The Life of King Henry the Eight • Paragraph 602
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An incident followed which once more showed the tactfulness of character so desirable and important in a Sovereign. The presence of William II. of Germany in England, at this particular period, was creating much discussion abroad and his evident friendship for the King, whom he had just made an Admiral of the German fleet and with whom he had been having prolonged conferences--in company on one occasion with Lord Lansdowne who had been hastily summoned to Osborne--increased this interest. On January 28th the situation was accentuated by the announcement that the German Emperor had been made a Field Marshal in the British Army and his son, the Crown Prince, a Knight of the Garter. In personally conferring the latter honour King Edward made a brief speech in which he expressed the hope that the kindly action of the Emperor in coming to London at this juncture and his own presentation of this ancient Order to the Prince might "further cement and strengthen the good feeling which exists between the two countries."