To be blunt: former Kaiser Wilhelm II hates short hair on women. His wife, Hermine, "wears hers long and drawn tightly about her head." Wilhelm's only daughter, the Duchess of Brunswick, has also kept her hair long.
His daughters-in-law have other ideas. Crown Princess Cecilie wants to follow the example of her sister, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, who recently bobbed her hair, but the Crown Prince objects.
The first member of the family to cut her hair was Princess Alexandra Victoria, former wife of Prince August Wilhelm. She had "her hair shingled as soon as it became fashionable in Germany." Alexandra Victoria has since remarried and is now visiting the United States.
Prince Eitel Friedrich's former wife, Princess Sophie Charlotte, "adopted a permanent wave bob even before the dissolution of her marriage."
Prince Joachim's widow, Marie Auguste, "discarded her tresses" shortly before her marriage to Baron von Loen.
Princess Adelheid, the wife of Prince Adalbert, quickly succumbed to the more modern style. Shortly after the end of the world war, the prince and princess were staying at a "fashionable hotel" in Meran, Tyrol. When other guests learned that the royal couple was arriving, they gathered in the lobby to glimpse the prince and princess. There was much disappointment when Adelheid and Adalbert arrived "wearing old-fashioned, almost pre-war, attire."
Princess Adalbert sensed the situation. She quickly called for a barber "to shingle her hair." She also kept a modiste "working night and day to modernize her wardrobe. The transformation was complete in a few days."
However, Prince Oscar's wife, Ina Marie refuses to give in to modern fashion. She says she will not "sacrifice her hair for any consideration, believing it to be the greatest attribute of womanliness."
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