When Wilhelm II & Theodore Roosevelt met one another (twice)

With his [African Safari](https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/s/fSDhSotSMJ) concluded, Roosevelt and his wife, Edith, embarked for Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm invited the former president to stay at the royal palace, the Schloss, in Berlin. But the invitation said nothing about Edith. Roosevelt replied that while he was honored at the invitation, he could not be separated from his wife; the couple would stay at the American embassy. American diplomats, recognizing the mercurial character of the kaiser, momentarily panicked: Lesser slights than this had caused the emperor to threaten war. Roosevelt stood firm; any place he went, Edith must go. Fortunately, the kaiser proved a gentleman as well as a monarch. His spokesman sent word that the failure to include Edith had been an oversight; of course the former First Lady was invited to the palace. Roosevelt had what he called a most interesting time with the Kaiser, whom he had never met until now. The highlight of the visit was a mock battle the Prussian forces staged for Roosevelts benefit. Photographers [recorded](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theodore_Roosevelt_riding_on_horseback_with_Kaiser_Wilhelm_II_LCCN2013650883_%28cropped%29.jpg) the event; Wilhelm sent Roosevelt prints, with some really amusing comments of his own pencilled on the backs, as Roosevelt informed Lodge. With each passing week the agenda grew more crowded. TR and Edith spun across the continent in a perfect whirl of activity. They breakfasted, dined, and supped with majesties, ministers, and diverse other dignitaries in the capitals of Austria, Hungary, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway. For six weeks the pace never slackened. Roosevelt had long since become adept at fending off invitations, but even he found it a soul-harrowing business trying to make and keep a schedule devised on the fly across several countries. Literally every minute of my time in Europe seems to be disposed of, he complained. The worst offenders were royalty, who appeared to think he had nothing better to do than arrange, rearrange, and rearrange again his and Ediths itinerary to suit them. Of the royal offenders, the worst was Edward VII of England. I am mad as a wet hen, and I know that you will pardon my democratic soul for wishing the royalties would be a trifle more considerate, he wrote Arthur Lee. Edwards final act of inconsiderateness was to die suddenly, which threw Roosevelts-and, it seemed, half of Europes schedule utterly awry. Roosevelt attended the [funeral](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Edward_VII) as President Tafts special emissary; in the process he upstaged the deceased. Everyone wanted to see the former president, including (the new) King George and Queen Mary, Kaiser Wilhelm (again, to the humor of both), and the other royals (ditto for most of them) in town for the funeral, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edward Grey, George Trevelyan, the Lord Mayor of London, Andrew Carnegie, and a host of others. One person Roosevelt avoided was a man by the name of Winston Churchill, whom he considered a shady self-promoter. Source: T.R., The Last Romantic, pages 661-663

This was an interesting meeting, as TR distrusted the German and Russian empires

Bully! A challenge! I love competition. Now where would I mount the stuffed head of a Wilhelm?

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