Kaiser Wilhelm I, 1888
Wilhelm Höffert, Berlin, Germany
cabinet card

A cabinet card showing the body of the German kaiser lying in state in the Berliner Dom in 1888.

His life-long interests were the army and Prussia, and as soon as he became regent for his brother in 1858 he adopted proposals for army reform. He reigned as King of Prussia from 1861 and in 1871 he became the first Emperor of a united Germany. 

He died on 9 March 1888 in Berlin after a short illness. He was buried on 16 March at the Mausoleum in Park Charlottenburg.

Photographed by Wilhelm Höffert of Berlin.