What happened to Germany’s royal family after the Kaiser fell, and why did their struggle over the past continue for more than a hundred years?
After Kaiser Wilhelm II fled Germany in 1918, the Hohenzollerns lost their throne, but not their wealth, influence, or belief that the monarchy might one day return.
In today’s video I follow Germany’s former royal family from Wilhelm’s exile at Huis Doorn in the Netherlands, through the 1926 fight over royal property, Crown Prince Wilhelm’s disastrous bet on Hitler, and the modern legal battle over Hohenzollern treasures that lasted into the 21st century.
Also watch:
🇦🇹🇭🇺 What Happened to the Habsburgs After Their Empire Collapsed? https://youtu.be/IV8Trd1rH6w
🇩🇪 Weimar Germany: The Republic That Destroyed Itself https://youtu.be/7dJ2wF9oo_M
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Research & script by Jordy Faijdherbe
Voice over by Paolo Bellini
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Kaiser Flees Germany, 1918
02:42 Exile at Huis Doorn
05:32 Germany’s 1926 Vote to Seize the Royals
09:50 The Prince Who Chose Henry Ford Over the Throne
11:20 Crown Prince Wilhelm’s Bet on Hitler
12:34 The Day of Potsdam, 1933
14:14 The Last Kaiser’s Death in Exile
16:30 1945: The Hohenzollerns Lose Their Fortune
18:18 Why Germany’s Royal Family Still Fights Today
22:01 The Crown That Stayed With the Public
📚 Sources
– Stephan Malinowski, Die Hohenzollern und die Nazis: Geschichte einer Kollaboration (Propyläen, 2021)
– John C. G. Röhl, Wilhelm II
– Lothar Machtan, Der Kronprinz und die Nazis (2021)
– The German Referendum on the Princes’ Property, American Political Science Review (Cambridge Core)
– Frederick Taylor, The Downfall of Money: Germany’s Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class (2013)
– The Art Newspaper, Family of Prussian kings settles century-old dispute with Germany over royal treasures, (2025)
– German History in Documents and Images (GHDI), Wilhelmine Germany and the First World War, 1890–1918
Questions about any specific claim in this video? Ask me in the comments below 👇
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3 Comments
Hey everyone, let me know in the comments what you think of the video.
And if you liked this video you may also want to watch: 👇
🇦🇹🇭🇺 What Happened to the Habsburgs After Their Empire Collapsed? https://youtu.be/IV8Trd1rH6w
There is a movement in Germany that wants to see the Hohenzollers reinstated. It is a bit of a fringe group, and they fell greatly out of fashion when several of their members got caught up with Prinz Heinrich XIII von Reuß and his pathetic little Freie Reichsbürger movement.
I can’t help but feel the descendants are quite delusional in what they can attempt to recapture, be it art or titles or property. Their time has come and gone.