The German State Crown (1871)

William I was the second son of King Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg. William fled to England during the revolutionary uprisings of 1848 in Prussia and on his return in 1849 he commanded the troops that crushed the republican insurrection in Baden.

When his brother King Frederick William IV was declared insane, William became Regent in 1858 and on Frederick William's death he became King of Prussia. William immediately set about reorganising and strengthening the army and when he met the opposition of the legislature, he appointed Otto von Bismark his Prime Minister in 1862. From then until the Emperor's death Bismark guided the destiny of Prussia and Germany. Opposition to the military programme was supressed and in 1864 Prussia began its career of military conquest in the war with Denmark over Schleswig-Holstein. This led to the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 from which Prussia emerged as the leading German power. William I commanded in person in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, received the surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan and, on Jan. 18th 1871, was proclaimed Emperor of Germany in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

As a symbol of reborn German unity he was popular and in 1871 a model for a new crown was created to reflect the new German Empire. The model was based upon the old Holy Roman Empire's Crown and was kept in the Hohenzollern Museum at Schloss Monbijou in Berlin. It disappeared during World War II and has never resurfaced. No final crown was ever made. However, the design was used as a heraldic device for the German Kings from 1871 until the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm in 1918.