Why did the Kaiser Wilhelm II always speak to Tsar Alexander by turning away from him and speakng over his shoulder?
Reference: Nicholas and Alexandra, Robert K. Massie
No no no!!!
It was ALEXANDER who used to turn his back when he spoke to Wilhelm, who Alexander INTENSELY disliked. Most people weren’t too fond of Willy-he was brash, egotistical, loud and obnoxious. What irked Alexander the most, however, was how Willy would badmouth the Prince of Wales, Bertie, (later Edward VII), who was Alexander’s brother-in-law Alexander’s wife, Maria Feodorovna-nee Dagmar of Denmark (or Minnie, as she was called in the family) and Bertie’s wife, Alix-Alexandra of Denmark were sisters and very close to one another-as were their spouses. Bertie and ‘Sasha’ were also very friendly with one another, and it annoyed Alexander to hear this. Also, Willy’s grandfather had annexed the duchies of Shleswig Holstein-which the Danish King Christian IX, Alix’s and Minnie’s father, considered belonged to Denmark. Alix and Minnie were extremely bitter about this, especially Alix, who hated all things Prussian.
BTW, EXCELLENT choice of reading material!
Oh, I forgot to mention that Bertie was Willy’s uncle-Willy’s mother was Queen Victoria’s eldest child and Bertie’s sister. Willy, for some reason, really hated and resented his uncle-I think he was jealous, and he told everyone he met that Bertie was a “Satan”.
Sasha, naturally, didn’t agree.
Third time to read it and you are correct. Mrs. Plant and I were going to read it and she crapped out.
Wilhelm had that idea of “English encirclement” that he got from someone else, did he not?
And did he not also bite Uncle Bertie as a child at a wedding reception attired in Kilt complete with little dirk?
I wish I could remember the advisor who when asked what to do instead of abdicating suggested that Wilhelm “go out and get killed in the front lines.”
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The official SDMB Wilhelm II smiley.
It was Bertie’s wedding. Willy was being watched by Bertie’s brothers Arthur and Leopold-who was a hemophiliac. Arthur and Leopold told their nephew-who was four at the time-not to throw the ceremonial dirk from his kilt into the aisle, and Willy bit his uncles on the knees!
Leopold was okay, but Queen Victoria was furious, as I recall.
InYHO, Guin, who has written the best biography of Alexander III?
HOnestly-I’ve never even SEEN a bio of Alexander III, unfortunately. There was one out about his wife not too long ago-Little Mother of Russia, I believe is the title.
You CAN, however, find some info on him from Charlotte Zeepvat’s Romanov Autumn and The Flight of the Romanovs by Perry and Pleshakov.
Who was the member of the Royal Family…I believe her first name was Marie…whose husband was in the Russian Air Force and commandered a train for their escape? They lived in Cananda afterwards. He was bedridden later in life and she cared for him by herself.