"Fritz" was a fine-looking man, tall, broad-shouldered and esteemed for his goodness and liberal views, so that, when as a young man he visited England, he won the heart of the Princess Royal, Victoria. They married in 1858 and in their happy marriage eight children were born. Unfortunately, Victoria was aggressively English as well as too outspoken and, as a result, never became popular in Germany. Both "Fritz" and "Vicky" disliked the Minister-President, Otto von Bismarck, who returned their feelings. Consequently, von Bismarck poisoned the minds of their eldest son, Wilhelm II, and eldest daughter, Charlotte, and was assisted in these efforts by Fritz's mother, the Empress Augusta.

In 1887 Fritz fell ill with cancer of the throat, a condition which was wrongly diagnosed for some time. The poor man suffered untold agonies at the hands of his physicians as one treatment after another was advised, tried and rejected. By the time he succeeded his father he was a doomed man with but a matter of weeks to live, only able to breathe and feed through tubes inserted in an open wound in his throat. Only his strong constitution and determination made him live as long as he did.

Vicky's parents had hoped that Friedrich's liberalism would help to convert Germany to a constitutional monarchy. However, this was not to be as Emperor Wilhelm I lived till he was nearly ninety-one, and by when Fritz was mortally ill from cancer. His death, only ninety-eight days after his father's, was a tragedy not just for Germany but for the world.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas