Chapter 11
Chapter 11
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Kaiser's Siblings
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Whoooo───
A few hours after boarding the train in Potsdam.
The train whistle blared noisily, spewing white steam as it announced its arrival.
Frankfurt am Main.
Germany's fifth-largest city, which would later become the heart of West Germany during the Cold War.
However, our destination wasn't Frankfurt itself, but a small town to the northwest called Kronberg.
And there stood Schloss Friedrichshof.
"You've arrived, Your Majesty the Empress."
As the Augusta Empress stepped down from the train, a gentleman with an unfamiliar face emerged from the crowd handling the luggage and bowed politely to her.
The Augusta Empress seemed surprised, as if she hadn't expected him.
"Sir Frederick Ponsonby. I had no idea you were in Germany."
Ponsonby?
What kind of name is Ponsonby?
"Prince, who is that man?"
"Sir Frederick Ponsonby. He's a British noble."
Prince Joachim whispered in response.
When I asked why a British noble was here, he explained that it was at the request of Grandfather Friedrich III and Grandmother Victoria Adelaide Dowager Empress's great friend.
"His Majesty Edward VII asked me to watch over the godmother's final moments."
"I see. How is His Majesty faring?"
"Still got that big belly of his."
Sir Ponsonby chuckled heartily at his own joke.
His gaze soon shifted to Joachim, Luise, and me behind the Empress.
"It's been a while, Prince Joachim. Princess Viktoria Luise."
"Yes, it's been too long, Sir Ponsonby."
"You've both grown so much since last time. And this little gentleman?"
Sir Ponsonby looked at me and addressed the Empress.
True to his origins from that jealous island nation, his eyes seemed to size me up, leaving me feeling uneasy.
But standing there silently would be rude, so I stepped forward and greeted him first.
"I'm Hans Choi. Pleased to meet you, Sir Ponsonby."
"Ah, so you're the famous 'Oriental boy who saved the Kaiser.'"
"Yes, he's a child who lives with us like family."
"I see, I see. Delighted to meet you, young Choi."
Sir Ponsonby flashed a friendly smile and shook my hand.
Then he turned back to the Augusta Empress.
"Now, leave the luggage to the servants and let's head to Friedrichshof. Prince Heinrich, Princess Victoria, Crown Princess Sophie, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and Princess Margarete are all waiting."
"Has Princess Charlotte arrived yet?"
"We've sent word, but no reply so far."
Sir Ponsonby shook his head.
All these people were children of the Victoria Dowager Empress.
In other words, the siblings of Wilhelm II.
I'd never met any of them before, but today I would finally see their faces.
"This carriage will take you there."
Our group boarded the prepared carriage under Sir Ponsonby's guidance.
The carriage soon set off toward Schloss Friedrichshof.
"How is the Dowager Empress's condition?"
Inside the carriage, the Augusta Empress asked Sir Ponsonby with a worried expression.
Sir Ponsonby's face darkened.
"She's passed the crisis for now, but the doctor says she has at most a few weeks."
"...I see."
"Yes. Everyone's having a hard time, especially the princesses."
"They're closer to the Dowager Empress than their other siblings are."
Friedrich III and Victoria Adelaide Empress had six children in total (originally eight sons, but two died young).
The eldest: Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire.
The second: Duchess Viktoria Elisabeth Auguste Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen ('Charlotte').
The third: Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich of Prussia ('Heinrich').
The fourth: Hereditary Princess Friederike Amalia Wilhelmine Viktoria of Schaumburg-Lippe ('Victoria').
The fifth: Crown Princess Sophie Dorothea Ulrike Alice of Greece ('Sophie').
And the youngest: Countess Margarethe Beatrice Feodora of Hesse-Kassel ('Margarete').
Among them, Wilhelm II, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Heinrich had been raised under their conservative grandmother Augusta, so they were somewhat distant from their liberal-minded mother.
But Princesses Victoria, Sophie, and Margarete had been personally raised by their mother, the Victoria Dowager Empress, making them far closer to her than their brothers and eldest sister.
That's why, when her daughters married far away, the Dowager Empress was said to have grieved deeply, just like her own mother Queen Victoria.
"We should be arriving soon."
Sir Ponsonby checked his watch and said.
Peeking out the window, I could see a gray-roofed mansion coming into view in the distance.
Schloss Friedrichshof was less a castle and more a grand stone mansion, true to its name.
Most 'castles' built in modern times were really just that—grand estates in name only.
There were exceptions, of course, like genuine medieval-style castles built in the modern era.
Right here in the German Empire, in fact.
None other than Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, famous as the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle.
And this castle wasn't from the 17th or 18th century—it had been completed just nine years ago, a true monument to extravagance and romanticism.
Ludwig II didn't get called mad and forcibly deposed by his ministers for nothing after building it.
"Well, look who it is!"
"Uncle Heinrich!"
"Hahaha! Joachim, it's been ages!"
As we stepped down from the carriage and approached the mansion, a middle-aged man I'd never seen before welcomed us with a booming voice.
Heinrich.
This must be Prince Heinrich, Wilhelm II's only living brother.
"Brother, who's here?"
Women nearby approached after hearing Prince Heinrich's voice.
Calling the prince 'brother' meant they were his sisters—the princesses.
"Ah, you've arrived, Your Majesty the Empress."
"It's been a while, Princess Victoria, Princess Margarete."
The princesses and the Augusta Empress exchanged warm smiles and greetings.
"I heard the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was here too—where is he?"
"Yes, my husband stepped out to town on some business."
Princess Margarete said this while affectionately stroking Luise, who stood beside the Empress.
"Hello, Luise?"
"Hello, Aunt Margarete."
"Luise, you should greet Aunt Victoria too."
"Hello, Aunt Victoria."
At the Augusta Empress's words, Luise greeted Princess Victoria the same way.
"And who's this child?"
Princess Margarete, spotting me behind the group, gave me a curious look.
"Pleased to meet you, Your Highness. I am..."
"Hans Choi! At last, I get to meet the brave boy who saved my brother!"
As I began my introduction, Prince Heinrich jumped in with a jovial laugh.
Caught off guard, I maintained my smile and bowed to the prince.
"Pl-Pleased to meet you, Prince Heinrich. I'm Hans Choi."
"I've heard all about you from my brother and Admiral Tirpitz! You're from Korea, right?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes... for now."
"Haha! Fine country. The emperor was a bit of a coward, though!"
Prince Heinrich slapped my back heartily, roaring with laughter.
Come to think of it, Prince Heinrich had visited the Korean Empire in 1889 as its first foreign state guest while serving as commander of the East Asia Squadron.
Unlike Heinrich, who liked the place, the Korean side wasn't fond of his entourage.
True to the German Empire's reputation for poor diplomacy, they acted arrogantly and caused a ruckus.
"Enough, brother. You're embarrassing the boy."
"Eh? Haha! Sorry about that! Got a bit carried away."
"You're still the same as you were as a kid."
Princess Margarete let out a short sigh and looked at me.
"Um... young Choi?"
"Just Hans is fine, Princess Margarete."
I'd given up on being called by my real name, Hansu.
Guess I'm fated to live as Hans in this life.
"Right, Hans. Nice to meet you. This is my sister, Victoria."
Princess Victoria smiled warmly at me and gave a light greeting.
"First time meeting, but I've heard plenty about you."
"The newspapers made such a fuss, how could you not?"
"Hee-hee, you're a funny one. But honestly, I was surprised too. My big brother... he's not exactly 'positive' about people like you. Mother was shocked when she heard about you."
"The Dowager Empress?"
"Yes. When Mother heard your story, she said..."
Screeech──
"Mossy? It's noisy outside—what's going on... oh."
A woman emerged from the mansion, drawn by the commotion, and froze upon seeing our group.
Sir Ponsonby had said three of Wilhelm II's sisters were at Friedrichshof.
Two were already here, so this must be the last one.
'Crown Princess Sophie of Greece.'
Wife of Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, who would later become King Constantine I and make her Queen Sophie.
'Didn't expect her to be pregnant.'
Crown Princess Sophie was visibly pregnant, her belly quite swollen.
About five or six months along?
She must have pushed herself to be here for her mother's final moments despite the difficulty.
"...Crown Princess Sophie."
"...Your Majesty the Empress."
The Empress and Crown Princess Sophie exchanged greetings.
But unlike before, the air between them felt distinctly uncomfortable.
'Right, Sophie and the Kaiser couple don't get along.'
The cause was religion, of course.
As everyone knew, Greece was an ancient Orthodox nation, heir to True Rome and Byzantium.
So the Greeks wanted Sophie, who had married into their country, to convert to Orthodoxy. She hesitated at first but eventually decided to switch from Lutheranism.
Most of the family accepted it, but not her brother Wilhelm II.
Wilhelm, who fancied himself head of the Prussian Union Church, fiercely opposed his sister's conversion.
Sophie wouldn't budge, and our Willy—hating disobedience above all—threatened to erase her from the Prussian royal list to stop her.
The devout Lutheran Augusta Empress tried to dissuade her too, but Sophie stood firm, straining their relationship badly.
Then, the Empress claimed the shock caused her to give birth prematurely to Joachim, worsening things irreparably between the Kaiser couple and Sophie.
In the end, Sophie defied her brother and converted to Greek Orthodoxy.
Wilhelm raged, and in revenge, banned her from Germany for three years.
'And that wasn't the end.'
The petty Wilhelm kept pressuring his defiant sister.
Especially after Greece's defeat in the Thirty Days' War against the Ottomans sparked anti-monarchy sentiment, Wilhelm backed the Ottomans to punish her, pressuring Greece into a humiliating treaty.
Sophie had to flee Greece with her husband and seek refuge in Germany.
'Of course, they reconciled at her mother's and sisters' pleading when she returned.'
But it seemed the wound lingered for Crown Princess Sophie.
The Empress and she still didn't look on good terms.
"Your Majesty the Empress, it's hot out. Let's go inside."
"Yes, Mother must be waiting."
"...Very well. Come along, children."
Princess Margarete and Princess Victoria, unable to bear the awkwardness, stepped in and led our group into the mansion.
It was time to meet the Princess Royal of England, Queen Victoria's most beloved eldest daughter: Victoria Adelaide Dowager Empress.
Illustration
The above photo shows the current appearance of Schloss Friedrichshof, now used as a hotel.
As an aside, during his visit to Korea, Prince Heinrich tried shooting a Korean bow, watched a military parade, and had quite an enjoyable time. He left favorable comments about Korea's pleasant climate and kind people.
However, when Prince Heinrich had his audience with Emperor Gojong, the emperor inexplicably showed signs of fear and anxiety. This was due to incidents just days before: a madman claiming heaven told him to become king and demanding Gojong abdicate, plus explosions across Seoul including Deoksugung Palace, which Gojong mistook for a rebellion and fled from.