Hello everyone!
Did some digging about the König-class names and badges.
1. König. According to Wikipedia, named for King Wilhelm II of Württemberg. That claim is just made, not supported by any citations. I have no Idea where that piece of Information came from; I've found nothing on the www that actually supports it. In my opinion, it's wrong. Reason: The crown at the ship's bow.
It looks like the crown of the King of Prussia
and not like the crown of the King of Württemberg
So, if the ship carries the crown of the King of Prussia as her 'Bugzier', chances are it is named for him and not for the King of Württemberg. Wikipedia seems to be wrong. As for the badges found in the www by KimWerner: They are contradictory (one shows the crest of House Hohenzollern, the other shows a crest I was unable to verify at all), and I have not found anything that supports the Idea these were in any way 'official' - or even in use at all. This becomes even more obvious with the next ship:
2. Markgraf. According to Wikipedia, named for the royal Family of Baden. According to Bezo, for one of its members in particular (see above). According to pictures I found on the www: Who knows.
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Interestingly, the Markgraf of Baden was a title held by the Dynasty of Zähringen (actual name of the family), who already had a pre-dreadnought battleship named for them. Speaks rather against the Baden-theory than for it in my book. Besides, I still refuse to believe the German imperial navy would name a ship for a man who never in his life held any allegiance to the Prussian cause (as König Albert and Prinzregent Luitpold both did, the former at least after 1870, the latter, who assumed regency in 1886, throughout his reign), but I really can't prove my cause. As with König, I am quite sure there was no 'official' badge other than the 'Bugzier'. Coming to that, I have found no photographic reference of SMS Markgraf wearing any kind of badge, so I can't even be really sure of the crown. The proper scientific way would be to erase the badge in its entirety, because there is no firm evidence whatever as to whether SMS Markgraf had one at all and how it looked. But since everyone seems to agree that she was named after some Markgraf or other, her crown (if indeed she had one) would very probably have looked like the generic Markgraf-crown I used. By the way, a Markgraf actually is exactly the same title as the french Marquis and the english Marquess; it is translated to Margrave in English and French just to discriminate German nobility from their domestic equivalents (the same way the English call foreign equivalents of their Earl not Earl, but Count, and there are no English Counts).
3. Großer Kurfürst. Named for Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, that one is not disputed. The crest drawn by KimWerner fits. There is however no evidence at all on the www (the postcards and data sheets in my opinion do not count) that she had an official badge different from her 'Bugzier', which on the other hand is clearly visible on a multitude of photographs.
4. Kronprinz. Named for the heir to the Throne of Prussia, which is again undisputed; the name change to Kronprinz Wilhelm in 1918 was for clarification only. Like Markgraf, no photographs at all exist of Kronprinz wearing any kind of 'Bugzier'; the crown I used however is definitely the crown of the prussian crown prince. Apart from that, I found two pics showing other badges, one of them was already posted by KimWerner and shows the original crest of House Hohenzollern; the other (differing of course) shows no badge at all, but rather a flag, which certainly would not have been used as a badge.
Conclusion: I've yet to be convinced that these ships had any badges other than the crowns. There is no hard evidence to be found in the www other than unfounded claims. Concering the crowns, only König and Großer Kurfürst have theirs documented by photographs. If one wants absolute certainty, Kronprinz and Markgraf should be depicted without any crests, and the other two only with the crowns; the crowns for Kronprinz and Markgraf can be retained if an educated guess is enough. As for KimWerner's badges (sorry, no insult intended, really) I don't think we can be certain enough about their authenticity to use them.
Any opinions?
Greetings
GD