FLAG THAT ALMOST STOPPED WW1 KAISER WILHELM STANDARD FROM YACHT

Description: Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Personal Standard (Kaiserliche Marine Anwesenheitsstandarte Kaiser Wilhelms II) This is the exceedingly rare GROSSER size (10 feet by 9 feet) of the Kaiser’s personal Standard, as flown from his Imperial Yacht Hohenzollern II during his official state visit to Great Britain in 1907, when it was hoisted upon entry into Portsmouth, England, to large crowds and a Royal Navy escort. The Kaiser shortly after presented it to Baron Montagu who hosted the Kaiser at Beaulieu, the Baron’s Palace House, where the flag has been on display at the Palace House Museum for the last 100 years. The Standard is a large square heavy cotton nautical flag, measuring exactly 285 x 302 cms., bearing a large Iron Cross to the centre, and ineach golden quarter the chain and eagles of his Black Eagle Order, with agolden shield surmounted by golden Hohenzollern Crown, inscribed: GOTT MIT UNS 1870. The enforced edge has rope ties and a wooden toggle to the top. It was used to signal his presence on board the Imperial Yacht, and was often subjected to weather and hard nautical use, making this minty specimen used only once and then gifted by the Kaiser a very special piece, both in size and condition. Provenance: Kaiser Wilhelm II; John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott- Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu (10 June 1866 - 30 March 1929); The Palace House Museum, Beaulieu, to the present. Beaulieu is now home to the National Motor Museum, and other attractions. https://www.beaulieu.co.uk/attractions/palace-house-gardens/ The Yacht Hohenzollern II The Hohenzollern II was launched on 27 June 1892, and was 120 metres (390 ft) long, with a beam of 14 metres (46 ft) and drew 5.6 metres (18 ft), with 9,588 HP. She was used as the Imperial Yacht from 1893 to July 1914. The Kaiser used her on his annual Nordlandfahrt trips to Norway, and occasional state visits. In that time he spent a total of over four years on board. In June 1914 Hohenzollern II attended the Regatta at Kiel where the last state banquet was held on board before war broke out, ironically to entertain officers of the British fleet whose ships had been invited to attend. In 1918 the ship became property of the Weimar Republic, and was scrapped in 1923. State Visit 1907 The reason for the Kaiser’s state visit was because Great Britain, France, and Russia had just signed the Triple Entente in August, and the Kaiser was feeling isolated. His visit was another attempt to practice his diplomacy and persuade Britain to join his Triple Alliance. This flag represents the Kaiser’s attempts to win friends and avert the global war that would erupt in 1914. An excerpt from John Montagu of Beaulieu, Motoring Pioneer and Prophet by Paul Tritton, gives a humorous backstory to this standard: “Montagu had been host to Wilhelm II at Beaulieu, when he had the doubtful privilege of gaining a personal impression of the German Emperor's arrogance and egotism. The occasion was one of Wilhelm's periodic visits to England during the years when he was trying to win friends and influence people, with the aim of preventing Germany from becoming isolated among the power blocs of Europe. Wilhelm stayed at Highcliffe Castle, on the Hampshire coast, in December 1907 and decided at short notice to visit nearby Beaulieu. Montagu and the Kaiser did have one thing in common: an interest in motoring: during the previous two years Wilhelm had bought no less than 17 cars. Perhaps it was his uncle, King Edward, who suggested that he should call on Britain's leading motoring spokesman. Whoever it was who initiated the meeting, Montagu barely had time to return to Palace House from London in time to greet the Kaiser, and he committed what the Emperor considered to a social gaffe by wearing casual clothes. A photograph taken at the entrance to Palace House clearly shows a stern Kaiser standing squarely on a newly unrolled red carpet, with a serge-suited and bowler-hatted John Montagu standing at his side. Whilst clearly not sufficiently insulted to lose an opportunity to be photographed, Wilhelm left Beaulieu in Teutonic high dudgeon in one of the four Daimlers that had been provided for his party. True to form he turned the occasion into a diplomatic incident by complaining to King Edward about Montagu's mode of dress; presumably he had expected his host to greet him in military uniform. A few days later the Foreign Office asked John for his comments; he replied by saying that since in the past he had worn similar attire when receiving the King of England, what was acceptable to Edward VII was surely appropriate for Wilhelm II." While the Kaiser was thrilled to receive this full state visit during the reign of his uncle Edward VII in 1907, his relations with Britain soured shortly after when the Daily Telegraph published the Kaiser’s emotional outbursts about British foreign policy, including the comment, “You English are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite unworthy of a great nation.” The Kaiser continued to be convinced that his British relatives were plotting against him until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914... This is an exceedingly rare museum piece, and a once-in-a-lifetime collecting opportunity. Smaller, worn variations of the Kaiser's personal standard have occasionally come on the market, but as far as we know this is the only Imperial Standard of its size and condition in private hands.

Price: 14500 USD

Location: Owls Head, Maine

End Time: 2023-11-14T23:23:43.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD