Kaiser attends Krupp wedding

October 15, 1906

Kaiser Wilhelm II today attended the wedding of the world's richest woman, Bertha Krupp, who married Lieutenant Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach. The wedding took place in an "improvised chapel adjoining the bride's birthplace, Villa Huegel-Huegel," near Essen.

Before the wedding, the bride and groom announced they were giving $250,000 to a workmen's invalid fund. Bertha Krupp also announced that she was personally donating a further $250,000 to the same fund, and was also donating land where workers' homes would be built.

The Kaiser sat with the bride's family during the simple Lutheran service. The bride wore "a princess robe of heavy, tinted crepe de chine, with panels of point de Venise, and a four-yard train."

The veil was made from tulle and Brussels lace and was topped with a wreath of myrtle blossoms.

At the wedding reception, the Kaiser conferred on the groom the right to the surname Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach.

Wilhelm II played a major role in arranging this marriage. Bertha was the elder of two daughters of Friedrich Krupp, whose firm was one of the most important industrial firms in Germany.

Friedrich Krupp died in 1902, leaving two daughters and no male heir to take over the firm. Thus, Kaiser Wilhelm II ensured that the firm would continue when he arranged for the marriage between Bertha and Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach, a member of a prominent diplomatic family.

Bertha became the sole owner of the Krupp firm, as her younger sister received a substantial payoff. Gustav, handpicked by the Kaiser, would become the new guiding force behind Krupp.

The bride was given away by her cousin, Arthur Krupp, and she was attended by her sister, Barbara.

The newlyweds left by special train for the Krupp castle on the Rhine where they will spend their honeymoon.

Only 20-years-old, Bertha is "in so sense a beauty," but a "healthy, robust girl," whose "life has been extremely simple."

The new Mrs. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach is said to be worth $100,000,000. Think more than a billion in modern currency.