Kaiser Bill!

[beloitpiper]

How fascinating! So I guess this could be the "Hapsburg Kilt"?

[McClef]

I believe that connection was through his mother. So why would his father be wearing a kilt?

His mother was Princess Victoria, the Princess Royal, and her father, Prince Albert was German but that didn't stop him wearing a kilt, especially at Balmoral.

She was in fact the eldest child of Victoria and Albert and had it not been for the male preference primogeniture system would have inherited the throne instead of younger brother Albert Edward.

And if she had done so there would have been no Wilhelm and maybe World War I (and indeed II) could have been avoided.

Ah, the twists of history!

[macwilkin]

How fascinating! So I guess this could be the "Hapsburg Kilt"?

Wilhelm was not from the Hapsburgs, but the Royal House of Hohenzollern.

T.

[Galician]

Let's not forget that the family name of the current Royal House of England is Battenberg (anglicised since WWI to Mount Batten).

[macwilkin]

Let's not forget that the family name of the current Royal House of England is Battenberg (anglicised since WWI to Mount Batten).

Mountbatten-Windsor, actually. (Since the 1960s)

A branch of the House of Oldenburg, the Danish royal house, and the House of Hesse-Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.


T.

[McClef]

Let's not forget that the family name of the current Royal House of England is Battenberg (anglicised since WWI to Mount Batten).

Slightly more complex than that. It is still officially purely "The House of Windsor" though some members have used a double barrelled version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountbatten-Windsor

Upon accession, Charles could at his "will and pleasure" make this official but it is my no means guaranteed.

Edward VII took the name of his father's house on his accession (his mother Victoria did not change hers on marriage) but of course his son George V changed it during World War I. The Battenberg /Mountbattens at that time were merely minor royalty and had no real connection with the House of Windsor until Philip married Elizabeth. There was controversy at the time of her accession that the name would then be changed but the political advice at the time saw little enthusiasm for it - Prince Phillip was not pleased from all reports!

[Rex_Tremende]

Here's a painting of Tsar Nicholas II ("Cousin Nicky") in the uniform of the Scots Greys:

Well, I do love the facial hair.

But is it my eyes, or does the apron on the father's kilt seem a little narrower than we ordinarily see them today?

Regards,
Rex.

[Frank McGrath]

Program, Program, get your program! Can't tell the players without a program!

[McClef]

If you are referring to Crown Prince Frederick in the initial photo Rex I can't see that.

Maybe that strange jacket is creating an optical illusion.

[slohairt]

Billy looked like a rather unhappy child. That explains much!