Wilhelm II or William II (German: Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; English: Frederick William Victor Albert) (27 January 1859 – 4 June 1941) is the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918.

He is a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe.

Crowned in 1888, he dismisses the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, in 1890 and launches Germany on a bellicose "New Course" in foreign affairs that culminate in his support for Austria-Hungary in the crisis of July 1914 that leads to World War I. Bombastic and impetuous, he sometimes makes tactless pronouncements on sensitive topics without consulting his ministers, culminating in a disastrous Daily Telegraph interview that costs him most of his power in 1908.

His generals dictate policy during World War I with little regard for the civilian government.

An ineffective war leader, he loses the support of the army, abdicates in November 1918, and flees to exile in the Netherlands.