The 1891 Sex Party That Led to Blackmail, Duels and Death

Royal scandals. Sex parties. Blackmail. In the fall of 1892, all of Berlin was gossiping over a series of unsigned letters sent to high-profile members of the royal court, including Kaiser Wilhelm II and Empress Auguste Viktoria. The New York Times reported: “Some of the offensive letters contain indecent sketches, cleverly executed.”

The undisclosed blackmailer threatened to expose high-profile figures who had allegedly participated in an orgy at Jagdschloss Grunewald, the Kaiser’s hunting lodge outside of Berlin. The so-called Kotze Affair tarnished the German dynasty, the House of Hohenzollern, and left one participant dead.

Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and the last German emperor and king of Prussia. He served as the head of this royal house from 1888 until his abdication in 1918. Known for his massive ego, he was a popular subject of scorn in the press.

“His impetuosity and histrionic vanity caused him to let his rhetoric run away with him and say things that he afterwards regretted and which official spokesmen needed to ‘interpret’ or explain away,” writes W.A. Coupe in his article, “Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Cartoonists.” Even before his brash comments stirred international controversy, he gained infamy for alleged activities that took place closer to home.

In 1891, the Kaiser’s sister, Princess Charlotte, invited 15 aristocrats to Jagdschloss Grunewald for a party that allegedly involved heavy drinking, dancing and sexual acts, according to reports of the time. Participants included Prince Aribert von Anhalt, a future president of the German Olympic Committee; Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse, the Kaiser’s brother-in-law; and Countess von Hohenau, wife of the Kaiser’s first cousin once removed.

Countess von Hohenau was singled out by the blackmailer, who called her a “randy tart” and accused her of being intimate with the Kaiser himself—an insinuation so salacious it made it into The New York Times. (Other rumored lovers of the countess included Max von Baden, future chancellor of the German Empire and Herbert von Bismarck.) Other targets included the German emperor's master of ceremonies Leberecht von Kotze and his wife, Alide von Schrader, who was accused of having sex with women.

The letters contained collages of erotic photographs with the heads of courtiers and members of the royal family superimposed on their bodies. The Kaiser appealed to a private investigator and the Berlin police to identify the blackmailer, but no suspect came to light.

Guests of the infamous party began to turn on one another in an attempt to discover who had betrayed them. Baron von Schrader accused Kotze, his enemy at court, of sending the letters. Kotze was arrested after blotting paper with handwriting similar to the blackmailer’s was found at his home. Wilhelm ordered a military court to handle the case, but analysis of more than 1,000 pages of documents found no evidence to condemn Kotze. He was released.

As an apology, the Kaiser sent Kotze an Easter egg along with the offer of his old job back. The enraged Kotze insisted on avenging his honor and challenged his accusers to duels. Kotze survived his first face-off with minor injuries. In 1896, he faced off against Schrader, shooting him in the abdomen. Schrader died of his wounds.

The scandal damaged the credibility of Kaiser Wilhelm II and his court. “The Kotze Affair dragged on for four years, three court-martial proceedings and two duels, one of them fatal,” says Isabel V. Hull, John Stambaugh Professor Emerita of History at Cornell University.

The conservative German newspaper Reichsbote, normally a supporter of the crown, said the Kotze affair had “shattered more royalism in the country” than “years of intellectual work by loyal monarchists could rebuild.” Meanwhile, the Kaiser’s enemies rejoiced. In the Reichstag (the German parliament), Social Democratic Party leader August Bebel crowed: "The more they take care of each other's self-destruction, the better for us."

While the identity of the blackmailer was never discovered, some historians point to the Kaiser’s sister, Princess Charlotte, as a likely culprit.