hohenzollern

Can't get enough of the lovely Princess Victoria Louise! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Victoria_Louise_of_Prussia I believe Prince Ernst is the son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination sparked World War I. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Ernst_von_Hohenberg

BERLIN, Tuesday, Feb. 11. -- In an extra edition of the official Reichs-Anzeiger, issued this morning, the engagement of Princess Victoria Luise, the Kaiser's only daughter, to Prince Ernst August, son and heir of the Duke of Cumberland, is announced. This announcement means the termination of the long-standing feud between the houses of Hohenzollern and Cumberland NYT Article

No Captainslack, Ernst August II is the son of Princess Thyra of Denmark And Ernst august of Hannover, duchess and duke of cumberland.

Prince Ernst ist Prince Ernst August from Hanover de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_August_(Braunschweig-L%c3%bcn... he was the youngest son of the last crown price of the kingdom of Hanover Ernst August, duke of Cumberland and princess Thyra of denmark, daugghter of king Christians IX.of Dänemark. He was born in 1887.

Ernst Augusts' father had rights to the throne of the Dukedom of Braunschweig. When he and Viktoria Luise married, his father gave up those rights in favor of his son. And so, in 1913, Ernst August and Viktoria became the reigning Duke and Duchess of Braunschweig and Lüneburg. (That used to be part of the kingdom of Hannover, which at that time was a prussian province. That stayed that way, only Braunschweig and Lüneburg became its own little Duchy.) Ernst August and Viktoria Luise only reigned until 1918. Did you know that through his mother Ernst August was closely related to the english and russian thrones? His mothers' sister Alexandra was Queen of England and his other aunt Dagmar was Empress of Russia. She took the name Maria Fjodorowna and was the mother of the last tsar Nicolaus II.

No later than 1914 one would think!

they were first cousins

By October 1914, Germany and Russia were at war. And judging from coverage in NYT, relations had been poor in the Spring of 1914. My suspicion is that this picture was taken earlier, perhaps in May 1913, when Europe's royalty assembled in Berlin for the marriage of the Kaiser's daughter Viktoria Luise. NYT of May 23, 1913 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990CEFDE143FE633A... which mentions that the Kaiser took the Czar for a drive in a motor car -- so that wasn't the occasion for this picture.

Interesting article. The czar and and the king of England both dressed in Prussian military uniforms for the banquet. Quite a shock in light of later events. However, one source says this was a custom of royalty of the era, dressing in each other's uniforms.

Some sources I found say the May, 1913 meeting was their last: "On May 24, 1913, Wilhelm's daughter, Viktoria Louise, was married to Prince Ernest August of Hanover, and the Kaiser invited his cousins, King George V of England and Tsar Nicholas II; this would be the last time the Royal cousins saw each other. " www.geocities.ws/kaiser_prussia/biography_wilhelm2_2.html Bain's photo is a heavily-cropped version of this: www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/willnick/pair2.jpg

Kaiser Wilhelm II & Augusta Viktoria. He was the last emperor of Germany. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_II,_German_Emperor

It is Kaiserin, not Kaiseren.

Very ABBA pose.

Wanted to say the same as Michiel2005 says: It's Kaiserin (the correct german AND what is written on the glass negative...

Thank you to all for the information! When we update the source record, we will fix the spelling of Kaiserin as well as add the proper names.