Editing Wilhelm II (section)

==Personality==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R52035, Hamburg, Kaiser Wilhelm II. im Tierpark Hagenbeck.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Wilhelm talking with [[Ethiopians]] at the [[Tierpark Hagenbeck]] in Hamburg in 1909]]
[[File:Wilhelm_II._1905.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.15|Wilhelm indulging in his famed appreciation of flamboyant uniforms]]
Historians have frequently stressed the role of Wilhelm's personality in shaping his reign. Thus, [[Thomas Nipperdey]] concludes he was:
{{blockquote|...gifted, with a quick understanding, sometimes brilliant, with a taste for the modern,—technology, industry, science—but at the same time superficial, hasty, restless, unable to relax, without any deeper level of seriousness, without any desire for hard work or drive to see things through to the end, without any sense of sobriety, for balance and boundaries, or even for reality and real problems, uncontrollable and scarcely capable of learning from experience, desperate for applause and success,—as Bismarck said early on in his life, he wanted every day to be his birthday—romantic, sentimental and theatrical, unsure and arrogant, with an immeasurably exaggerated self-confidence and desire to show off, a juvenile cadet, who never took the tone of the officers' mess out of his voice, and brashly wanted to play the part of the supreme warlord, full of panicky fear of a monotonous life without any diversions, and yet aimless, pathological in his hatred against his English mother.{{Sfn | Nipperdey | 1992 | p = 421}} }}

Historian [[David Fromkin]] states that Wilhelm had a [[love–hate relationship]] with Britain.{{Sfn | Fromkin | 2008 | p = 110}} According to Fromkin,
"From the outset, the half-German side of him was at war with the half-English side. He was wildly jealous of the British, desiring to be British and to be better at being British than the British were, while at the same time hating them and resenting them because he never could be fully accepted by them".{{Sfn | Fromkin | 2008 | p = 87}}

Langer et al. (1968) emphasise the negative international consequences of Wilhelm's erratic personality:
"He believed in force, and the 'survival of the fittest' in domestic as well as foreign politics&nbsp;... William was not lacking in intelligence, but he did lack stability, disguising his deep insecurities by swagger and tough talk. He frequently fell into depressions and hysterics&nbsp;... William's personal instability was reflected in vacillations of policy. His actions, at home as well as abroad, lacked guidance, and therefore often bewildered or infuriated public opinion. He was not so much concerned with gaining specific objectives, as had been the case with Bismarck, as with asserting his will. This trait in the ruler of the leading Continental power was one of the main causes of the uneasiness prevailing in Europe at the turn-of-the-century".{{Sfn | Langer |MacKendrick|1968 | p = 528}}

===Relationships with foreign relatives===
[[File:The Nine Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII.jpg|thumb|The Nine Sovereigns at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]] for the funeral of King Edward VII, photographed on 20 May 1910. Standing, from left to right: King [[Haakon VII]] of Norway, Tsar [[Ferdinand I of Bulgaria]], King [[Manuel II of Portugal]], Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, kings [[George I of Greece]] and [[Albert I of Belgium]]. Seated, from left to right: kings [[Alfonso XIII]] of Spain, [[George V]] of the United Kingdom and [[Frederick VIII of Denmark]].]]
As a grandchild of Queen Victoria, Wilhelm was a first cousin of King [[George V]] of the United Kingdom, as well as of queens [[Marie of Romania]], [[Maud of Norway]], [[Victoria Eugenie of Spain]] and Empress [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alexandra of Russia]]. In 1889, Wilhelm's younger sister [[Sophia of Prussia|Sophia]] married [[Constantine I of Greece|Constantine, Crown Prince of Greece]]. Wilhelm was infuriated by his sister's conversion from [[Lutheranism]] to [[Greek Orthodoxy]]; upon her marriage, he attempted to ban her from entering Germany.

Wilhelm's most contentious relationships were with his British relations. He craved the acceptance of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and of the rest of her family.<ref name="King 52">King, Greg, ''Twilight of Splendor: The Court of Queen Victoria During Her Diamond Jubilee Year'' (Wiley & Sons, 2007), p. 52</ref> Despite the fact that his grandmother treated him with courtesy and tact, his other relatives largely denied him acceptance.<ref name="King 52"/> He had an especially bad relationship with his uncle Bertie (later [[Edward VII]]). Between 1888 and 1901, Wilhelm resented Bertie, who despite being the heir apparent to the British throne, treated Wilhelm not as a reigning monarch, but merely as another nephew.<ref name="Magnus 204">Magnus, Philip, ''King Edward the Seventh'' (E. P. Dutton, 1964), p. 204</ref> In turn, Wilhelm often snubbed his uncle, whom he referred to as "the old peacock" and lorded his position as emperor over him.<ref name="Magnus 204"/> Beginning in the 1890s, Wilhelm made visits to England for [[Cowes Week]] on the [[Isle of Wight]] and often competed against his uncle in the yacht races. Bertie's wife, Alexandra, also disliked Wilhelm. Even though Wilhelm had not been on the throne at the time, Alexandra felt anger over the Prussian seizure of [[Schleswig-Holstein]] from her native Denmark in the 1860s, and was also annoyed over Wilhelm's treatment of his mother.<ref>Battiscombe, Georgiana, ''Queen Alexandra'' (Constable, 1960), p. 174</ref> Despite his poor relations with his English relatives, when he received news that Queen Victoria was dying at [[Osborne House]] in January 1901, Wilhelm travelled to England and was at her bedside when she died, and he remained for the funeral. He also was present at the [[funeral of King Edward VII]] in 1910.

In 1913, Wilhelm hosted a lavish wedding in Berlin for his only daughter, [[Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia|Victoria Louise]]. Among the guests at the wedding were his cousins Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and King George V of the United Kingdom, and George's wife, [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]].