THE HORRIFIC DEATHS OF Frederick iii & Empress Victoria

FREDERICK III
Frederick III passed away around 11:00 a.m. on June 15, 1888. Following his death, his son and successor, William II, ordered soldiers to occupy the imperial residence. Frederick and Victoria's private quarters were thoroughly searched for potentially incriminating documents. However, the search yielded no results, as all of the couple's correspondence had already been moved to Windsor Castle the year prior. Later, William II claimed the purpose of the search was to recover state documents. However, many historians, such as Hannah Pakula and Franz Herre, believe the true intent was to find materials that might tarnish his reputation.
Emperor Frederick III's Funeral Procession
Frederick III's funeral was held soon after in Potsdam, marked by simplicity and a lack of grand ceremony. Victoria, now the dowager empress, did not attend the service at the Friedenskirche in Sanssouci. Instead, she participated in a memorial mass for her husband at the Bornstedt Crown Estate. Following Frederick's death, Victoria became known as Empress Frederick, a title that distinguished her from her mother-in-law, the dowager empress Augusta, who remained alive until 1890.
In the weeks after Frederick's death, William II began a systematic purge of individuals and institutions associated with his parents. The home of lawyer Franz von Roggenbach was searched, and the widow of Ernst von Stockmar, who had served as Empress Frederick's private secretary, was interrogated by police. Friedrich Heinrich Geffcken, a long-time adviser to Frederick III, was charged with high treason for publishing excerpts from the late emperor’s diary. Additionally, Justice Minister Heinrich von Friedberg was dismissed from his position.
EMPRESS VICTORIA
In her later years, Empress Frederick dedicated much of her time to painting and frequently visited the artists' colony in Kronberg, where she often met with painter Norbert Schrödl. During her final days, she maintained a routine of morning walks and spent long hours writing letters or reading in the library of her castle.
In late 1898, doctors diagnosed the empress dowager with inoperable breast cancer, which eventually confined her to bed for extended periods. By the autumn of 1900, the cancer had spread to her spine. Concerned about the fate of her personal letters-many of which expressed her worries about Germany’s future under her son-she arranged for them to be secretly transported to Great Britain. Her godson, Frederick Ponsonby, who served as private secretary to her brother, Edward VII, carried out the operation. Edward himself made his final visit to see his gravely ill sister in Kronberg on February 23, 1901. The letters were later edited by Ponsonby, with his commentary providing context, and were published in 1928.
The End of Empress Frederick’s Life
The empress dowager passed away at Friedrichshof on August 5, 1901, less than seven months after the death of her mother. She was laid to rest beside her husband, Emperor Frederick III, in the royal mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam on August 13, 1901. Her tomb features a recumbent marble effigy of the empress. The mausoleum also holds the graves of her two sons who died in childhood, Sigismund and Waldemar.
A monument to Empress Frederick, created by sculptor Joseph Uphues in 1902, stands in the spa gardens of Bad Homburg vor der Höhe as a tribute to her memory.