Autograph Letter Signed as King, to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany ('My Dear Willy...')

Lamenting that Wilhelm has been forbidden by his father, the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, from visiting him at Windsor ('...unhappily your papa objects to your going away to England this year...') and expressing regret that he is unable to renew his acquaintance with Wilhelm's new wife Cecile.

Edward VII was renowned for his diplomatic skills, the French referring to him as 'the Peacemaker'; however, his relations with his nephew, the Kaiser, were strained. It is interesting to see in this letter to the Kaiser's eldest son, the Crown Prince, that although an adult, married and shortly to become a father he was still forbidden to visit his great uncle in England. The Kaiser was notoriously difficult, tactless and irascible, traits that ultimately led to the catastrophic First World War and his forced abdication.