Wilhelm
German Crown Prince
Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the eldest child of the last Kaiser, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, and thus a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and distant cousin to many British royals, such as Queen Elizabeth II. As Emperor Wilhelm's heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, until the abolition of the monarchy. Wilhelm became crown prince at the age of six in 1888, when his grandfather Frederick III died and his father became emperor. He was crown prince for 30 years until the fall of the empire on 9 November 1918. During World War I, he commanded the 5th Army from 1914 to 1916 and was commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince for the remainder of the war. After his return to Germany in 1923, he fought the Weimar Republic and campaigned for the reintroduction of the monarchy in Germany. After his plans to become president had been blocked by his father, Wilhelm supported Adolf Hitler's rise to power, but when Wilhelm realised that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled. Wilhelm became head of the House of Hohenzollern on 4 June 1941 following the death of his father and held the position until his own death on 20 July 1951.
The 1st (Emperor Alexander) Guards Grenadiers (German: Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1, briefly Alexander-Regiment or Alexandriner) were an infantry regiment of the Guard Corps within the Royal Prussian Army and a Guards Grenadiers regiment of the Imperial German Army. The regiment's tradition dated back to 1626, when Elector George William of Brandenburg had a standing mercenary unit established during the Thirty Years' War, in order to defend the borders of his margraviate. The 1st Grenadier regiment was formed after the Napoleonic Wars of Liberation on 14 October 1814 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia and was named in honour of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who was also its first colonel-in-chief. Parts of the formation had distinguished themselves in the 1807 Siege of Kolberg, most of its officers had been decorated with the Iron Cross or the order Pour le Mérite. The regiment was elevated to the rank of a royal guard on 18 February 1820.
The House of Hohenzollern (German: Haus Hohenzollern) is a royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire. The family came from the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the late 11th century and took their name from Hohenzollern Castle. The first ancestors of the Hohenzollerns were mentioned in 1061. The Hohenzollern family split into two branches, the Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch. The senior Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern was founded by Conrad I, Burgrave of Nuremberg (1186–1261). The family supported the Hohenstaufen and Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire during the 12th to 15th centuries, being rewarded with several territorial grants. Beginning in the 16th century, this branch of the family became Protestant and decided on expansion through marriage and the purchase of surrounding lands. In the first phase, the family gradually added to their lands, at first with many small acquisitions in the Franconian region of Germany: Ansbach in 1331, Kulmbach in 1340. In the second phase, the family expanded their lands further with large acquisitions
in the Brandenburg and Prussian regions of Germany and present-day Poland: Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1417, Duchy of Prussia in 1525. These acquisitions eventually transformed the Franconian Hohenzollerns from a minor German princely family into one of the most important dynasties in Europe. From 8 January 1701 the title of Elector of Brandenburg was attached to the title of King in Prussia and, from 13 September 1772, to that of King of Prussia. In 1871, the Kingdom of Prussia became a constituent member of the German Empire, and the King of Prussia gained the additional title of German Emperor.
Standard of His Majesty the German Emperor. "The standard, 4 metres square, is made of golden yellow silk and shows the Iron Cross with the smaller coat of arms of His Majesty. An imperial crown and three black eagles with red armour appear in the corners of the cross. As soon as His Majesty boards a ship, the imperial standard is hoisted at the top of the main mast and all other command and distinguishing marks are cancelled." The shape of the imperial eagle and the central escutcheon has been changed from the previous version. The imperial crown also has a slightly different shape.
Awards: Sash and star of the Order of the Black Eagle (Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler), Stars of the Order of the Red Eagle (Roter Adlerorden), the House Order of Hohenzollern (Hausorden von Hohenzollern)and the Royal Order of the Crown (Königlicher Kronen-Orden).
