Victoria Luise as Princess of Wales?

June 25, 1910

The Chicago Daily Tribune reports on the "interesting rumors in circulation in military circles in Potsdam" regarding a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Kaiser Wilhelm II's only daughter, Victoria Luise.

The Princess, who turns 18 in September, is nearly two years older than the heir to the British throne, but "that would not be regarded as a handicap from the parents' standpoint." The Empress is several months older than her husband, and their second son, Prince Eitel Friedrich, is married to a princess who is nearly "three years his senior."

Potsdam circles hope that when King George V and Queen Mary make an official visit to Germany, they will be accompanied by their eldest son, which would allow for the Prince of Wales to "form an acquaintance" with his pretty second cousin, "which may some day ripen into affection.

The Kaiser and Kaiserin note that there are only a limited number of European eligible princes for their daughter to marry. The most eligible are Roman Catholic and include King Manoel of Portugal and several Austrian archdukes. The Princess, however, is like her parents, "an uncompromising Protestant." The Empress would prefer to see Victoria Luise married to "the most obscure Prince than share a throne with a Roman Catholic king."

A marriage between Victoria Luise and the Prince of Wales "would suggest political advantages of far reaching proportions."

Although the Kaiser's mother, Victoria, was a British princess, the "close dynastic ties between England and Germany have, of course mot been able to prevent strained relations." A marriage between the Kaiser's daughter and the heir to the British throne would mean that the "danger of Anglo-American hostilities would become remote to the vanishing point."

King George V, however, ranks as a "first class Germanophobe." There is "grave doubt" whether he could be persuaded to allow a marriage between his son and Kaiser Wilhelm II's only daughter.