Referring to the Empress Frederick at this period, Bismarck writes: 

“With her I could not reckon on the same good-will as I could with her husband (Emperor Frederick).  Her natural and inborn sympathy for her native country showed itself from the very beginning in the endeavour to shift the weight of Prussian-German influence on the European grouping of the Powers into the scale of England, which she never ceased to regard as her Fatherland; and, in consciousness of the opposition of interests between the two great Asiatic Powers, England and Russia, to see Germany’s power, in case of a breach, used for the benefit of England.”

An incident may be mentioned here which took place at what was to turn out to be the Emperor William’s death-bed and refers particularly to our young Prince William.  Bismarck was talking to the sick Emperor a few days before the latter’s death.  The Chancellor spoke about the necessity of publishing an Order, already drawn up in November of the preceding year, appointing Prince William regent in case the necessity for such a measure should occur.  The sick Emperor expressed the hope that Bismarck would stand by his successor.  Bismarck promised to do so and the Emperor pressed his hand in token of satisfaction.  Then, suddenly, Bismarck relates, the Emperor became delirious and began to rave.  Prince William was the central figure in his ravings.  He evidently thought his grandson was at his bedside and exclaimed, using the familiar Du; “Du you must always keep on good terms with the Czar (Alexander III) ... there is no need to quarrel in that quarter.”  Thereafter he was silent, and Bismarck left the sick-room.

The Prince’s parents, Crown Prince Frederick and his English consort, had also their Court at the Marmor Palais in Potsdam, and their palace in Berlin, but the life they led was comparatively simple.  The Crown Prince and Princess were great travellers and consequently often absent from Germany; and when at home, while the Crown Prince, in his serious-minded fashion, was absorbed in study, the Crown Princess divided her time between the practice of the arts and correspondence with her now grown-up sons and daughters.

Still, it is clear from the signs of the time that there was a good deal of intrigue going on throughout this pre-accession period, or, if intrigue is too strong a term for it, a good deal of friction, social and political, in high circles.  It was chiefly caused, if the old Chancellor’s statements to his sycophantic adorer, Busch, are to be credited, by the interference of the Empress Augusta and her daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess, in the sphere of politics, the Empress seeking to influence her husband in favour of the Catholics, whom she had taken under her protection, and the Crown Princess trying, as we have seen, to influence German policy in favour of England.