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| Monarchy ofGermany | |
|---|---|
Federal | |
 | |
 Wilhelm II | |
| Details | |
| Style | His Imperial and Royal Majesty |
| First monarch | William I |
| Last monarch | William II |
| Formation | 18 January 1871 |
| Abolition | 9 November 1918 |
| Residence | Stadtschloss,Berlin |
| Appointer | Hereditary |
TheGerman Imperial Monarchy was the system of government in which theKing of Prussia as anhereditary monarch was also thehead of state of theGerman Empire from 1871 to 1918, holding the titleGerman Emperor (German:Deutscher Kaiser). The monarchy ended with theNovember Revolution of 1918, and the period afterward is in historiography known as theWeimar Republic.
The Monarch of Germany was created with the proclamation of the President of theNorth German Confederation and theKing of Prussia,William I of Prussia, as "German Emperor" during theFranco-Prussian War, on 18 January 1871 at thePalace of Versailles.
The titleGerman Emperor (German:Deutscher Kaiser) was carefully chosen byMinister President of Prussia andChancellor of the North German ConfederationOtto von Bismarck after discussion until (and after) the day of the proclamation. William I accepted this title grudgingly as he would have preferred "Emperor of Germany" which was, however, unacceptable to the federated monarchs, and which would also have signalled a claim to lands outside of his reign (Austria,Switzerland,Luxembourg etc.). The titleEmperor of the Germans, as had been proposed at theFrankfurt Parliament in 1848, was ruled out as he considered himself chosen "By the Grace of God",not by the people as in a democracy.
By this ceremony, theNorth German Confederation was transformed into theGerman Empire. This empire was afederal monarchy; the emperor was head of state andpresident of thefederated monarchs (thekings ofBavaria,Württemberg,Saxony, thegrand dukes ofOldenburg,Baden,Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Hesse, as well as other principalities, duchies and of thefree cities ofHamburg,Lübeck andBremen).
Some organisations such asTradition und Leben advocate a return to monarchy; however, there is currently little mainstream support for a restoration of the monarchy.[citation needed]
| Monarch | Consort | Reign | Royal House | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Portrait | Name | Reign start | Reign end | |
| 1 |  | EmperorWilliam I (1797–1888) Kaiser Wilhelm I |  | EmpressAugusta (1811–1890) Kaiserin Auguste | 18 January 1871 [1] | 9 March 1888 | House of Hohenzollern |
| 2 |  | EmperorFrederick III (1831–1888) [2] Kaiser Friedrich III | .png) | EmpressVictoria (1840–1901) [3] Kaiserin Viktoria | 9 March 1888 | 15 June 1888 | House of Hohenzollern |
| 3 | | EmperorWilliam II (1859–1941) Kaiser Wilhelm II |  | EmpressAugusta Victoria (1858–1921) Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria | 15 June 1888 | 9 November 1918 (Abdicated) | House of Hohenzollern |
Despite theabolition of the monarchy in 1918, the House of Hohenzollern never relinquished their claims to the thrones of Prussia and the German Empire. These claims are linked by theConstitution of the German Empire: according to this, whoever was King of Prussia was also German Emperor. However, these claims are not recognised by theFederal Republic of Germany or anyone else, this included theWeimar Republic,Nazi Germany andWest orEast Germany.
In 1933Prince William renounced his claim to the former throne when he marriedDorothea von Salviati, in 1940 William II accepted Dorothea and his daughters Felicitas and Christa as dynastic members thus styled HRH Dorothea, Princess of Prussia, HRH Felicitas, Princess of Prussia and HRH Christa, Princess of Prussia, Prince William was killed in 1940.
Prince Louis Ferdinand who was third in line of the succession by 1933, his first son Prince Friedrich Wilhelm renounced his claim in 1967 to marry Waltraud Freytag whom he divorced in 1975 and his second son Prince Michael renounced his claim in 1966 to marry Jutta Jörn like his brother he divorced her in 1982, then his third son Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Jr. was involved in a severe accident during military maneuvers when he was pinned between two vehicles. Although his leg was amputated, he succumbed several weeks later to the trauma and died in 1977.
Prince George Frederick inherited from his grandfather, and during his time as head of House of Hohenzollern his two uncles Princes Friedrich Wilhelm and Michael challenged him to a lawsuit claiming that, despite their renunciations asdynasts at the time of their marriages, the loss of their inheritance rights based on their selection of spouse was discriminatory and unconstitutional.[4] His uncles were initially successful, the Regional Court ofHechingen and the higher Regional Court ofStuttgart ruling in their favour in 1997 on the grounds that the requirement tomarry equally was "immoral".[5] However, theFederal Court of Justice of Germany overturned the original rulings in favour of Georg Friedrich's uncles, the case beingremanded to the courts atHechingen andStuttgart. This time both courts ruled in favour of Georg Friedrich. His uncles then took their case to theFederal Constitutional Court of Germany which overruled the previous court rulings in Georg Friedrich's favour.[4] On 19 October 2005, a German regional court ruled that Georg Friedrich was indeed the principal heir of his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand (who was the primary beneficiary of thetrust set up for the estate of Wilhelm II), but also concluded that each of the children of Louis Ferdinand was entitled to a portion of the Prussian inheritance.[citation needed]
| Pretender | Consort | Reign | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Portrait | Name | Portrait | Name | Reign start | Reign end |
| 1 | | EmperorWilliam II (1859–1941) | | EmpressAugusta Victoria (1858–1921) | 9 November 1918[6] | 4 June 1941 |
 | EmpressHermine Reuss (1887–1947) | |||||
| 2 |  | Crown PrinceWilliam (1882–1951) |  | Crown PrincessCecilie (1886–1954) | 4 June 1941 | 20 July 1951 |
| 3 |  | PrinceLouis Ferdinand (1907–1994) |  | PrincessKira Kirillovna (1909–1967) | 20 July 1951 | 26 September 1994 |
| 4 |  | PrinceGeorge Frederick (1976–) | .jpg) | PrincessSophie (1978–) | 26 September 1994 | |
