The 'King, Kaiser, Tsar' who were cousins

It was three royal cousins – Georgie, Nicky, and Willy – who marched the world to World War I. [Editor's note: In the original version, Nicholas II of Russia was falsely identified as a grandson of Queen Victoria. An earlier correction wrongly stated Wilhelm was not a grandson of Victoria. He was, but Nicholas II was not.]

from the July 24, 2007 edition

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Both Georgie and Nicky, meanwhile, developed an antipathy toward Germany thanks to their mothers, a pair of beautiful Danish princesses who were never able to forgive or forget the Prussian onslaught of their tiny country in 1865. Master manipulators, the sisters did everything they could to see to it that no one would give Germany the time of day, let alone the respect Willy craved. 

"King, Kaiser, Tsar" is especially enjoyable when Clay relates stories about the personal lives of the royals. They were eternally sending each other gossipy missives full of exclamation points and capital letters, often expressing their fury about some misguided marriage or annoying relation.

Of the three men, Wilhelm is by far the most bizarre. Today, the kaiser might have been sent to a psychiatrist and put on medication to calm his lack of attention and hyperactivity. But back then, he was simply allowed to run wild.

He sired a huge family but preferred the company of fawning aristocrats who had no use for women or democracy. In one of many delicious details, Clay notes that one compatriot, a top military chief, died after dancing for the kaiser in a tutu.

The rapturously romantic Czar Nicholas, meanwhile, is hesitant, easily influenced and sternly autocratic. During the Russian revolution, he and his famous family died in the middle of nowhere, shot to death with no defense except the many pounds of jewelry hidden in their clothes.

For his part, the good King George (favorite word: "Bosh!") was solid and dependable, neither a careless playboy like his married father nor much of an international strategist. His diaries were more concerned with the weather than his role as a peacemaker: "fairly warm, showers & windy," he wrote on the day his country declared war on Germany.

In fact, none of the three men stood in the way of war, and instead allowed themselves to be overtaken by events and their own misjudgments.

Nearly a century later, monarchs are in decline. With little power residing in palaces, Queen Elizabeth II – George V's granddaughter – can't network her way through royal relations as her grandfather and two distant cousins could.

Then again, "King, Kaiser, Tsar" makes it clear that close family ties offer no immunity from war. Ultimately, the cousins were more interested in preserving their crowns than one another. The world is still paying the price for their hubris.

• Randy Dotinga is a freelance writer in San Diego.

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