A grandson of Queen Victoria
Through his mother, Victoria, Princess Royal, Wilhelm was the eldest of Queen Victoria’s 42 grandchildren.
Visual art
Wilhelm II
The last German Emperor, who reigned from 1888 until his abdication in 1918.
Wilhelm II was German Emperor from 1888 until his abdication in 1918. He sought to establish Germany as a leading world power, but his foreign policy increasingly isolated the empire. His fall marked the end of the German Empire and 400 years of Hohenzollern rule over Prussia. In Berlin, he is connected with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which he founded.
Worth knowing
Succession in 1888
Wilhelm’s father, Frederick III, reigned for only 99 days in 1888. After Frederick’s death, Wilhelm succeeded him as Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The New Course
In 1890, Wilhelm dismissed Chancellor Otto von Bismarck and assumed direct control over national policy. He promoted naval expansion and scientific innovation, while Germany became Europe’s largest manufacturer during his reign.
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Wilhelm II is identified as the founder of Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Exile in the Netherlands
After losing the support of the military and many of his subjects, Wilhelm abdicated during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. He fled to the Netherlands and remained there until his death in 1941.
Addresses you can still visit
Every place in this city with a documented tie to this person.
Lived here
Crown Prince's Palace
After the monarchy, this former royal residence became the National Gallery’s pioneering museum of modern art, only for the Nazis to confiscate many works as “degenerate.” The bombed palace was demolished and reconstructed in 1968-1970 as a GDR state guesthouse; in 1990, the treaty establishing German reunification was signed inside.
Created here
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
A western Berlin landmark that pairs the bomb-damaged spire of a 19th-century church with a modern church complex built around it.
Follow the story on foot
These addresses are scattered across the city. Our routes and quests put them in an order that works.