Emperor Friedrich III (1831-1888) and Victoria (Empress Frederick) (1840-1901)

[Blog Real]

Prince Francis Frederick Sigismund of Prussia died of meningitis when he was just 1 year old. He was the son of Emperor Friedrich III and Empress Victoria of Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince...%E2%80%931866)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...nd_%281%29.jpg

[CyrilVladisla]

A painting of Prince Sigismund
http://www.rct.uk/sites/default/file...1292517468.jpg

[SirGyamfi1]

Originally Posted by Blog Real

Prince Francis Frederick Sigismund of Prussia died of meningitis when he was just 1 year old. He was the son of Emperor Friedrich III and Empress Victoria of Germany.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince...%E2%80%931866)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...nd_%281%29.jpg

Oh! From the page I looked up the Kaiser took all the medical professionals available

Originally Posted by duchessrachel

Yes, he did. Initially, he was against it but Vicky brought him around to her way of thinking, as she did on most everything. For an interesting account of this, read John Rohl's book "Young Wilhelm". It extensively details this battle for Viktoria Moretta to be able to marry Prince Alexander of Battenberg.

The marriage was stopped due to diplomatic issues.

[Curryong]

^^I don’t know whether all the physicians were taken. Certainly all the Court ones were. The Prussian armies were going to war with Austria at the time. Sigi became ill while his father Crown Prince Fritz, who was in a senior command in the field, was away with the troops so Vicky, Sigi’s mother, was alone.

Apparently she called in a physician from Potsdam, who proved to be incompetent (though perhaps her son would have died even if treated by the Court doctors). The little boy constantly convulsed for five days until he died. Sigismund was the first of Victoria’s grandchildren to die prematurely. Extremely sad, especially when you realise that another of Vicky and Fritz’s sons, Waldemar, born in 1868, was also to die in childhood.

[SirGyamfi1]

Originally Posted by Curryong

^^I don’t know whether all the physicians were taken. Certainly all the Court ones were. The Prussian armies were going to war with Austria at the time. Sigi became ill while his father Crown Prince Fritz, who was in a senior command in the field, was away with the troops so Vicky, Sigi’s mother, was alone.

Apparently she called in a physician from Potsdam, who proved to be incompetent (though perhaps her son would have died even if treated by the Court doctors). The little boy constantly convulsed for five days until he died. Sigismund was the first of Victoria’s grandchildren to die prematurely. Extremely sad, especially when you realise that another of Vicky and Fritz’s sons, Waldemar, born in 1868, was also to die in childhood.

Yes, very said indeed. Similar thing happened when I think one of the Hohenzollern princes (unless I’m wrong)was injured after WWI, but the doctors available were ordered to help American soldiers and without assistance he died.

[Curryong]

Yes, that was Prince Henry’s eldest son at the end of WW2. Henrik was Fritz and Vicky’s second son. Henry and his wife Irene of Hesse had three sons, two of whom (the eldest and the youngest) turned out to be haemophiliacs. The youngest, also a Sigismund, died in early childhood.

The eldest I think was another Waldemar. He and his wife fled the Russians advance in 1945. He needed a blood transfusion because of his condition, reached a town, got one, US troops then took charge, but all the doctors, hospital and medical facilities were turned over to saving the occupants of a nearby concentration camp who were, as you can imagine, in a terrible state. So Waldemar couldn’t get a second transfusion and soon died.

[SirGyamfi1]

Originally Posted by Curryong

Yes, that was Prince Henry’s eldest son at the end of WW2. Henrik was Fritz and Vicky’s second son. Henry and his wife Irene of Hesse had three sons, two of whom (the eldest and the youngest) turned out to be haemophiliacs. The youngest, also a Sigismund, died in early childhood.

The eldest I think was another Waldemar. He and his wife fled the Russians advance in 1945. He needed a blood transfusion because of his condition, reached a town, got one, US troops then took charge, but all the doctors, hospital and medical facilities were turned over to saving the occupants of a nearby concentration camp who were, as you can imagine, in a terrible state. So Waldemar couldn’t get a second transfusion and soon died.

Precisely what happened. Thanks for that. A lot of the Hohenzollerns fell into obscurity after all the mess.

[CyrilVladisla]

Did Queen Victoria send a physician from Enland to look after Prince Sigismund?

[Curryong]

Originally Posted by CyrilVladisla

Did Queen Victoria send a physician from Enland to look after Prince Sigismund?

Not as far as I have ever read. I believe German physicians had a great reputation in England and all over Europe at the time. Vicky did manage to get one from Potsdam, as I said, but he wasn’t much good. Meningitis was a child killer at the time (still a serious condition today) and probably the best physicians in England wouldn’t have been able to save him, without the treatments we have now. Sigi was ill for only a little over a week and perhaps it was thought that somehow by some miracle he’d recover.

[SirGyamfi1]

The issue with Vicky and the thing that people sometimes overlook is that she could be arrogant and extra, for example insisting on English doctors instead of German ones. She really didn’t endear herself to the Prussian court and probably her political involvements. Also, her “liberal Albertine” tendencies, Prince Albert really overestimated her ability to be a liberal instrument to the Prussian court.

[Curryong]

Yes, Vicky could be arrogant and stubborn and very much wedded to English ideas, which her mother encouraged.

However, when English medical professionals were thought to be needed it tended to be Queen Victoria who sent them of her own volition, such as dr Morell Mackenzie, who treated Fritz’s throat condition about a year before he died, and also insisting on sending Dr James Clark and the midwife Mrs Innocent when Vicky was about to have her first child.

On that occasion it was the Berlin specialist Dr Martin who saved the life of both mother and baby. All the other doctors, both German and English, were virtually ineffectual. However Queen Victoria did also send a bottle of chloroform, which assisted Vicky in bearing the pain of a horror birth.

[SirGyamfi1]

I’m sure she could be good, like any person in history she had her faults, but I feel too many people overlook her issues and see her as a victim of the Kaiser.

[CyrilVladisla]

Princess Charlotte of Prussia had an interest in social justice issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hik5sxsjFy4