Portrait of Kaiser Friedrich III, The King of Prussia pub, Penpergwm

Image: © Jaggery Taken: 15 Jul 2012

This portrait is on the front wall of the pub http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3044014 and also in the pub signs. It is of Kaiser Friedrich III, usually known in English as Frederick III. It may appear strange than a country pub was named after a Prussian, and more so, that the name survived the strong anti-German sentiment during the First World War. Although the stereotypical Prussian of this period is often considered to be arrogantly militaristic, Frederick III was in many ways not a typical Prussian. He was married to Princess Victoria, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. His wife supported and shared his liberal ideology which led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government of Germany. Frederick, despite his conservative militaristic family background, had developed liberal tendencies from his ties with Britain and his studies at the University of Bonn. He also professed a hatred for warfare. Liberals in both Germany and Britain hoped that as emperor, Frederick III would liberalise the German Empire. However, Frederick spent nearly 30 years as heir to the throne, with little real power. When he became Kaiser on the death of his father in 1888, Frederick had already contracted a cancer that would prove fatal. He was Kaiser for only 99 days. On his death in June 1888, he was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm (William II), who reversed the few changes that Frederick made. Wilhelm was Kaiser throughout the First World War. Frederick's premature death is considered a potential turning point in German history. Whether or not he would have made the German Empire more liberal if he had lived longer is a matter of opinion. Perhaps the name of the pub survived through the First World War because of the respect he had earned in Britain a generation earlier.

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