alix end up holidaying, you know,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20once every two years with the Russian tsar and his wife,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24because Alix and Minnie have this very close relationship.
0:16:24 > 0:16:28They were obviously sisters and they want to bring families together.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35Minnie's husband was Alexander, tsar of Russia from 1881.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40A larger-than-life personality,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43famous for being able to bend iron pokers with his bare hands.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Both shy and withdrawn, George and Nicholas were somewhat
0:16:51 > 0:16:55in awe of their fathers and they would become firm friends.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05The informality of these summer holidays is captured
0:17:05 > 0:17:09in rarely-seen images from the Danish archives,
0:17:09 > 0:17:14taken by the royals themselves, keen amateur photographers.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19The atmosphere is completely knockabout.
0:17:22 > 0:17:23That circle is
0:17:23 > 0:17:28notorious for a very relaxed, very slapstick, sense of humour.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32You hear of the Princess of Wales and the Empress of Russia
0:17:32 > 0:17:35turning somersaults in full evening dress.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41The children turn a garden hose on the Tsar of Russia and he laughs
0:17:41 > 0:17:42and turns it back.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46They call him "Uncle Fatty". Can you imagine that?!
0:17:46 > 0:17:49So, this extraordinary atmosphere
0:17:49 > 0:17:53of emperor, empress, several kings and queens
0:17:53 > 0:17:56and endless, countless, archdukes and duchesses,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59all of them behaving like, sort of, children on holiday.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Traces of the royal holidaymakers remain to this day...
0:18:07 > 0:18:10An initial, scratched into a window pane,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12probably that of Tsar Alexander.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The heights of the children, marked on a door frame.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28But one royal cousin was never invited -
0:18:28 > 0:18:32Vicky's son, the future Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany,
0:18:32 > 0:18:38who, as a Prussian, was not welcome in defeated, humiliated Denmark.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44Many of the other guests were from minor German royal houses,
0:18:44 > 0:18:47also beaten in the German wars of unification,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49and no more keen than the Danes
0:18:49 > 0:18:52to holiday with their Prussian conquerors.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57You get the, sort of, losers from the Prussian wars of the 1860s
0:18:57 > 0:19:01all gathering on the beach and muttering against Prussia.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06For the Tsarina of Russia and the future British Queen,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10the holidays had a clear political purpose.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Minnie and Alix hoped to draw their husbands,
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Bertie and Alexander, closer to each other -
0:19:18 > 0:19:20and away from Germany.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29In 1874, the Russian royal family visited London.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Minnie, seen here on the left,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37was as glamorous and photogenic as her sister and the British public
0:19:37 > 0:19:40was enchanted. The Danish sisters became
0:19:40 > 0:19:43the fashion icons of their day
0:19:43 > 0:19:46and quickly turned the trip into a declaration
0:19:46 > 0:19:48of Anglo-Russian friendship.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51They came out together, I think on the first day,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54wearing identical outfits and, of course,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56they were very striking women, anyway.
0:19:56 > 0:19:57This makes an incredible impact
0:19:57 > 0:20:02and it makes a very interesting underlying point - perhaps
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Britain and Russia DO have something in common,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07perhaps there are things that could draw them together.
0:20:07 > 0:20:13But in the 1870s, the sisters were fighting an uphill battle
0:20:13 > 0:20:15in seeking to forge Anglo-Russian ties.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23For the British, Russia was the traditional enemy.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28Throughout the 19th century, most Britons looked with fear
0:20:28 > 0:20:30and something close to loathing at Russia.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32Russia was the country that, in the, kind of,
0:20:32 > 0:20:36nightmare imagination of the government in London,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39threatened India - India, the jewel in the imperial crown.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42They are Asiatic, they are the descendants of the Mongol horde,
0:20:42 > 0:20:44they are barbarians.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Queen Victoria spoke for the nation.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52"Those detestable Russians -
0:20:52 > 0:20:54"horrible, deceitful, cruel.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58"They will always hate us and we can never trust them."
0:20:58 > 0:21:03The Russians were no more fond of the British
0:21:03 > 0:21:07resenting their presence in India and Central Asia.
0:21:08 > 0:21:13The Russian perspective is that the British are both hypocritical
0:21:13 > 0:21:15and a dammed nuisance.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21Britain is the country which blocks Russia, in all sorts of ways.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25The moral superiority of Britain,
0:21:25 > 0:21:26that sticks in a few gullets.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Rather than to Britain, Russia looked to Germany,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34where the chancellor, Bismarck,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37had worked hard to cultivate good relations,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40fearful of an alliance between France and Russia
0:21:40 > 0:21:43that would leave Germany encircled.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52In Berlin, in 1884, Bismarck strengthened ties,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55by sending a delegation to Russia, for the celebration
0:21:55 > 0:21:59of the coming-of-age of Tsarevich Nicholas, the Russian heir.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03His choice to lead it was a surprising one -
0:22:03 > 0:22:07Nicholas' cousin, Prince Wilhelm, now 25.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12This is incredibly flattering for somebody so young and inexperienced
0:22:12 > 0:22:14as Wilhelm - he has not done any diplomatic work before -
0:22:14 > 0:22:17but it is also a tremendous slight to his father.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20because Wilhelm's father Fritz had long wanted to take part
0:22:20 > 0:22:24in government and Bismarck had basically kept him out.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Ever keen to marginalise the liberal influences of Wilhelm's parents,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32still only heirs to the throne,
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Bismarck was exploiting what had become
0:22:34 > 0:22:37a complex, troubled relationship,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40particularly between Wilhelm and his English mother.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52As a teenager, Wilhelm had written strange,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55sexually-charged letters to Vicky,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57describing dreams, in which he repeatedly
0:22:57 > 0:22:59kissed and caressed her hands -
0:22:59 > 0:23:02dreams he longed to fulfil.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08"In eight days, we will go to Berlin and then what I dreamed about,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10"we will do in reality, when we are alone in your room,
0:23:10 > 0:23:16"without any witnesses. Promise to do so really as you did in my dream
0:23:16 > 0:23:18"to me, for I do so love you."
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Well, what does one think of that? It is clearly an erotic dream...
0:23:26 > 0:23:30..and, strangely, concentrating on the hands
0:23:30 > 0:23:31and, specifically, the left hand.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37And one can't overlook the fact that it is Wilhelm's left hand
0:23:37 > 0:23:39that is in a glove, to hide the discoloured nature
0:23:39 > 0:23:41and the claw-like nature of it.
0:23:41 > 0:23:47My interpretation of it is that it is one last appeal that he is making,
0:23:47 > 0:23:53through this illicit, incestuous avenue,
0:23:53 > 0:23:55to his mother, to love him the way he really is.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Now in his twenties, the future Kaiser's heart had hardened.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08He had become fiercely hostile to everything his parents represented.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12Vicky wrote in despair to her mother, Queen Victoria.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17"Willie is chauvinistic and ultra-Prussian, to a degree
0:24:17 > 0:24:21"and with a violence which is often very painful to me.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24"He is turning into the archetypal Potsdam Lieutenant,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27"with that evil mixture of a very loud mouth
0:24:27 > 0:24:31and a chauvinist's hatred and ignorance of all things foreign.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36He does everything that annoys his parents, of course.
0:24:36 > 0:24:42He is a total rebel. He knows that it will upset his parents
0:24:42 > 0:24:46if he mingles in anti-Semitic circles, and he does that.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49He wants to be with the winners,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52with his grandfather and with Bismarck.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56His parents are, to him, the losers in German society.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58He does not want to be associated with them.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02The tensions between mother and son were exacerbated
0:25:02 > 0:25:06by Vicky's ferocious attachment to her British homeland.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10She was always saying how fantastic England was and how,
0:25:10 > 0:25:11basically, rubbish Germany was.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13"You're a little German boy,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16"you will never understand what it is to be an Englishman.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20"You may praise your navy, but it is nothing compared with OUR navy."
0:25:20 > 0:25:22And on and on and on and on.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28Wilhelm's trip to Russia,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30for Nicholas' coming of age, in 1884,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33put the final seal on his defection to the conservative camp.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40Wilhelm is absolutely enchanted by the autocracy that he sees
0:25:40 > 0:25:44in St Petersburg and Moscow. The fact that there are 12,000 soldiers
0:25:44 > 0:25:48lining the railway tracks, all shouting, "Hooray!"
0:25:48 > 0:25:51when the Imperial Train goes past -
0:25:51 > 0:25:53this is his ideal world.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Wilhelm saw the Russian Tsar,
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Alexander III, Nicholas' father, as a demi-god.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08Living amidst almost-unimaginable splendour in his numerous palaces,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11the Tsar wielded absolute power,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16untrammelled by any form of representative government.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Wilhelm was intoxicated.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24The emperor ideology that he had developed in 1884 stays with him -
0:26:24 > 0:26:26this, kind of, notion of,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29"I have been sent by God to rule my people and I must listen
0:26:29 > 0:26:32"to the people and I must listen to God and tell them what God
0:26:32 > 0:26:34"tells me is best for them."
0:26:35 > 0:26:37On returning to Berlin,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Wilhelm began a gushing, private - alarmingly indiscreet -
0:26:41 > 0:26:46correspondence with the Tsar, in which it was clear his hostility
0:26:46 > 0:26:50to his mother now extended to her British family.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55"I ask you only one favour. Oppose the English uncles.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58"Do not be shocked by what you will hear from my father.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02"He is under the influence of my mother, who, for her part,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05"is directed by the Queen of England and who causes him to see everything
0:27:05 > 0:27:07"through English eyes."
0:27:07 > 0:27:09But Wilhelm's relationship
0:27:09 > 0:27:13with England mirrored his relationship with his mother,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16in all its complexity.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18He is pulled in all sorts of directions.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23He is fascinated by Britain, he wants to be noticed by Britain,
0:27:23 > 0:27:24he hates Britain!
0:27:24 > 0:27:27He loved the pomp of the Empire,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30he loved the pomp around his grandmother.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32That is all appealing to him, terribly,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36but at the same time, there is always this insecurity.
0:27:36 > 0:27:37You know, "I am not up to it.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40"They think that Germany is not equal."
0:27:40 > 0:27:45All his relationships in his whole life are totally conflicted
0:27:45 > 0:27:46and so is this one.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49His relationship to England is the most troubled one he has.
0:27:54 > 0:28:00In 1887, Queen Victoria celebrated her Golden Jubilee.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05Wilhelm was far fonder of his grandmother than his mother.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07and now showed his pro-British face,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10once again persuading his grandfather to send him,
0:28:10 > 0:28:14rather than his parents, as head of the German delegation.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Queen Victoria was having none of it.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20When Victoria hears
0:28:20 > 0:28:24that Wilhelm has invited himself as the German representative,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27bypassing his parents, without telling his parents,
0:28:27 > 0:28:28she is furious.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32She, sort of, disinvites him and asks his parents, instead,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34invites them.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43As the grand procession wound its way through the streets of London,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Wilhelm had to make do with a minor role.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52In the official portrait of Victoria's extended family,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54painted for the occasion,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58it was his father, Fritz, who was given pride of place.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03Wilhelm was left gnashing his teeth, relegated to a window alcove
0:29:03 > 0:29:06with his younger cousin, Prince George.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10In private, his anti-English venom returned.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13"It's high time that old woman died.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16"One can not have enough hatred for England."
0:29:21 > 0:29:26A few months later, the royalty of Europe gathered once more in Berlin,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30for the funeral of Wilhelm's grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm I,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33who had finally died, aged 90.
0:29:38 > 0:29:4130 years after arriving in Germany, Queen Victoria's
0:29:41 > 0:29:44daughter Vicky was empress, at last,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47but there was to be no joyful coronation.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Her husband, Fritz, was dying.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54Fritz, Wilhelm's father, contracts throat cancer
0:29:54 > 0:29:57and it takes ages to get the diagnosis and, by the time
0:29:57 > 0:30:00they have worked out what it is, it is basically too late.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04Fritz became Kaiser in March 1888.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08But by then, he had just a few months to live.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11It is one of the great what ifs of history.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14If Wilhelm I had not lived quite so long,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17if his son Fritz had taken over sooner,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Germany might have evolved in a different way.
0:30:21 > 0:30:22Fritz was a liberal,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25he wanted to make Germany a constitutional and modern country.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28But his son Wilhelm II did not want to do any of the above.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35Vicky knew that she and her husband would never wield real power.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38She wrote, tragically, to Queen Victoria.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45"I think people in general consider us a mere passing shadow,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48"soon to be replaced by reality in the shape of Wilhelm."
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Fritz wants to have some effect on German politics,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55but he's just too ill and two weak
0:30:55 > 0:30:58and he sort of sits there, knowing he's dying
0:30:58 > 0:31:01and that everything he'd worked for for 20 years,
0:31:01 > 0:31:05this sort of liberal idea of Germany that he'd hoped to create,
0:31:05 > 0:31:06is just not going to happen.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09It's really, really grim.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Fritz died after just 99 days on the throne.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30Aged 29, his erratic, emotionally unstable son
0:31:30 > 0:31:34was now Kaiser of one of the most powerful countries in the world.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38A country where ultimate power still rested with the monarch.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45His first act was to order troops to surround the new palace
0:31:45 > 0:31:47where his father had died.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53He says that the palace must be searched for papers
0:31:53 > 0:31:55relating to his father's time as emperor.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01It's sort of monstrous, it's such an aggressive act
0:32:01 > 0:32:04because it's really directed at Vicky.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07The British family hear of this, Bertie in particular,
0:32:07 > 0:32:11and it's an awful, awful thing to do to your mother, obviously,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13and they are horrified by this.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20Bertie, the Prince of Wales, now in his late 40s,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22was close to his sister.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27He wrote to Vicky to console her over the behaviour of her son.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30"His conduct towards you is simply revolting
0:32:30 > 0:32:34"but, alas, he lacks the feelings and usages of a gentleman."
0:32:36 > 0:32:40The future British king never forgave his German nephew.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48The relationship between Wilhelm's cousin Prince George
0:32:48 > 0:32:51and his mother could not have been more different.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55George always called Alix, the Princess of Wales,
0:32:55 > 0:32:57"darling Mother dear".
0:32:57 > 0:33:00While she called him "little Georgie",
0:33:00 > 0:33:02signing off one letter...
0:33:02 > 0:33:06"With a great big kiss for your lovely little face."
0:33:06 > 0:33:10George was 25 at the time.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Princess Alix's loathing for Germany had not dimmed.
0:33:22 > 0:33:23In 1890,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28George was made honorary colonel in a Prussian dragoon regiment
0:33:28 > 0:33:31during a visit to Berlin with his father.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35While Bertie squeezed into a somewhat tight uniform,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39George kept in the background. His mother reacted with amused dismay.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45"So my Georgie boy has become a real live, filthy,
0:33:45 > 0:33:48"blue-coated, Pickelhaube German soldier.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51"Never mind. As you say, it could not have been helped."
0:33:55 > 0:33:59George remained behind his older brother in line to the throne
0:33:59 > 0:34:03and had originally been intended for a career in the Royal Navy.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08George had the education of a midshipman.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12He was extraordinarily badly educated.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Almost uniquely among late 19th century royalty,
0:34:16 > 0:34:19George could speak no foreign languages.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25I think, to a large extent, George is shaped by his life in the Navy.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30He likes small spaces, even after he becomes Prince of Wales.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33He is not gregarious. He does not like meeting people.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37He likes order, he likes discipline, he likes control.
0:34:39 > 0:34:41It was only with the death in 1892
0:34:41 > 0:34:46of his older brother, Eddie, from pneumonia that George became heir.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52Unlike cousin Wilhelm, he had never had any desire to be king.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55The death of his brother comes as a complete shock.
0:34:55 > 0:34:57Eddie is almost a twin to him.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00At that level, it is devastating.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04And then, suddenly to be faced with all these responsibilities
0:35:04 > 0:35:08which he had never anticipated is terrifying to him, I think,
0:35:08 > 0:35:09at the beginning.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14Now a sense of shared destiny drew him more than ever
0:35:14 > 0:35:17to friendship with his cousin, the Russian heir, Nicholas.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22With whom he also shared a remarkable physical similarity.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28They are both rather decent, rather callow, rather nice young men
0:35:28 > 0:35:32without really much curiosity to move beyond the rank and station in life
0:35:32 > 0:35:34which fate has assigned them to.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Like George,
0:35:36 > 0:35:41Nicholas's closest relationship was with his mother, Minny.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44His Danish mother, as is the way with her sister,
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Queen Alexandra of Britain,
0:35:47 > 0:35:50is a very good mother, a very possessive mother,
0:35:50 > 0:35:54but one who does her utmost to keep her sons children.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57It strikes me as an extraordinary thing
0:35:57 > 0:36:02that you have got these two immensely prominent royal figures
0:36:02 > 0:36:06who, at home, are little more than big babies.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11But there was one key difference between the two royal cousins.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Where George dutifully married Princess Mary,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19the girl who had been engaged to his older brother,
0:36:19 > 0:36:24Nicholas's marriage would be an epic tale of drama and romance.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27One that would alter the course of Russian history.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38In Saint Petersburg in 1889, during a family visit,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41Nicholas had fallen deeply and passionately in love
0:36:41 > 0:36:42with his German cousin,
0:36:42 > 0:36:47Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Alix of HesseDarmstadt.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54Alix was the daughter of Victoria's second daughter, Alice,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57who had married a German duke.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02Alice had died of diphtheria when Alix was just six years old.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06Queen Victoria had taken the motherless children under her wing.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Victoria has this strong sense that Alice's children have
0:37:11 > 0:37:13in some way become her own children.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16The Queen takes a particular interest in the daughters
0:37:16 > 0:37:20and that inevitably means the daughters' marital prospects.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Alix was always said to have been Victoria's favourite grandchild.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29And the thought of her marrying the Russian heir
0:37:29 > 0:37:32revived all the Queen's old fears and suspicions.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35My blood runs cold
0:37:35 > 0:37:38when I think of her placed on that very unsafe throne.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41The state of Russia is so bad, so rotten that,
0:37:41 > 0:37:44at any moment, something dreadful might happen
0:37:44 > 0:37:46and the wife of the heir to the throne
0:37:46 > 0:37:49is in a most difficult and precarious position.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55But strangely, one obvious obstacle to Nicholas marrying Alix
0:37:55 > 0:37:58was never mentioned. Haemophilia.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03It seems extraordinary that, given Alix's only purpose, really,
0:38:03 > 0:38:05is going to be as a breeding machine
0:38:05 > 0:38:08that this potential defect isn't raised.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14Haemophilia is an hereditary condition
0:38:14 > 0:38:16that prevents the blood from clotting.
0:38:16 > 0:38:21It afflicts primarily men, but is passed through women
0:38:21 > 0:38:24and had entered the royal family through Queen Victoria herself.
0:38:26 > 0:38:27Alix's brother Fritz
0:38:27 > 0:38:30had died from the condition at the age of just two.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Queen Victoria's own son, Leopold, had died at the age of 30.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41But European royalty appeared to be in a state of denial.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47By the 1890s, doctors understood that it was inherited,
0:38:47 > 0:38:51but are you going to tell the Queen,
0:38:51 > 0:38:57or the Tsar that all their children's futures might be compromised
0:38:57 > 0:39:01because they might just be carrying haemophilia?
0:39:03 > 0:39:06The whole business of royalty is heredity.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11You have to produce healthy children to produce healthy children.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14The Russian royal family,
0:39:14 > 0:39:17related to the British through the Danish connection,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20were at this stage free of haemophilia.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23The failure to confront the possibility
0:39:23 > 0:39:24that Alix might be a carrier
0:39:24 > 0:39:27would have tragic consequences for the Romanov dynasty.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37But in 1894, the principle obstacle to Nicholas and Alix's wedding
0:39:37 > 0:39:39was a religious one.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43Marriage to the Russian heir
0:39:43 > 0:39:46would require Alix to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Deeply religious, she was loathe to abandon her Lutheran faith.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57She was in love with Nicholas,
0:39:57 > 0:40:01she would have married him readily if he had not been Russian.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04The relatives who tried to persuade her on the grounds of,
0:40:04 > 0:40:08it's a formality, it doesn't have to mean anything,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10were reading her completely wrong.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15Because if she converted, she would do it wholeheartedly, completely.
0:40:17 > 0:40:20Alix initially rejected Nicholas.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Then, in 1894, they were brought together again
0:40:26 > 0:40:30when the royalty of Europe gathered for a wedding in Coburg, Germany.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34Nicholas and Alix spent hours alone together.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41He pleaded with her to change her mind until, finally, she relented.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46"I cried like a child and she did too.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48"But her expression had changed.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51"Her face was lit by a quiet content."
0:40:54 > 0:40:55The next day,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59Queen Victoria's extended family gathered for a group photo.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04An extraordinary snapshot of European royalty.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Nicholas and Alix were stood side-by-side.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13Also present were the Queen, her daughter Vicky,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15Bertie the Prince of Wales,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17and the German Kaiser,
0:41:17 > 0:41:19who believed he had played a key role
0:41:19 > 0:41:22in bringing the happy couple together.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Wilhelm always liked to put himself at the centre of every story
0:41:27 > 0:41:29and this was no exception.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33In his memoirs, he claimed that it was he who had, basically,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37bolstered Nicholas's courage, taken him off to his room,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39put a bouquet of flowers in his hand,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42dusted him off and said, "Go on, ask for her!"
0:41:45 > 0:41:49By now, Kaiser Wilhelm had been on the throne almost six years
0:41:49 > 0:41:52and was proving an alarming, unpredictable
0:41:52 > 0:41:55if energetic presence on the European stage.
0:41:57 > 0:41:58His reign had begun
0:41:58 > 0:42:02with a catastrophic trip to Saint Petersburg in 1888.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Wilhelm had hoped to seal a conservative alliance
0:42:06 > 0:42:10with his hero, Tsar Alexander III.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13Instead, he had offended Alexander
0:42:13 > 0:42:17by his lack of grief at the death of his own father, Fritz,
0:42:17 > 0:42:19just a few weeks before.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24Himself a devoted family man, the Tsar was appalled.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31He is a rascally young fop who throws his weight around,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34thinks too much of himself and fancies that others worship him.
0:42:36 > 0:42:37Wilhelm, though,
0:42:37 > 0:42:42retained a disastrous confidence in his own diplomatic abilities.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49Determined to control German foreign policy himself, in 1890,
0:42:49 > 0:42:53he sacked Otto von Bismarck, the architect of German unification.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Within months, the German alliance with Russia had disintegrated,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04Russia signing, instead, an alliance with France,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07the first stage of the encirclement of Germany
0:43:07 > 0:43:08Bismarck had always dreaded.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13By now, the erratic young Kaiser was veering wildly
0:43:13 > 0:43:17back in the other direction towards his British family.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26Suddenly, Wilhelm turns round and says,
0:43:26 > 0:43:29"Oh, Grandmamma, I really want to come and visit you
0:43:29 > 0:43:31"and I really want to come and visit you at Cowes."
0:43:34 > 0:43:36Cowes is this famous regatta
0:43:36 > 0:43:41which takes place once a year in August on the Isle of Wight.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45It is a gathering place of the richest people.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50It's as if all the oligarchs and zillionaires
0:43:50 > 0:43:55and rich Eurotrash gathered to show off their Learjets in one place.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Wilhelm desperately wants to be invited.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Queen Victoria doesn't really want him to come,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04but her Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, says,
0:44:04 > 0:44:07"Look, we need to be friendly with the Germans."
0:44:07 > 0:44:10So she says, "OK, you can come."
0:44:10 > 0:44:12And he comes and loves it.
0:44:12 > 0:44:13To his delight,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18the Kaiser was made an honorary admiral in the Royal Navy.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Fancy wearing the same uniform as St Vincent and Nelson,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24it is enough to make one quite giddy.
0:44:25 > 0:44:29Wilhelm returned to Cowes regularly through the early 1890s.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33But prolonged exposure did nothing to improve relations
0:44:33 > 0:44:36with his British family.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Wilhelm, the Kaiser, could never understand the English royal family
0:44:39 > 0:44:43who see Cowes and Osborne, basically, as a picnic by the sea.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48They're not on show in the way that William is. He gets it wrong always.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51One year he brings this enormous bloody band
0:44:51 > 0:44:55which plays all over the place all the time and is incredibly noisy.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01Another year, he brings two warships which shoot endless gun salutes,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04get in the way of all the boats and everyone goes...
0:45:04 > 0:45:06"Why doesn't he just go home?"
0:45:07 > 0:45:11His cousin Prince George dreaded the Kaiser's visits,
0:45:11 > 0:45:13as he wrote to his wife.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15"I am just off now with Papa
0:45:15 > 0:45:18"to pay Wilhelm a visit on board the Hohenzollern.
0:45:18 > 0:45:19"I hope he will be out."
0:45:20 > 0:45:22But Cowes became, above all,
0:45:22 > 0:45:24the stage for a growing rivalry
0:45:24 > 0:45:29between Wilhelm and his Uncle Bertie, the future King Edward VII,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32now entering his 50s and as rakish as ever.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38I think Edward VII is perhaps one of the most attractive characters.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41He was a bon viveur, which is something attractive.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45He loved the theatre, he liked life, he enjoyed himself,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49he had lots of friends, people liked him, he was fun to be with,
0:45:49 > 0:45:50he was widely respected.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52And here was Wilhelm, who has always this feeling
0:45:52 > 0:45:55that someone is laughing at him, that he's not being taken seriously.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58He tries to throw his weight around and make people like him
0:45:58 > 0:46:00and, of course, that makes people dislike him even more.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Far from encouraging friendship,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10for the Kaiser, Cowes became a competition.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14With national prestige at stake.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22Each year, he comes along with a more and more expensive boat
0:46:22 > 0:46:24because each year he failed to beat Bertie.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26And the year he actually beat Bertie,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Bertie sold his boat because clearly,
0:46:29 > 0:46:32actually, he'd quite enjoyed beating Wilhelm
0:46:32 > 0:46:34and once the battle was over and Wilhelm had won it,
0:46:34 > 0:46:36he didn't want to play that game any more.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"The regatta at Cowes was once a pleasant holiday for me,
0:46:40 > 0:46:43"but now that the Kaiser has taken command there,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45"it is nothing but a nuisance."
0:46:46 > 0:46:49I think this rivalry, it's incredibly interesting
0:46:49 > 0:46:51because it encapsulates
0:46:51 > 0:46:54not only the relationship between Wilhelm and his uncle,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57this constant jostling and jousting for position,
0:46:57 > 0:47:01but also the relationship between England and Germany
0:47:01 > 0:47:03and the English fleet and the German fleet.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05It prefigures so much of what is later to come.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11By the mid-1890s, the erratic young Kaiser was veering once more
0:47:11 > 0:47:15away from Britain and back towards Russia.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26In 1894, Tsar Alexander III died.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30The coronation of his son Nicholas
0:47:30 > 0:47:34provided the first moving images of any royal figure.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40But beneath the pomp and grandeur, the new tsar, just 26,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43was desperately insecure, as he told one of his cousins.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48"What am I to do? What is going to happen to me?
0:47:48 > 0:47:53"To Alix, to Mother, to all of Russia? I'm not prepared to be Tsar.
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"I never wanted to become Tsar,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58"I know nothing of the business of ruling."
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Nicholas II is very badly prepared to be tsar in terms
0:48:02 > 0:48:06of having played an effective role of any sort in government.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11He is also, simply, emotionally younger than his age of 26.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14And just by character,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17here is a man whom fate has placed in the middle of politics,
0:48:17 > 0:48:20here is also a man who dislikes politics and politicians.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25But Nicholas's beautiful young wife,
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Queen Victoria's favourite granddaughter,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31now the Tsarina Alexandra, was already on hand,
0:48:31 > 0:48:36offering a combination of sugary devotion and steely resolve.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42"Darling boysy, me loves you, oh so very tenderly and deeply.
0:48:42 > 0:48:48"Be firm and show your own mind and don't let others forget who you are.
0:48:48 > 0:48:49"Forgive me, lovey."
0:48:51 > 0:48:55I think Alexandra is like people who convert to another religion,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57they often overdo it.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00She underwent this tremendous emotional struggle,
0:49:00 > 0:49:02did convert to Russian Orthodoxy
0:49:02 > 0:49:05and I think became more Russian than the Russians,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08became more orthodox than the orthodox.
0:49:08 > 0:49:13She invests her husband with this sort of quasi-divine character
0:49:13 > 0:49:17which doesn't allow him ever to compromise.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20If you are a representative of God on Earth,
0:49:20 > 0:49:24then you can't be told what to do by anybody else.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Adrift and uncertain,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31Nicholas also clung to Russia's authoritarian traditions.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36"I shall maintain the principle of autocracy
0:49:36 > 0:49:37"just as firmly and unflinchingly
0:49:37 > 0:49:40"as it was preserved by my unforgettable, dead father."
0:49:42 > 0:49:45Kaiser Wilhelm thoroughly approved
0:49:45 > 0:49:48of his young cousin's anti-democratic instincts.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50He wrote to Nicholas,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53complaining that his own German parliament was...
0:49:53 > 0:49:55"Behaving as badly as it can,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58"swinging backwards and forwards between the Socialists,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00"egged on by the Jews, and the Catholics.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03"Both parties being soon fit to be hung,
0:50:03 > 0:50:04"all of them, as far as I can see."
0:50:18 > 0:50:19The two men would meet
0:50:19 > 0:50:23during summer cruises on their royal yachts in the Baltic.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30For the Kaiser, Nicholas's accession provided the opportunity
0:50:30 > 0:50:33for a fresh start in Russo-German relations.
0:50:33 > 0:50:38But like most people, Nicholas found his German cousin difficult.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41Wilhelm had this very unfortunate manner.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44He would go around smacking people on the bottom
0:50:44 > 0:50:46and playing practical jokes,
0:50:46 > 0:50:48turning all his rings inward
0:50:48 > 0:50:52and then squeezing your hand very tightly so it really hurt.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58The Kaiser's sense of humour was crude and infantile.
0:50:59 > 0:51:05In this Christmas card, he has drawn in the bodily functions himself.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10On his yacht, he would force his ageing entourage
0:51:10 > 0:51:12to perform morning gymnastics,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15snipping their braces so their trousers fell down...
0:51:15 > 0:51:18and sitting on them.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25He was invariably delighted by his own wit,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27as one British statesman observed.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34"If the Kaiser laughs, which he is sure to do a good many times,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38"he will laugh with absolute abandonment, throwing his head back,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41"opening his mouth to the fullest possible extent,
0:51:41 > 0:51:45"shaking his whole body, and often stamping with one foot
0:51:45 > 0:51:48"to show his excessive enjoyment of any joke."
0:51:51 > 0:51:54The Tsar found his cousin's visits an ordeal.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58And the Tsarina Alexandra was no more fond of him.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03The Kaiser considered her a German,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06but she considered herself an Englishwoman
0:52:06 > 0:52:09and had always been part of the anti-Prussian club.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17A whole new generation of royals was now holidaying in Denmark.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19For the Tsar and Tsarina,
0:52:19 > 0:52:23it was an escape from the stifling atmosphere of Saint Petersburg.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27This footage dates from 1899.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34In it, Tsar Nicholas can be seen fooling around with royal relatives.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42In this company, Tsar and Tsarina could truly relax.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45Play the fool even.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47In a way that was unthinkable at home.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56Nicholas's mother and aunt, the Danish sisters Minny and Alix,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58seen here on the right,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01continued to be the centre of this boisterous,
0:53:01 > 0:53:04anti-Prussian grouping of cousins.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07A grouping of which the Tsarina was very firmly a part.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11And from which the Kaiser remained excluded.
0:53:15 > 0:53:16He is paranoid.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18He sees a conspiracy
0:53:18 > 0:53:21and it's the Russian and the British
0:53:21 > 0:53:25and then all these funny little German cousins and principalities
0:53:25 > 0:53:27all ganging up against him
0:53:27 > 0:53:28and talking behind his back.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35The Tsarina made little attempt to conceal her contempt for the Kaiser.
0:53:35 > 0:53:39He thinks himself a superman, but he's really nothing but a clown.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Wilhelm was the cousin no-one wanted to play with.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54The Kaiser's paranoia worsened as it became clear
0:53:54 > 0:53:58Nicholas's accession had led to a thawing of relations,
0:53:58 > 0:54:00not with Germany, but with Britain.
0:54:02 > 0:54:08In 1896, Nicholas and Alexandra visited Balmoral.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12They can be seen here walking either side of Queen Victoria's carriage.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Victoria was enchanted by the new Tsar.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21I think if one is looking for a case
0:54:21 > 0:54:22where actually personal chemistry
0:54:22 > 0:54:25does matter in international politics,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29Victoria's fond attitude towards Nicholas is very clearly one of them.
0:54:30 > 0:54:35"Nicky is charming and wonderfully like Georgie.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39"He always speaks English and almost without a fault.
0:54:39 > 0:54:40"He is very unaffected."
0:54:45 > 0:54:48In 1899, Queen Victoria wrote to Nicholas
0:54:48 > 0:54:52to warn him about his German cousin Wilhelm.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57"I am afraid William may go and tell things against us to you,
0:54:57 > 0:55:00"just as he does about you to us.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05"If so, pray tell me openly and confidentially.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08"It is so important that such mischievousness
0:55:08 > 0:55:13"and unstraightforward proceedings should be put a stop to."
0:55:14 > 0:55:16Tsar Nicholas immediately wrote back.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21"I am so happy you told me in that open way about Wilhelm.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24"It is a dangerous double game he is playing at.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29"As you know, dearest Grandmamma, all I am striving at now
0:55:29 > 0:55:33"is for the longest possible prolongation of peace in this world."
0:55:37 > 0:55:39In the evening of Queen Victoria's life,
0:55:39 > 0:55:45a slow motion reversal of traditional power relationships was under way.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Britain was drawing closer to its former enemy Russia
0:55:49 > 0:55:51and away from its traditional ally, Germany.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58It was a process driven primarily by politicians and national interest.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01But the Kaiser's tangled relationship
0:56:01 > 0:56:04with his British relatives had played a key part.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10For the old Queen, the distancing between the two nations was painful.
0:56:13 > 0:56:14During the Boer War,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18she was subject to vicious attacks in the German press.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Her daughter Vicky wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm to protest.
0:56:23 > 0:56:24"You can imagine my feelings
0:56:24 > 0:56:29"when I see her made the subject of gross and insulting caricatures.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31"Her mother was German, her husband was German,
0:56:31 > 0:56:35"her sons-in-law and daughters-in-law nearly all.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37"Her sympathies always were German."
0:56:38 > 0:56:41The Kaiser, too, for all his occasional hostility,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44never lost his affection for his grandmother.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48"People have no idea how much I love the Queen,
0:56:48 > 0:56:50"how profoundly she is interwoven
0:56:50 > 0:56:53"with all my memories of childhood and youth."
0:56:54 > 0:56:55I think the Kaiser,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58as much as he could love anyone except for himself,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00really loved Queen Victoria.
0:57:00 > 0:57:01She was his grandmother.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04He had very happy memories of going to stay with her
0:57:04 > 0:57:06and she was good with him.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08He listened to her when he would not listen to other people.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10She is very clever at handling him,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12getting him to do what she wants,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14by being firm but affectionate,
0:57:14 > 0:57:15and he responds to that.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26But Victoria was now 81
0:57:26 > 0:57:30and at Osborne at the start of 1901, she entered her final illness.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33The Kaiser dashed to her side.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37He came rushing over when it was clear she would not last much longer.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42And he was actually beside her as she died.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45He held her in his arms and said how little and how light she was
0:57:45 > 0:57:48and I think he was genuinely very moved.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53Queen Victoria died in the arms of the German Kaiser
0:57:53 > 0:57:55and he helped lay her body out
0:57:55 > 0:57:59beneath the portrait of her beloved German husband, Prince Albert.
0:58:03 > 0:58:04A few days later,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08Wilhelm rode side-by-side with his old sailing rival,
0:58:08 > 0:58:09now King Edward VII,
0:58:09 > 0:58:15behind Queen Victoria's coffin, uncle and nephew united in grief.
0:58:18 > 0:58:21But everyone present knew the old Queen's passing
0:58:21 > 0:58:23meant the end of an era.
0:58:23 > 0:58:24The Grandmother of Europe,
0:58:24 > 0:58:28the woman who held the extended royal family together was dead.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34A chilly, uncertain new century was dawning.