At a time when Europe was ruled by monarchs, their private lives had a great influence on politics. Therefore, it can be concluded that if Eliza Radziwiłłówna (1803-1834) married Prince William I of Hohenzollern (1797-1888), the future emperor William I, the world could avoid World War I.
On March 9, 1888, Emperor William I Hohenzollern died at the age of 91. In the last hours of his life, he was accompanied by his wife Augusta, whom he had married nearly 60 years earlier. However, throughout this marriage, the man loved his cousin, Princess Eliza Radziwiłłówna, who had died for over 50 years. Although the Polish woman reciprocated this feeling, the Hohenzollerns did not agree to this wedding, because the girl's excellent background was not good enough for the Prussian royal family.
Her husband's lack of love was a blow to Augusta's female pride, but in the last moments of his life, the Empress showed incredible nobility by instructing her daughter to bring her father's portrait of Eliza on his desk. The witnesses of this scene said that her image was placed “in the weakening hands of William I, who touched the face of his beloved with trembling fingers. Apparently, for a brief moment one could see a gentle smile on the face of the dying ruler. ”
"I felt that I was not indifferent to me"
This feeling was a consequence of the couple's close relationship, which resulted in frequent contacts between the two families. Eliza was born in the family of Luiza, née Princess Hohenzollern and Antoni Radziwiłł. The girl's mother was the cousin of King Frederick William III, William's father. Due to family affinities, at the end of 1815, King Frederick William III appointed Antoni Radziwiłł to the post of governor of the Grand Duchy of Poznań established under the treaties of the Congress of Vienna.
20-year-old Wilhelm and 14-year-old Eliza fell in love in 1817, during the Radziwiłł stay in Berlin, where Prince Antoni had his own palace. During this visit, the young Hohenzollern accompanied Radziwiłłówna during masked balls, dinners and theatrical performances. He did not hide his admiration for her, so wherever he appeared with a Polish woman, his siblings and relatives began to sneeze and cough significantly. William confided his feelings for the princess to Adjutant Oldwig von Natzmer:
"Her charming exterior and a certain gentleness of her personality attracted me immeasurably (...) I embraced Eliza with a peculiar feeling. I felt that I was not indifferent to me. ”
Soon the Radziwiłł family returned to Poznań. William began to write regularly to Eliza, whom he saw in 1818, 1819 and 1820. They professed love on June 16, 1820, during the two families' stay at Freienwalde Castle near Berlin. As Dagmar von Gersdorff, Radziwiłłówna's biographer, maintains, "each of them recorded these days [in Freienwalde - V.W.] as the beginning of their love".
Insufficient nobility
It seemed that the beautiful and sensitive Miss Radziwiłł was the perfect candidate for a wife. Frederick William III was worried about her origins. The Radziwiłłs were powerful and wealthy, but they did not belong to the ruling families. Admittedly, William as the second son of the ruler was not the heir to the throne, but if his older brother Frederick William had only daughters or died childless, Wilhelm would take over the power after his death. In this case, the children of Eliza, who were not of royal bloodline, would not be allowed to inherit the throne. This would result in a serious political crisis.
Antoni Radziwiłł with his daughter Eliza
To prevent a woman of insufficiently noble blood from joining the Hohenzollern family, the king commissioned his trusted courtiers to draw up an opinion confirming or refuting the thesis about the inferior status of the Radziwiłłs. The expertise turned out to be unfavorable for those in love:Eliza's origin was not equal to that of William. The young Hohenzollern did not give up and over the next few years each side presented the views of its own experts. Within 3 years, the number of expert opinions reached 23!
Radziwiłłówna felt humiliated by the actions of the Prussian court, after all her mother was one of the Hohenzollerns! Wilhelm's attitude was even more painful for her. When his father expressed disapproval of his relationship with Eliza, the prince acted icy towards her. If Frederick William III changed the perception of the princess for the better, the young Hohenzollern showed affection for the girl again. This pattern of William's behavior - withdrawing from the relationship and returning to his beloved - will become a hallmark of their romance.
At the beginning of 1826, the king finally forbade his son to marry Radziwiłłówna.
Death of Eliza
At the news of the monarch's decision, the princess first reacted with deathly silence and then with excruciating tears. Antoni Radziwiłł felt insulted by the actions of Frederick William III and his son. Eliza's father believed that the young Hohenzollern deceived his daughter with promises of marriage.
As the family wished, in 1830 William married Princess Augusta Weimarska, a young lady of impeccable pedigree and closely related to the Romanov family. William reluctantly proposed to her and even admitted:
"The princess is pretty and smart, but I have no feelings for her."
Augusta knew Eliza was a great love for her fiancé but vowed to make him happy.
Antonin, bust of Eliza Radziwiłłówna
Radziwiłłówna gradually recovered, but it soon turned out that she was suffering from tuberculosis, for which there was no cure at that time. The girl died on September 27, 1834 with the name William on her lips. Her old lover was in despair.
House hell
Augusta and William's relationship turned out to be very unhappy. As early as 1831, when their first child, Frederick, the future emperor, was born, the spouses could not find an agreement. Wilhelm came from militarized Prussia, and his wife - from a principality where caring for culture and art was part of the state policy (even the way of dressing them proves the abyss between them - the man always wore a military uniform, and his wife preferred the theatrical style. :ribbons and artificial flowers in the hair, lace dresses).
Augusta's education and reading did not appeal to Wilhelm, who believed that a woman should be interested in gossip and fashion. The man accused his wife of a lack of femininity and beauty and resented her for taking part in discussions "which should be outside the scope of her interests". The spouses constantly quarreled. After the birth of her second child, Augusta not only moved out of the shared bedroom, but moved to another floor of the palace . The couple only saw each other at meals or parties, but even then there were arguments between the spouses, into which their children and grandchildren were drawn over time. The differences between the partners deepened so much that after 30 years of marriage, the idea of the official separation of the couple emerged, which, however, did not take place after the intervention of their son Fryderyk.
Emperor William I after his death
If the spouses were ordinary people, their quarrels and mutual dislike would only affect the mental development of their children and grandchildren. But William was to inherit the throne from his childless brother, so he and his wife raised future rulers. The constant tensions between William I, Augusta and their son Frederick caused Willie, the future William II grandson of William I, to grow into an emotionally disturbed, impulsive and pompous man. William II had an instilled sense of superiority, extreme militarism and a desire to dominate.
These features influenced his foreign policy in the run-up to World War I. There is no conditional regime in history, but in this case, one can argue that if William II had not been brought up in such a pathological atmosphere, his behavior would have been more subdued and balanced and - who knows? - in the summer of 1914, European affairs would take a different turn?