A pair of booties given to the British nanny of Wilhelm II, the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria, has an estimate of £200-£300 at Hansons Auctioneers’ December 11 sale.
At 13cm (5in) long, the kid leather slippers would have been worn by the future German emperor, known as Kaiser Bill, aged two or three.
With a red rosette stitched on the front, they were worn on the feet of the man whose bellicose outlook played a major role in starting WWI.
Wilhelm was born on 27 January 1859 in Berlin, the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia and Princess Victoria, daughter of Queen Victoria.
The duties of his British governess Emma Hobbs duties included teaching the infant English as well as introducing him to British customs.
Emma, known affectionately in the family as “Hobbsie” was the great great great aunt of the wife of the slippers’ current owner, Mark Sibley.
The 66-year-old, who lives in Twickenham, said: “The slippers have been in the family for more than 100 years and we felt it was time they found a larger audience to appreciate them and their historic context.
“Distanced from his mother Wilhelm had a difficult upbringing and Hobbsie became his greatly loved nanny and later confidant.
“Even after leaving the German royal service in 1869, returning to Britain to marry, she continued to write to Wilhem and his siblings.”
Wilhelm’s breech birth, caused the nerve condition Erb’s palsy, left him with a withered arm. Nanny Hobbs entrusted with rubbing ointment on it.
Other bizarre and ineffectual treatments included immersing the shortened limb in the body of a recently-killed hare.
According to historians the kaiser’s disability and dysfunctional childhood contributed to his resentful, even bellicose, character.
Hansons Auctioneers’ textiles expert, Notty Hornblower, said: “Prussian court culture regarded disability as weakness. Wilhelm grew up believing he had to overcompensate to prove masculinity and strength. As her eldest grandchild we know he found comfort in his relationship with Queen Victoria whom he adored, a feeling which was reciprocated with Wilhelm was one of the few relatives at her deathbed.”
Told incessantly by his mother that everything British, including its liberalism, was better than anything German, he developed a mixture of resentment and admiration towards her and the UK.
He also blamed the British for his birth defect after Queen Victoria sent one of her doctors to help deliver him.
His hatred worsened in 1888 when a British doctor unsuccessfully attempted to treat his father, the Friedrich III, for throat cancer – prompting the outburst: “An English doctor crippled my arm and an English doctor is killing my father!”
One of 42 of her grandchildren, Wilhelm was the first cousin of George III and, like the British monarch, also related to Tsar Nicholas II.
As a teenager she awarded him the Order of the Garter and in 1901 cradled the 81-year-old monarch on her deathbed in 1901.
After becoming emperor in 1888 he advocated increasing the strength of the German armed forces, particularly the navy.
Asked how his grandmother, Queen Victoria would have reacted to WWI, he said: “Oh she would never have allowed it.”
He believed had she been alive she would halted the conflict between the British, German and Russian royal houses each headed by either her grandson or grandson in law.
But despite his love of militarism, Wilhelm II proved a poor war leader and he was forced to abdicate on 9 November 1918.
He left Germany for neutral Holland, where he remained until his death in 1941.
Auction Details
Auction: The Derbyshire Two-Day Christmas Fine Jewels & Decorative Arts and Antiques Auction
Auction date: 11th-12th December 2025 | 9:30am
Location: Hansons’ Derbyshire Saleroom
Auction contact: [email protected]
Catalogue/bidding: www.hansonslive.co.uk | www.the-saleroom.com
