 Friedrich III of Germany. Friedrich III (October 18, 1831 - June 15, 1888), German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruled 1888.
Born the son of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (younger brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV), in 1858 Friedrich married Princess Victoria (Vicky) of Great Britain and Ireland, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The rigorously educated Vicky, also known as the Princess Royal, was considerably smarter than her husband and influenced her husband towards her own liberal views.
In 1861, Friedrich's father became King Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Friedrich himself became Crown Prince. As such, he commanded armies in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (where his timely arrival was crucial to the Prussian victory at Sadowa) and in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
When the German states united as a single German Empire in 1878, Friedrich became heir to the new German monarchy with his faither as Kaiser. Never liked by the powerful German Prime Minister Bismarck, who distrusted his wife's liberalism, Friedrich was always kept out of any real position of power throughout his father's life. By the time his father died in 1888, Friedrich had incurable cancer of the larynx, which had been misdiagnosed, leading to cancellation of a necessary surgery in 1887. He ruled for only 99 days before his death, and was then replaced by his son who became Kaiser Wilhelm II.
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