Crown Prince Wilhelm in disgrace

Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection

October 16, 1907

The Crown Prince of Germany has been "relieved from court and military duties and it set to work in the Ministry of the Interior and it sitting on a stool from 9 o'clock in the morning until 6 in the evening," reports the Los Angeles Times. He will occupy this stool for a year "in order to familiarize himself with the practical details of government."

But is the stool also a former of pertinence for Crown Prince Wilhelm, whose wife, Cecilie, gave birth to a son several months ago. Has the Crown Prince "again incurred the displeasure of his royal father," and this assignment is a "long delayed measure of discipline."

Crown Prince Wilhelm, it appears, likes American girls. The Kaiser was so fearful of the "American girl peril" that a planned trip to the States by the Crown Prince was shelved.

When the Crown Prince was on a trip to England, he gave "an imperial heirloom, a ring" to Miss Gladys Deacon, "presumably as an accompaniment to the less tangible gift of his affections."

The Prince has also had a "lovely romance" with the American opera singer Geraldine Farrar. Gladys' relationship with the Crown Prince "seemed to have annoyed her father as much as it did the Kaiser."

Another romance with an American girl occurred in Russia when a certain Miss Wakefield, who was visiting the American embassy, "seemed to be more attractive than the Russian Grand Duchesses in the eyes of Germany's future rulers.

The Kaiser hoped that the Prince's marriage to Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the birth of a son would end young Wilhelm's behavior. Recent rumors "of a court scandal, a club, a 'round table' of which the Prince was a member," were brought to the Kaiser's attention.

This latest "scandal has stirred Germany and the entire continent aroused the Kaiser's deepest ire."

The stool is "the Kaiser's idea of discipline for this latest misstep."
Crown Princess Cecilie "has the deepest sympathy in this hour of her husband's disgrace."

[Geraldine Farrar was the daughter of Sid Farrar, an infielder who played with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Philadelphia Athletics from 1883 through 1890. My grandfather was Geraldine's chauffeur when she performed in New York City.)