Frederick III, German Emperor

Names
	German: Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl; English: Frederick William Nicholas Charles;

Frederick III
Frederick III
	Frederick as Crown Prince, 1878
German Emperor ; King of Prussia
Reign	9 March – 15 June 1888
Predecessor	Wilhelm I
Successor	Wilhelm II
Chancellor	Otto von Bismarck
Born	Prince Frederick William of Prussia; 18 October 1831; New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia
Died	15 June 1888 (aged 56); New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia, Germany
Burial	18 June 1888; Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum, Friedenskirche, Potsdam
Spouse	Victoria, Princess Royal (m. 1858)
Issue	Wilhelm II, German Emperor; Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen; Prince Henry; Prince Sigismund; Viktoria, Princess Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe; Prince Waldemar; Sophia, Queen of the Hellenes; Margaret, Landgravine of Hesse;
Names
Names
	German: Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl; English: Frederick William Nicholas Charles;
House	Hohenzollern
Father	William I, German Emperor
Mother	Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Religion	Lutheranism (Prussian United)
Signature

Frederick III^[a] (Friedrich Wilhelm Nikolaus Karl; 18 October 1831 – 15 June 1888) was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days between March and June 1888, during the Year of the Three Emperors. Known informally as "Fritz", he was the only son of Emperor Wilhelm I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service. Following the unification of Germany in 1871 his father, then King of Prussia, became German Emperor. Upon Wilhelm's death at the age of ninety on 9 March 1888, the thrones passed to Frederick, who had been German Crown Prince for seventeen years and Crown Prince of Prussia for twenty-seven years. Frederick was suffering from cancer of the larynx when he died, aged fifty-six, following unsuccessful medical treatments for his condition.

Frederick married Victoria, Princess Royal, oldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. The couple were well-matched; their shared liberal ideology led them to seek greater representation for commoners in the government. Despite his conservative militaristic family background, Frederick had developed liberal tendencies as a result of his ties with Britain and his studies at the University of Bonn. As crown prince, he often opposed the conservative German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, particularly in speaking out against Bismarck's policy of uniting Germany through force, and in urging that the power of the chancellorship be curbed. Liberals in both Germany and Britain hoped that as emperor, Frederick would move to liberalise the German Empire.

Frederick and Victoria were great admirers of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband. They planned to rule as co-monarchs, like Princess Victoria's parents, and to reform what they saw as flaws in the executive branch that Bismarck had created for himself. The office of chancellor, responsible to the emperor, would be replaced with a British-style cabinet, with ministers instead responsible to the Reichstag. Government policy would be based on the consensus of the cabinet.

However, Frederick's illness prevented him from effectively establishing policies and measures to achieve this, and such moves as he was able to make were later abandoned by his son and successor, Wilhelm II. The timing of Frederick's death and the brevity of his reign are important topics among historians. His premature demise is considered a potential turning point in German history; and whether or not he would have made the Empire more liberal if he had lived longer is still a popular discussion among historians.
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