Queen Victoria and the Crippled Kaiser

This documentary from the Secret History strand reveals the childhood of Queen Victoria's grandson, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II. The German prince was born with a paralysed arm, a disability that was then considered shameful. His mother wrote that she was haunted by the idea of her son remaining a cripple, insisting that he hide his arm throughout his life. Cruel attempts to cure him poisoned their relationship and helped to turn the boy, born to unite the royal families of Britain and Germany, into the man who tore them apart. Just 13 years after his grandmother's death, Wilhelm led his country into the First World War.