FLAG THAT ALMOST STOPPED WW1 -- KAISER WILHELM STANDARD FROM YACHT

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FLAG THAT ALMOST STOPPED WW1 -- KAISER WILHELM STANDARD FROM YACHT:
$14500.00

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. 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 1907The 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.