Dearest Vicky, Darling Fritz
Page 24
But the most articulate of Vicky’s enemies slandered her with little restraint and a good deal of imagination. While Bismarck was uncharacteristically silent, Waldersee declared that she ‘scarcely seems a responsible being, so fanatically does she uphold the idea that her husband is not seriously ill’.23 Lucius von Balhausen, Minister of Agriculture, later remarked in his memoirs with spite and total disregard for the truth that she resembled her mother, who had refused almost to the end to believe that the Prince Consort was sinking in 1861, declared he was only malingering, went for a drive and came back to find him dead.24 Herbert Bismarck wrote that the Crown Prince had to remain in Italy because his wife feared she would be pelted with rotten eggs if she returned to Berlin.25
Fritz had always been popular in Prussia. The only circle who hated him as much as they loathed Vicky were the representatives of the Christian Socialist Movement, led by the notoriously anti-Semitic court chaplain Adolf von Stöcker. At a court ball some years earlier Fritz had met a young Jewess who dreaded the prospect of being ignored. He detailed his friend Count Bernstorff to dance with her, while Vicky had shown her lack of prejudice by accepting the honorary chairmanship of a newly-founded orphanage for Jewish girls in Berlin. Willy eagerly identified himself with the anti-Semitic movement, and in December 1887 he attended a meeting of Stöcker’s mission at the Waldersees’ house which planned to extend the movement throughout Germany. There he made a speech declaring that Christian Socialism was needed to bring people back to Christianity who had lost their faith, and to get them to recognize the absolute authority of the monarchy. Bismarck attacked him for this ludicrous address, and was coldly reminded that in Germany the Kaiser, not the Chancellor, was master.
Some took the view that Willy accepted too unquestioningly the verdict of his flatterers that his father was being mishandled by Mackenzie and, excited by the prospect of premature power, tried to exert some influence out of a sense of duty.26 Nevertheless his next intervention at San Remo was thoroughly ill-timed. After the public criticism of Mackenzie two more doctors, Professor von Schrotter from Vienna and Dr Krause from Berlin, were sent to replace Gerhardt and Bergmann, to whom it was made clear that their services were not required any longer. They examined Fritz, and after all doctors present – Mackenzie included – had held a consultation agreeing that the disease was cancer, they declared that two alternatives were possible: either tracheotomy, an incision in the windpipe, which would avoid danger of suffocation, or total removal of the larynx, which would result in permanent loss of voice at the very least. Whatever course was taken, it would only prolong the patient’s life for months rather than years.
As they were ushered into the sitting-room to break the news to the Crown Prince he stood with composed dignity, giving a nod and a gentle smile that betrayed no emotion. Vicky was beside him, white as a sheet but determined for his sake not to give way. Schrotter, acting as the doctors’ spokesman, told him of their conclusion, without mentioning the word cancer but leaving them in no doubt as to what was inferred, and then gave him a choice of tracheotomy or removal. Calmly he wrote on his pad that he and Vicky wished to be alone for a while to decide. Together they selected tracheotomy, should it become necessary; Fritz felt that an Emperor mutilated by the removal of his larynx would be incapable of carrying out his duties. His resigned attitude made it clear that he knew he was doomed, but only if threatened with suffocation would he submit to a splitting of the larynx. Now that he knew the truth, he seemed a little less depressed than before. Later in front of the servants and doctors, he apologized for feeling so well under the circumstances.
At this stage Willy reappeared with yet another doctor, Schmidt, who was to examine Fritz and take a report back to Berlin with him. Whoever sent them is purely speculative; whether one, encouraged by public opinion and spurred on privately by the other, decided to take matters into his own hands, or whether the Bismarcks sent them, is not known. Whatever the circumstances, Willy was too full of his own importance when he arrived to make allowance for his mother’s frantic state of mind, telling her to get his father up and dressed so that he could take him back to Berlin for an operation. She would not hear of it, and struggling to restrain her temper she suggested that they should go for a walk together. He retorted that he had no time, as he would be too busy speaking to the doctors. When she answered that they had instructions to report to her and not to him, he insisted he was acting on the orders of his grandfather, and to see that the doctors were not interfered with in any way.
The sight of her son impudently standing with his back half turned to her, as good as telling her what to do in the presence of her household, was more than she could stand. In her own words she ‘pitched into him with considerable violence’, declaring that she would report his behaviour to his father and see that he was forbidden the villa in future;27 with that she swept regally out of the room. Rather taken aback, he sent Radolinski after her to tell her that he had not meant to be so rude, but he had come as the Emperor’s representative, and was only doing his duty. The air cleared, she answered that she bore him no grudge, but would not put up with any interference; the head on her shoulders was just as good as his. However it was obviously only a truce, and on his return to Berlin he complained that his mother had treated him like a dog. Forty years later, chastened by abdication and a decade of exile, he recalled benignly that ‘she saw everything in shadows, everything hostile, saw want of sympathy and coolness where there was only a helpless silence.’28
After Fritz was told the doctors’ diagnosis at San Remo, correspondents were asked by Dr Schrader and Radolinski not to divulge the news. They intended to prepare the German public gradually by a series of cautiously-worded bulletins which would make the patient’s state generally known without shocking his own feelings. This plan, however, was frustrated by the immediate publication of a private bulletin to the Emperor in the Reichs-Anzeiger which Fritz saw, much to his distress.*
When Vicky was not sitting talking with him or renewing ice bandages around his throat she forced herself to read the papers, having made him promise that he would not look at them first. Almost without exception they made unpleasant reading, and in particular the attacks on Mackenzie made her seethe with anger. Whatever his faults, notably pride which prevented him from admitting that he might have been wrong, he certainly knew how to handle them with sensitivity.
Moreover she suspected that the clique at Berlin were doing their best to see that Willy would succeed his grandfather on the throne. Wilhelm was tactless enough to raise the question of abdication to his father’s face at San Remo, and Fritz was so furious that even an alarmed Vicky felt it necessary to remind them that despite everything Wilhelm was their son.30 In a conversation with Herbert Bismarck in mid-November, General von Albedyll said the Crown Princess was responsible for giving a falsely hopeful portrait of her husband’s condition as she wanted to propagate the legend that he was capable of ascending the throne and ruling, so she would be able to rule herself. The Crown Prince was at her mercy, and even if he wanted to renounce his claim to the throne she would never let him; the situation would be tantamount to takeover by a foreign power, namely Great Britain. Such arguments were rebutted by Chancellor Bismarck, who reiterated that on the death of the present Emperor his son and heir would succeed him, whether he was ill or not, and whether he would be able to perform his duties or not would be decided according to certain articles in the Prussian constitution.31
That the Chancellor fervently wanted the Crown Prince to succeed his father was beyond doubt, for personal as well as constitutional reasons. Prince Wilhelm, he told his associates, was a hothead incapable of holding his tongue, who let himself be swayed by flatterers, and could lead Germany into a war without realizing or wanting it.32 It was vital that his father should have a chance to rule, so the young man would have a chance to settle down and learn. For once he and the Crown Princess were in complete agree-ment. As Chancellor he was furious with Walderse
e and his obsession with a preventive war policy, in which he had influenced and was wholeheartedly supported by Wilhelm. Waldersee and his acolytes seemed convinced that Russia and France were planning a pre-emptive strike on Germany early the next year, and said it was necessary for Germany and Austria to be prepared, if not to declare war themselves first. By mid-December Bismarck was angrily threatening to resign if Waldersee continued to agitate for war.
In view of the Kaiser’s increasing frailty, and in his son’s absence, it was vital to appoint Wilhelm as his representative. On 15 November he was granted authority, should the Kaiser become incapable, to sign state papers on his behalf. Basically it was a reasonable idea; by now the old man was so senile that he could barely sign his own name. But it would have been only common courtesy to consult Fritz first, not to let him hear of it as a fait accompli. He was already convinced that Wilhelm could not wait for him to die, and was behaving as if he was Crown Prince already. On 19 November an official document confirming Prince Wilhelm’s appointment as Stellvertreter des Kaisers (‘deputy Emperor’) and duties, signed by Bismarck, had been delivered at San Remo, but Vicky hoped that by playing for time she could wait for a more opportune moment to break it to him. She asked Radolinski to put it in safe keeping, as she had nowhere secure for it, and when he begged her to inform the Crown Prince of it she refused, saying it would anger him too much.
Two days later Henry arrived with a letter from Wilhelm, triumphantly informing him of the order. Fritz was furious; he would not let them act as if he was already dead, and insisted he would go straight back to Berlin and confront his father, son and the Chancellor regardless of the consequences. When he asked Vicky about Bismarck’s original letter she panicked, denying that she had ever received one. In desperation she asked Radolinski to hand it to him and take the blame. Later Radolinski told Henry of the incident, only to be told in no uncertain terms that as a senior member of the household it was his duty not to withhold any such letters to the Crown Prince, and overrule the Crown Princess if necessary.
Now that all hope of peace and quiet had gone for good, they could at least seek solace from a succession of family and friends who put in an appearance. Baron Roggenbach helped to keep Fritz’s spirits up as he talked with reserved optimism on the future of Germany as a constitutional power while he played chess or backgammon with the heir to the throne. Much as he believed in the superiority of German medical skill and privately distrusted Mackenzie, he had to admit that the Scot had behaved honourably and straightforwardly.32 The Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and their sister Louise, Marchioness of Lorne, all visited at various times. So did Lady Ponsonby, who arrived at the villa early in December to find him up and about, with a deceptively fresh colour and good appetite. Reluctantly she asked not to be seated next to him at evening dinner, as she could not prevent him talking; ‘if one tries to avoid this by talking oneself, then he will answer. If one is silent, then he will begin the conversation.’ In front of others he tried and often succeeded in giving an impression of good health, but she could see that this was not the case. A few days later, he picked up a paper and read a gloomy report on his health, listlessly pointing it out to Vicky, asking why they had to take every ray of hope away. Trying to sound cheerful she told him not to take any notice, then she went into the adjoining room with Lady Ponsonby and broke down completely.33
Even Radolinski, who was not well-disposed towards the Crown Princess, found himself moved by her valiant efforts and courage, and he admitted to feeling ‘terribly sorry for the poor woman,’ to Baron Holstein. She kept up his morale, ‘but when she is alone she gives way to tears. Only she should not smile so much in public. It does her harm and one cannot help thinking that she does not feel deeply. Which is not so. She is absolutely resolved that he will eventually ascend to the throne. After waiting so long the poor man must have this satisfaction at least, and I will do all I can in the way of nursing and care to ensure that he survives to see that day and afterwards to remain on the throne as long as possible.’34
Fritz was deeply touched by the sympathy shown him from the outside world. Soon after the crucial diagnosis the Reichstag sent him a telegram wishing him well, and Sunday 27 November was chosen as a day of prayer for him in every English chaplaincy throughout Germany. A visiting British clergyman, Bishop Wilkinson, preached a sermon at Berlin on the divine cure of the nobleman’s son at Capernaum. A deaf-mute offered to have his own sound larynx removed and inserted in his Crown Prince’s throat. ‘Infallible remedies’ were sent by well-wishers to the villa; whisky and oatmeal from the Scottish Highlands, ground oyster shells from England, a bag of live worms from the United States, and carbolic acid from France, to say nothing of medicines, ointments, and bottles of mineral water. From his letters, particularly one to Queen Victoria, it was evident that Fritz, like Vicky, placed ‘unwavering trust’ in Mackenzie’s optimistic diagnosis, and ‘more stock in his words in November than in those of the [German] doctors who had been called in for consultation’.35 He was well aware that he would not make a full recovery, but the doctors had told him that the disease might be held at bay for a couple of years if not more. ‘In no way do I despair, and hope, even if only after long and careful treatment, I shall be able to dedicate all my energies to my country as before.’36
In December Mackenzie was recalled from London by a telegram informing him of a sudden increase in the growth. He hurried out to San Remo, examined the throat and announced that he could discover no dangerous symptoms present, and though there was a small new growth on the left vocal cord, the general appearance of the larynx was much better than it had been the previous month. Over Christmas and the New Year Fritz appeared to rally, and under the circumstances everyone worked hard to try and create as cheerful and festive an atmosphere as possible. They had two trees, one obtained locally and the other sent by German farmers from the Black Forest to give him a breath of German air. Willy, Dona and their children stayed at Berlin, but the rest of the family joined them. Ditta, Bernhard and their eight-year-old daughter Feodora came, as did Henry, who thought his father was recovering and sent reports to Queen Victoria assuring her that he was in good spirits and looked well. Fritz wrote to Willy that if his condition continued to improve, he still hoped ‘to be fit and well again.’37
At 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve the household gathered in the large room opening onto the balcony, to be joined by Lady Ponsonby and her daughters, and the Italian Ambassador at Berlin, Count Launay. Fritz and Vicky then appeared arm-in-arm, the folding doors opened, and the room was flooded with light as the guests gazed wide-eyed at both gaily-decorated fir trees, ingeniously placed in a setting of roses, camellias, violets, geraniums and lilies all freshly gathered from the gardens. Every guest and servant had been remembered and Fritz took his part in leading them to the tables heaped with presents in the centre of the room. No trouble was too much for those who had so loyally stood by him. In the morning they attended divine service, and in the afternoon a party of schoolchildren assembled in front of the villa to sing carols; deeply moved at the sound, he walked out onto the terrace to thank them.
Their political foes in Berlin, as well as some of the less sympathetic members of their household, maintained that the Crown Princess clung to the hope that her husband’s condition was curable as she simply could not accept that he was dying, or that she was motivated by political ambition as she still feared – despite assurances to the contrary – that an ailing Crown Prince would not be permitted to ascend the throne. Others thought she was making as light as possible of his illness in order to prevent her husband from losing heart and renouncing his place in the succession, or perhaps even contemplating suicide.38 Such verdicts take little account of the fact that, where the argument regarding preventing him from losing heart was concerned, this was no more than commonsense in the case of a wife who was so devoted to her husband. Only their most virulent enemies could have denied that, on
a personal level, their marriage had been one of the happiest in the annals of nineteenth century European royalty.
In the first week of January 1888 his condition deteriorated again; a growth formed on the right of the larynx, he became feverish, had painful spasms of coughing, and slept badly. At one point he coughed up part of the growth, which was immediately sent to Virchow for diagnosis. It contained no evidence of malignancy, but he continued to feel wretched and depressed. By the end of the month Henry felt he was making a slow but sure recovery, writing to Willy that their father was going for good walks again and ‘seemed generally in good spirits.’ A few days later his next report was less reassuring; their father had ‘terrifying’ breathing difficulties and suffered incessant headaches. ‘What is astonishing is that he still eats and drinks well, and is otherwise quite interested in remaining active, though not to the same degree as before!’39