Kaiser Wilhelm II as a Child 1861 Imperial German Portrait Postcard

This original Imperial German postcard depicts Kaiser Wilhelm II as a young child in 1861, decades before his accession to the Prussian and German thrones. The image presents the future Kaiser in a sailor-style suit with broad trousers, dark neckerchief, and round hat, an appearance that reflects the nineteenth-century fashion for dressing royal children in naval-inspired clothing.

The printed caption beneath the portrait reads:
“Kaiser Wilhelm II.
im Jahre 1861.”
This translates as:
“Kaiser Wilhelm II
in the year 1861.”

Wilhelm II was born Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert of Prussia on 27 January 1859, making him approximately two years old at the date represented by the portrait. He was the eldest son of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, later Emperor Friedrich III, and Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria. Wilhelm would eventually become King of Prussia and German Emperor in June 1888 following the deaths of his grandfather Wilhelm I and his father Friedrich III during Germany’s famous Dreikaiserjahr, or “Year of the Three Emperors.”

The portrait is based on a period artistic representation rather than a later adult photograph. The artist’s signature appears at lower right within the image and identifies the composition with the Brüncker portrait series. Similar examples of this design are known as Künstlerkarten, or artist postcards, devoted to members of the German Imperial family.

The reverse retains its original period layout and has been postally used. A green 5-Pfennig Deutsches Reich postage stamp remains affixed and is cancelled at Niederzwehren near Cassel. The card carries a lengthy handwritten German message together with an addressed recipient panel, providing an authentic glimpse into the everyday circulation of royal portrait postcards during the Imperial period.

The postcard belongs to the broad culture of Hohenzollern royal memorabilia produced throughout the Kaiserreich. Portrait postcards of Wilhelm II and members of the Imperial family were widely collected, exchanged, and mailed, serving simultaneously as personal correspondence, inexpensive portraiture, and expressions of dynastic loyalty. Childhood portraits such as this example are particularly interesting because they present Wilhelm before his military and political identity had formed, instead emphasizing his place within the Prussian royal family.

Condition is good for a period postal card that has been used and mailed. The portrait remains clear with good tonal contrast and only light age-related surface wear. The edges and corners show minor handling wear, and the reverse exhibits normal postal use, handwriting, and age toning. The postage stamp and cancellation remain intact and legible.

This is an attractive and historically evocative example of Imperial German royal ephemera, particularly suitable for collections devoted to Kaiser Wilhelm II, the House of Hohenzollern, German royalty, Imperial postcards, or nineteenth-century royal portraiture.