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How did Hermine Reuss of Greiz, a 34-year-old widow with five children, find herself married to the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II and addressed as empress and queen? Hermine was born in Greiz in the Principality of Reuss-Greiz, part of the German Empire, on the 17th of December 1887.

The abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia was declared by Chancellor Maximilian of Baden on 9 November 1918; it was formally affirmed by a written statement of Wilhelm on 28 November, made while in exile in Amerongen, the Netherlands.

Hermine Reuss of Greiz was born on 17 December 1887 as the fifth child and fourth daughter of Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz, and Princess Ida Mathilde Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe. Her elder brother had been injured during a childhood surgery, leaving him mentally and physically disabled.

Hermine Reuss of Greiz was the second wife of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. They were married in 1922, four years after he abdicated. Wilhelm was her second husband; her first husband, Prince Johann of Schönaich-Carolath, had died in 1920.

Literally meaning “stumbling stone,” Stolpersteine commemorate all victims of Nazi oppression, including Jews but also Roma, Sinti, the physically or mentally disabled, homosexuals, and other persecuted groups (e.g. Communists, members of the anti-Nazi Resistance, Christian opponents, etc.). So far, they have been placed in 27 European countries.

Heinrich Harry, Prince of Reuss, Graf von Plauen, was the son of Heinrich XXVI, Prince of Reuss (b. 15 December 1857) and Viktoria, Gräfin von Fürstenstein (b. 11 September 1863). He was husband of Huberta Valeska Sascha Eva Anna Dorothea, Freiin von Tiele-Winckler.

The Hohenzollerns were overthrown Weimar Republic was established, thus bringing an end to the German and Prussian monarchy Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, is the current head of the formerly royal Prussian line, while Karl Friedrich, Prince of Hohenzollern, is the head of the formerly princely Swabian line. [6]

He grows a beard and lives there peacefully, with his two wives (after Augusta, mother of his seven children, passes away in 1921 he weds Princess Hermine of Greiz), until his death on June 4, 1941. His great-great-grandson Prince Georg von Preussen recently filed legal claims for the restitution of property that belonged to the Kaiser.