Frederick and Victoria: Consorts of Germany
"...despite her alienation from her deceased son even before his sudden death, Victoria was shattered by the affair and retreated from public life over the next few years, which neither Friedrich, out of concern for her treatment by the press, or Bismarck, who detested the sway she held with her husband, particularly minded. With the new Kronprinz Heinrich settling into a happy and content life as a young naval officer and rarely at home, her attentions fell upon Waldemar, always her favorite, whom she doted upon even more. Unlike his elder brothers, taught rigorously by Hinzpeter and sent off to schools, Victoria demanded Waldemar be kept close to home, to be tutored either in Potsdam where she spent the vast majority of her time or at a gymnasium of her choosing, a policy she implemented with his sisters as well. Prince Heinrich expressed concern to his father after a visit from his naval duties in late 1881, remarking, "She'll smother the poor boy one day if she doesn't relent." But there was no breaking Victoria's will - after the death of Sigismund at two and Wilhelm's drowning, she was determined to defend and protect those children not expected to carry Prussia on their shoulders.
Victoria's receding influence due to her attentiveness to her children released Fritz, in a sense, and for the first time left him a sovereign unshackled, for Bismarck's sun was beginning to set as well. The elections of 1881 had empowered the two parties with whom he privately sympathized - the National Liberals first and foremost, and the Progressives to a lesser extent - and gave the Kaiser a foothold in the Reichstag for the first time. Bismarck retreated from German affairs to a point - his Kartell was still ever-powerful in the Prussian Landtag - as he pondered his next maneuvers, even begrudgingly accepting Friedrich's invitation for Rudolf von Bennigsen, leader of the National Liberals in the parliament, to serve as Vice Chancellor [1], a position previously intended for Interior Minister Karl von Boetticher. Bennigsen immediately emerged as a rival of Bismarck, in no small part due to his insistence on the Reichstag's increased say in the affairs of the state.
Bismarck did not entirely mind Bennigsen's rise, however, insofar as it headed off further confrontation between the growing nuisance of Adolf Stoecker and his virulently anti-Semitic Christian Social Party, which campaigned aggressively against both the Chancellor and the Kaiser from the right, opposing Judaism, liberalism, democracy and even the paternalistic state socialistic laws Bismarck had begun to endorse and would pass before his tenure's end. Friedrich and Victoria attended a synagogue in Wiesbaden later in 1881 to make clear where they stood, and after that, any notion that Jews would have their citizenship stripped - already a fringe position - died with it. The blunt involvement of the Kaiser in the matter, however, did not endear him to a young and increasingly radical cadre of officers who regarded Friedrich as soft, with an infamous name in German history chief among them: Alfred von Waldersee, second in command to von Moltke himself..."
- Frederick and Victoria: Consorts of Germany
[1] This was apparently suggested IOTL but never went through, as Bennigsen's demands to join Cabinet were never met. And after a point, Bismarck stopped needing the National Liberals - here, that's not quite the case
Victoria's receding influence due to her attentiveness to her children released Fritz, in a sense, and for the first time left him a sovereign unshackled, for Bismarck's sun was beginning to set as well. The elections of 1881 had empowered the two parties with whom he privately sympathized - the National Liberals first and foremost, and the Progressives to a lesser extent - and gave the Kaiser a foothold in the Reichstag for the first time. Bismarck retreated from German affairs to a point - his Kartell was still ever-powerful in the Prussian Landtag - as he pondered his next maneuvers, even begrudgingly accepting Friedrich's invitation for Rudolf von Bennigsen, leader of the National Liberals in the parliament, to serve as Vice Chancellor [1], a position previously intended for Interior Minister Karl von Boetticher. Bennigsen immediately emerged as a rival of Bismarck, in no small part due to his insistence on the Reichstag's increased say in the affairs of the state.
Bismarck did not entirely mind Bennigsen's rise, however, insofar as it headed off further confrontation between the growing nuisance of Adolf Stoecker and his virulently anti-Semitic Christian Social Party, which campaigned aggressively against both the Chancellor and the Kaiser from the right, opposing Judaism, liberalism, democracy and even the paternalistic state socialistic laws Bismarck had begun to endorse and would pass before his tenure's end. Friedrich and Victoria attended a synagogue in Wiesbaden later in 1881 to make clear where they stood, and after that, any notion that Jews would have their citizenship stripped - already a fringe position - died with it. The blunt involvement of the Kaiser in the matter, however, did not endear him to a young and increasingly radical cadre of officers who regarded Friedrich as soft, with an infamous name in German history chief among them: Alfred von Waldersee, second in command to von Moltke himself..."
- Frederick and Victoria: Consorts of Germany
[1] This was apparently suggested IOTL but never went through, as Bennigsen's demands to join Cabinet were never met. And after a point, Bismarck stopped needing the National Liberals - here, that's not quite the case