Journal of International Women's Studies Volume 21 Issue 6 Article 20 August 2020 Empress Frederick and the Women’s Movement in Nineteenth- Century Germany Patricia Kollander Florida Atlantic University Follow this and additional works at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws Part of the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kollander, Patricia (2020). Empress Frederick and the Women’s Movement in Nineteenth-Century Germany. Journal of International Women's Studies, 21(6), 321-331. Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol21/iss6/20 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This journal and its contents may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. ©2020 Journal of International Women’s Studies. Empress Frederick and the Women’s Movement in Nineteenth-Century Germany By Patricia Kollander1 Abstract Empress Frederick of Germany (1841-1901) is known first and foremost as the liberal consort of Emperor Frederick, who died after a reign of only 99 days in 1888. A vast majority of her biographers believe that she converted her husband into a supporter of British-style liberalism, and that his premature death effectively ended prospects for liberal development in Germany. Yet historians have consistently overlooked her work to advance women’s causes, which left a far more tangible legacy than her involvement in politics. The essay discusses reasons why she embraced women’s causes and attempts to reassess her legacy. It also invites a critique of how political and social historians have viewed her accomplishments. Keywords: Empress Frederick of Germany (1841-1901), Women’s education, Feminism in nineteenth century Germany Introduction In early 1902, five months after the death of Empress Frederick of Germany from cancer, an article in London’s Charity Organisation Review proposed the establishment of an endowment in her name for cancer patients in the New Hospital for Women. The endowment was to be established for “the keen interest taken by the Empress Frederick in the welfare and advancement of women.”2 This is not how she has been remembered. Most of her biographers see her as the empress who was deprived of the opportunity to instill liberal reforms in Germany due to the untimely death of her husband, Emperor Frederick III, after a reign of only 99 days.3 A distinct 1 Dr. Patricia Kollander received her PhD from Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island, USA), and is a Professor of History at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.A). Her areas of teaching specialization include modern Germany and the history of European women. Her publications include two books: Frederick III: Germany's Liberal Emperor and I Must be a Part of this War: A German American’s Fight against Hitler and Nazism, along with numerous scholarly book chapters, articles and reviews. 2 “We understand that it is proposed to endow a bed for a patient suffering from cancer in a woman's hospital, and to name the endowed bed after the Emperor and Empress Frederick. Regard being had to the keen interest taken by the Empress Frederick in the welfare and advancement of women, it is further proposed to locate the Memorial Bed in the New Hospital for Women, Euston Road. “Proposed Memorial in London to the Emperor and Empress Frederick.” Charity Organisation Review, New Series, Vol. 11, No. 62 (FEBRUARY 1902), p. 112. Published by: Oxford University Press. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/43787563. 3 Older biographies of Victoria include Egon Caesar Conte Corti, The English Empress. A Study in the Relations between Queen Victoria and Her Eldest Daughter, Empress Frederick of Germany (London, 1957), Richard Barkeley, the Empress Frederick (London, 1956), Daphne Bennett, Vicky: Princess Royal of England and German Empress (London, 1971). More recent works include Hanna Pakula, An Uncommon Woman. The Empress Frederick (New York, 1995), and John van der Kiste, Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz. The Tragic Love Story of Queen Victoria’s Eldest Daughter and the German Emperor. (Gloucestershire, 2001). Patricia Kollander, "Empress Frederick: The Last Hope for a Liberal Germany?” The Historian Vol. 62 No.1 (Fall 1999) pp. 47-63. 321 Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 21, No. 6 August 2020 minority accuse her of stunting the emotional development of her son, the future Emperor William II, whose disastrous reign helped pave the way towards Imperial Germany’s involvement in World War I.4 It is important to point out, however, that these conclusions were based on commentaries of leading male politicians of her time who attached no significance to her work on behalf of women. In other words, because most of Victoria’s biographers focused on her missed opportunity to change the tenor of German politics, they overlooked what she actually accomplished for women during her lifetime, along with the legacy of those accomplishments.5 The following essay will look at reasons why she became involved in women’s causes, and will attempt to place the significance of her efforts into historical context. Beloved Daughter and Political Pawn The future Empress of Germany was born Princess Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa of Great Britain in November 1840; she received the title of Princess Royal a year later. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria and her German-born consort, Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg- Gotha, and was her father's favorite. Young Victoria was regarded as highly intelligent and was tutored personally by her father. She was taught to be first and foremost a facilitator of liberal political change, not an advocate for women’s causes. When his daughter was a child, Albert already had high hopes that she would eventually marry Prince Frederick of Prussia, son of the heir to the throne of Prussia, Prince William (future King of Prussia and German Emperor from 1871-88). Albert believed that the proposed union would foster significant political changes in the land of his birth. In the mid-nineteenth century, thirty-nine German speaking states (including Austria, Prussia and his native Saxe-Coburg Gotha) were housed in the German Confederation, a loose organization of states governed by conservative monarchs and nobles. After his marriage to Queen Victoria, Albert became an ardent supporter of British-style liberalism. He believed that Britain's greatness was based on its progressive institutions, especially a ministry responsible to parliament, not the monarch (as was the case in Prussia), and wished to see similar changes in Prussia. Though he conceded that obstacles to liberal reforms were great in Prussia, he insisted that, "a new leaf has to be turned over and there must be government with the majority."6 By Albert's lights, if the Prussian monarchy adopted a plan of reform, it could spearhead the unification of Germany. In a September 1847 memorandum, Albert insisted that the development of forms of popular government in Germany was making rapid strides, and that "the yearning for German unity will not merely be increased, but the means will also be provided for its attainment."7 The politically reformed and united Germany that Albert envisaged would ultimately strengthen and protect British interests as it would be closely allied to Britain and support its 4 Evelyn Tisdall, She Made the World Chaos: The Story of the Empress Frederick (London, 1944). Patricia Kollander’s Frederick III: Germany’s Liberal Emperor (Westport, CT, 1995) is more critical of Victoria’s influence than most works about her but stops short of Tisdall’s condemnation of her overall legacy. 5 Important exceptions include an article by James C. Albisetti, “The Empress Frederick and female education in the late nineteenth century: Germany, England and Italy,” (Paedagogica Historica 2012), 48:3, 345-355 and an essay by Margit Göttert, “Victoria und die Deutsche Frauenbewegung” in Rainer von Hessen, ed., Victoria, Kaiserin Friedrich (1840-1901). Mission und Schicksal einer englischen Prinzessin in Deutschland. (Campus Verlag, Frankfurt/New York, 2002), pp. 95-109. 6 Frank Eyck, The Prince Consort. A Political Biography, (London, 1959), p. 77. 7 Theodore Martin, The Life of HRH The Prince Consort, 3rd ed., (London, 1880) vol. I, pp. 439-446. 322 Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 21, No. 6 August 2020 desire to block Russian or French expansion.8 The introduction of liberal reforms in Prussia, Germany’s unification under Prussian leadership, and a fruitful Anglo-German alliance--could all be realized if Frederick, the future ruler of Prussia, could be won over to Albert's ideas through Victoria. Albert's pronouncements on Prussia and Germany, however, were not always accurate. He overestimated the strength and scope of the liberal movement, which was confined to a small middle class and divided on key issues. Right-wing liberals recognized the value of representative institutions, but wanted to keep their influence over political affairs as limited as possible.9 Their opponents desired the establishment of a government on the English model, which gave parliament an influential voice in the affairs of the nation.10 German liberals also disagreed on the question as to the form the unified Germany might take: some advocated union of all thirty-nine German states under Prussia, whereas others regarded Austria as the natural leader in German affairs. Albert also underestimated the hostility of Germany's conservatives, including the King Frederick William IV of Prussia, and his heir Prince William--towards liberal reform and the unification of Germany.11 They jealously guarded their power and did not wish to sacrifice it to satisfy the middle class demands for German unity.