Coburg plan
The Coburg Plan is the idea that a liberalized Prussia would move the other small German states to unite to form a German Empire through its example. One of the prerequisites for this was a government led by a constitutional monarchy , in which the ministers were not answerable to the monarch but to parliament. The Coburg plan was supported by some liberals from Vormärz .
Among the most prominent representatives was the German husband of the British Queen Victoria , Albert von Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha ; his older brother and ruling Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , Ernst II , their uncle King Leopold of Belgium and the advisor to the British royal couple Christian Friedrich von Stockmar . In a broader sense, this also includes the future German Empress Augusta , the British Queen Victoria and her daughter Empress Victoria . Parts of the group belonging to the Coburg district tried in the so-called Coburg intrigue in the run-up to the German War to dissuade Wilhelm I from war against Austria.
(painting by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in the red reception room of Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg)
During the involuntary stay of the Prussian heir to the throne, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, in London during the revolutionary months of 1848, Prince Albert tried to convince him of his vision of a Germany united under the rule of a liberal Prussian. In Prince Albert's view, this goal could only be achieved if Prussia developed into a constitutional monarchy similar to that of Britain. This view was also shared by Prince Wilhelm's wife, the liberal Princess Augusta .
The marriage of the Princess Royal Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland to the Prussian prince and presumptive heir to the throne Friedrich Wilhelm was to contribute significantly to the implementation of the Coburg plan. As the daughter of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, Princess Victoria grew up in an environment that was convinced that the people had a right to elect a parliament themselves, that ministers had to answer to this parliament and that the monarch had a right to be above party politics have. Princess Victoria was very carefully prepared for her role as the Prussian princess. However, the implementation of the Coburg plan to marry the British princess proved difficult; The engagement, which was only announced on May 17, 1856, met with divided reactions from the Prussian public: Liberal circles welcomed the connection with the British royal family, while most members of the Prussian royal family and the politically conservative circles rejected the planned connection.
On January 2, 1861, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV died. His successor was Prince Wilhelm as Wilhelm I , and Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, the consort of Princess Victoria, was now Crown Prince of Prussia. Instead of an increasingly liberal policy based on the existing constitution, there was a shift to the right. The Prussian constitutional conflict, which arose immediately after Wilhelm I ascended the throne, led to the appointment of the arch-conservative Otto von Bismarck as Prime Minister and the subsequent political isolation of the couple heir to the throne. The Coburg plan had finally failed after Prince Albert, one of its most important sponsors, died and the German Empire was founded in the wake of the German Wars of Unification . Unlike expected, Wilhelm I ruled until 1888; the politically liberal Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and his intelligent and educated wife Princess Victoria only came to power when Friedrich Wilhelm was already seriously ill with cancer. When Friedrich III. he ruled for only 99 days. He was followed by Wilhelm II , who had absolutist inclinations.
literature
- Franz Herre: Kaiserin Friedrich - Victoria, an Englishwoman in Germany , Hohenheim Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-89850-142-6
- Patricia Kolander: Frederick III - Germany's Liberal Emperor , Greenwood Press, Westport 1995, ISBN 0-313-29483-6
- Hannah Pakula: Victoria. Daughter of Queen Victoria, wife of the Prussian Crown Prince, mother Wilhelm II. Marion von Schröder-Verlag, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-547-77360-1
- Andrew Sinclair: Victoria - Empress for 99 days , Gustav Lübbe Verlag, Bergisch Gladbach 1987, ISBN 3-404-61086-5