The extraordinary family story of George V, Wilhelm II, and
Nicholas II: they were tied to one another by history, and
history would ultimately tear them apart.
Known
among their families as Georgie, Willy, and Nicky, they
were, respectively, the royal cousins George V of England,
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Nicholas II of Russia—the
first two grandsons of Queen Victoria, the latter her
grandson by marriage. In 1914, on the eve of world war, they
controlled the destiny of Europe and the fates of millions
of their subjects. The outcome and their personal endings
are well known—Nicky shot with his family by the Bolsheviks,
Willy in exile in Holland, Georgie still atop his throne.
Largely untold, however, is the family saga that played such
a pivotal role in bringing the world to the precipice.
Drawing widely on previously unpublished royal letters
and diaries, made public for the first time by Queen
Elizabeth II, Catrine Clay chronicles the riveting half
century of the royals’ overlapping lives, and their slow,
inexorable march into conflict. They met frequently from
childhood, on holidays, and at weddings, birthdays, and each
others’ coronations. They saw themselves as royal
colleagues, a trade union of kings, standing shoulder to
shoulder against the rise of socialism, republicanism, and
revolution. And yet tensions abounded between them.
Clay deftly reveals how intimate family details had deep
historical significance: the antipathy Willy’s mother
(Victoria’s daughter) felt toward him because of his
withered left arm, and how it affected him throughout his
life; the family tension caused by Otto von Bismarck’s
annexation of Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark (Georgie’s
and Nicky’s mothers were Danish princesses); the surreality
surrounding the impending conflict. “Have I gone mad?”
Nicholas asked his wife, Alexandra, in July 1914, showing
her another telegram from Wilhelm. “What on earth does Willy
mean pretending that it still depends on me whether war is
averted or not?” Germany had, in fact, declared war on
Russia six hours earlier. At every point in her remarkable
book, Catrine Clay sheds new light on a watershed period in
world history.
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